ABOUT

OUR STORY

What we aim for

OUR STORY

We, photographers, had been based in Barcelona and traveled all over the world. In 2010, we traveled all over Japan to publish a photo book "JAPAN/Japan" while living in a camper for 365 days. After publishing the photo book in 2011, we opened a photo gallery restaurant "AKASHI GALLERY" in Barcelona. Then, we continued to photograph Japan from Barcelona every year while running Akashi Gallery in order to produce the next photo book, "Imperfect Utopia", that came out in 2022. While we were working on "Imperfect Utopia", we came to know this 110-year-old house surrounded by deep mountains in Northern Kyoto. Pleasant breeze was blowing through the valley. Villages are scattered along the beautiful river. At night, the sky is full of stars. When you sit on the porch of the house with thatched roof, you can hear the murmuring of the stream. It couldn't get any closer to the ideal casa (in Spanish for "house") that we were looking for.

What is a "house"? We believe that house is not a physical building, not a big or a small house, but a place where you can feel at ease. I think house is one of the most important things in human life. In modern society of Japan, depopulation in rural areas is unstoppable. It is true that there are jobs in the city, and life may be more convenient and comfortable than that of the countryside. However, humans sometimes want to see the sea, mountains, or the starry sky. For some reason, when we see beautiful nature, we feel at peace. But when we see beautiful skyscrapers, we do not feel at peace.

In Spain, many people have holiday house in the countryside and leave the city for the weekend. Those who don't own a holiday house often rent an old rural house called "Casa Rural" (in Spanish for "country house") to stay with friends and family. During the summer vacation, they rent it for a few weeks or even a month to spend their vacation in the countryside. They seem to try to keep a good balance between a comfortable city life and a peaceful rural life.

In busy and convenient cities, sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are “alive” or “kept alive” by someone or something without your will. Even if you live in a comfortable house in the city, if you take a trip to inconvenient countryside on vacation, you can feel strongly you are living with your will. Spending time in a home where you can feel yourself “alive” naturally relaxes your head and mind. In order to provide such a "house" (casa), we have renovated a 110-year-old thatched traditional house in Miyama, the countryside of Kyoto. We hope that our house will serve as your "casa rural" (rural house) and where you can spend a relaxing time with your loved ones.

CASA MIYAMA Toru Morimoto & Tina Bagué

Reservation and Package
Owners of CASA MIYAMA

Tina Bagué

Photographer
Born in Barcelona. As a travel photographer, she has traveled around the world and published her work in magazines in Spain and Europe. Since 2002, he has been mainly photographing Japan. In 2011, he co-authored a photo book "JAPAN/日本" with Toru Morimoto. The second book with Toru Morimoto, "IMPERFECT UTOPIA" ,was published in 2022.

Toru Morimoto

Photographer
Born in Hyogo, Japan. He has been active as a documentary photographer for many years. In recent years, he has created works using classic photographic techniques such as platinum prints and wet plate photography. In 2020, his platinum print photo book "SHIZEN" will be released in Italy. Published by a publisher.