Chalet roofs and parked cars buried under deep snow during a storm

Winter 2027

The Japanese Chalet

Interiors in Hakuba & Niseko

Two snow towns, one architecture of quiet: cedar, concrete, and the mountain held in a window frame.

Hakuba and Niseko were built for snow, and their houses were built for the hours after it. The Japanese Chalet documents the private interiors of these two valleys — the timber-lined baths, the sunken hearths, the long tables set below glass that fills with weather.

A hardcover volume of 192 pages, printed for the table rather than the shelf. The first edition is limited and will be offered to the waitlist before anywhere else.

Inside the book

192 pages

A dark timber chalet under heavy snowfall, icicles hanging the length of the eaves, two figures walking past with an umbrella — Icicles the length of the eaves, after a night of continuous snow.

A corridor of tall cedars weighed down with snow, the track between them narrowed to a trench — A cedar avenue under load, the road narrowed to a trench.

A dark timber roofline behind branches glazed with freezing rain — A timber roofline seen through branches glazed by freezing rain.

A black-clad chalet on a cleared valley road, frosted trees and a ridge behind it — A black-clad house on the valley road, the morning after.

The two valleys

Hakuba & Niseko

One sits under the Northern Alps in Nagano, the other under Mount Yōtei in Hokkaidō. They share a snowfall and little else — Hakuba builds into slope and shadow, Niseko into open birch and wind.

Hakuba: Nagano · the Northern Alps
Niseko: Hokkaidō · Mount Yōtei

Map of Japan marking Hakuba in Nagano and Niseko in Hokkaidō, 698 km apart

The author

Minseon Kim

Minseon Kim writes on architecture and the houses of Japan. Her first book, The Akiya: The House I Wasn’t Supposed to Buy, is available on Amazon. The Japanese Chalet is her second, set between Nagano and Hokkaidō.

Photography credits appear beside each house.

The edition

Specifications

Extent: 192 pages
Dimensions: 230 × 300 mm
Binding: Hardcover, coffee table format
Publisher: Book Next Door, self-published
Release: Winter 2027
Price: Announced to the waitlist first

Join the waitlist

Price, edition size and pre-order dates go to the list before they go anywhere else. No other mail.