A room is a decision about how you want to be tired at the end of the day.

I live in forty-eight square metres in Tokyo with one good chair and far too many bowls, so I have had to mean that. I trained as an architect and left to write, which my teachers took badly. Uchi (内) means inside, and it means home: the room you come back to. The palette comes after the tiredness. So does the name on the lamp.

This is where I keep what the world's rooms are doing. Around seventy sources, read in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, French and English: an apartment in Seoul, a house outside Taipei, a Copenhagen showroom seen from here rather than from Denmark. East first, because east is where I am sitting.

Each story is a headline, an excerpt of a few lines, one photograph and a link to whoever did the work. We never reprint the piece, and the photograph belongs to the person who took it. When a room was written up in Korean or Italian it stays in Korean or Italian here; the link takes you to the writer's own words.

I am not trying to be complete. I am trying to notice.

— Mio Tachibana, Tokyo

← Uchi Archive

Home & DecorSingapore

10 Things You Need to Know About HDB Jumbo flats

September 29

If you live in a 3-room HDB flat, you’re a lucky one.

Property HDB

Read at Home & Decor ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

10 Things You Need to Know About HDB Jumbo flats

More from Home & Decor on Uchi

SingaporeMistral ÉlanPure 5-in-1 Smart Dehumidifier & Air Purifier: 3 Weeks living in Singapore’s haze Home & Decor

SingaporeWe Explain in Simple Terms: Ex-HDB Director Charged with Breaching HDB Data Home & Decor

SingaporeCASA Polybuilding Experience Gallery: Renovation & home appliance one-stop shop opens in Joo Chiat Home & Decor

SingaporeHospitality design firm HBA marks 10 years of shaping Jakarta & Bali’s luxury travel design scene Home & Decor

Singapore11 Singapore-Based Creatives Showcase New Perspectives on Everyday Surfaces at Lamitak City Home & Decor

SingaporeIs your balcony serving a purpose? Here’s how to cleverly utilise the extra space during a home renovation Home & Decor