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Five Houses at BESS Fujisawa LOGWAY | A Room Tour Asking "What If I Lived Here?"

2026.06.26

Choosing a house is really choosing a future version of yourself. This time we visited BESS Fujisawa LOGWAY in Kanagawa Prefecture and toured five show homes from BESS, a Japanese builder that works exclusively in timber. In each one I asked myself the same question — what if I lived here? — and tried on five different versions of my future life.

If you're drawn to timber houses or log homes, or you're trying to picture what relocating or splitting your life between two places might feel like, here's my honest impression of all five.

What BESS and LOGWAY are | No booking, no salesperson at your elbow

BESS is a brand that builds timber houses, and LOGWAY is the name of their show villages. There are 31 of them across Japan, including the one we visited in Fujisawa, and anyone can visit without a reservation.

What makes them unusual is that staff don't walk you round. You look at the houses at your own pace. That's deliberate: they want visitors to imagine freely what living there would actually be like. So this post follows the same idea — less specification, more imagination.

How I approached it | A diary from a future that hasn't happened

I went through the five houses one at a time and wrote a kind of future diary for each: if I lived here, what would my days look like? What's interesting is how differently each one made me imagine living, even though they're all timber houses. Read on and see which one you'd choose.

1. Hodohodo no Ie ("the just-enough house") | Living by subtraction

First was Hodohodo no Ie. The kitchen has a big dining table, and it's designed so things can be properly put away rather than left permanently on display, which gives it a distinctly Japanese calm. A generous doma (the traditional unfloored entrance space), muted wood tones, high ceilings. I immediately started thinking, this corner would be my work space.

It's the kind of house where coming downstairs for coffee in the morning would feel slightly more special than it does now. Rather than hunting for what's missing, enjoy the life you already have. "Just enough" isn't a compromise. It might be its own kind of abundance.

2. COUNTRY LOG | Going back to real timber

This is exactly the log house I pictured as a child. You're surrounded by real timber, and it's a house designed for the way wood changes with age. There's a work area you can walk into from the doma with your shoes still on, and I couldn't stop imagining my hiking gear living there.

If I lived here I think birdsong would be my alarm clock. Surrounded by wood, even time seems to slow down. No need to hurry, no need to dress things up, natural is fine. That's the life this house is built for.

3. G-LOG Natsu | A hideout, with a sense of play

Also known as the "log house of wind," this one is full of playfulness. The wood stove looks like something out of a picture, and the loft you reach by ladder is a hideout, plain and simple. It reminded me of laying out a futon in a closet as a child to play in, and I felt oddly nostalgic.

The layout means you can look down from above and wonder aloud what everyone's up to, which is fun in itself. Living here, I think life would loosen up. You'd do things because you want to, not because you have to. A house for keeping hold of the phrase "that looks interesting."

4. BESS DOME | A house that reminds you to be curious

The distinctive curves of BESS DOME make an impression straight away. It suggests ways of spending time that wouldn't occur to you in an ordinary house, and it wakes up your curiosity the moment you step in. A space that quietly reminds you of the excitement everyday life tends to file away.

5. WONDER DEVICE | A life you build yourself (my favourite)

Last was WONDER DEVICE. Big windows make it feel open, and from the kitchen through to the living room you can sense where everyone in the family is. There's plenty of room for hobbies, plus a balcony and a large kitchen. My honest reaction was that in a house like this, having people over would be a pleasure.

Not a finished life — a life you build yourself. In this house I feel like I'd meet a version of myself I don't know yet. Of the five, WONDER DEVICE was my favourite, and what settled it was that the second I walked in, I could picture inviting friends round and everyone gathering there.

Making herb insect repellent

After the tour we also got to make a herbal insect-repellent spray. The method is simple: cut three sprigs of rosemary to about 6 cm (two for the liquid, one for decoration), then simmer the two sprigs in 50 ml of water and let it cool. Pour it into a bottle, tie the remaining sprig on with hemp twine, and you're done.

It's a natural repellent from natural materials, and easy enough to do at home. They recommend using it up within a few days to a week. Making things by hand like this seems to suit life in a timber house.

Final thoughts: choosing a house is choosing a future self

All five are BESS timber houses, and yet Hodohodo no Ie, COUNTRY LOG, G-LOG Natsu, BESS DOME and WONDER DEVICE each made me imagine a completely different life. The comfort of subtraction, time spent closer to nature, the thrill of a hideout, curiosity, and the freedom of building something yourself — each is a shape a future could take.

LOGWAY needs no reservation and lets you wander at your own pace. If timber houses, log homes or a two-base lifestyle are on your mind, go and walk through one asking yourself the same question: what if I lived here? Which house would your future start in?

※ This post is based on a sponsored video produced in partnership with BESS.

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