New Books Network Machiya, Seikatsu Bunka, and Changing Domestic Culture in the Japanese Urban Environment
Dec 15, 2025
Dr. Chiara Rita Napolitano, a JSPS postdoctoral researcher at Kyoto University, explores the fascinating world of machiya, traditional urban homes, and seikatsu bunka, the culture of everyday life. She discusses the impact of COVID on cleaning habits in traditional versus modern settings and reveals how communal cleaning practices like kadohaki have historically strengthened community ties. Chiara also examines the shifts from traditions tied to kegare, or pollution, to modern cleanliness norms, illustrating how these transformations reflect social changes in contemporary Japan.
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What Machiya And Seikatsu Bunka Are
- Machiya are traditional wooden urban dwellings built before 1950 and shaped by natural materials and shared living patterns.
- Chiara Rita Napolitano studies how these houses and their everyday culture (seikatsu bunka) have transformed over time.
Pandemic Shift In Cleaning Habits
- COVID-19 changed cleaning habits and highlighted differences between residents of traditional machiya and modern homes.
- Traditional residents accept dirt as part of a life cycle while modern homes treat cleanliness as separation from nature.
Kadohaki Keeps Community Ties
- Kadohaki (sweeping the shared entrance) persists as a communal cleaning ritual that signals care for neighbors.
- Chiara's survey shows kadohaki remains common and links cleaning to maintaining social ties.