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

Apartment Therapy

The 10 Best U.S. Cities for Renters in 2026

10.20

I’ve been a renter for essentially my entire adult life, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. While renting your house or apartment can come with a sense of freedom (you can move around…

Real Estate lifestyle news news renting

Read at Apartment Therapy ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

The 10 Best U.S. Cities for Renters in 2026

More from Apartment Therapy on Uchi

A New Build Bedroom Got a “Palace of Versailles” Redo with a Modern Twist Apartment Therapy

This Room Is a Book Lover’s Dream Thanks to an IKEA DIY and Cozy Details Apartment Therapy

The Cozey Atmosphere Sofa Secretly Creates Storage Out of Thin Air Apartment Therapy

A Minnesota Homeowner Refused to Paint the Wood in Her 1989 Log Home Apartment Therapy

How a Designer Used Bold Stripes (and ChatGPT!) to Transform Her Entryway Apartment Therapy