Hometown Stories

Old House, New Hope (2018x4)

: 18, 2018

In July 2017, residents of a community in southwestern Japan were getting ready for a big day – the opening of a café they'd built inside a kominka, or traditional house. But then came torrential rains and a landslide that left everyone fearing for its fate. Miraculously, the old house survived. As they wrestled with uncertainties in their own lives, the residents had to make a choice: Should they give up on the café, or open it to bring people together and give the community a ray of hope?