Hi, I’m Zen.
I’m a software engineer based in Kyoto, Japan. I spend my days thinking about systems, structure, and the quiet satisfaction of removing everything unnecessary — which, it turns out, is not so different from interior design.
I’ve been drawn to interiors for as long as I can remember. Long before I knew what “Japandi” was, I was flipping through issues of Pen and Casa Brutus, bookmarking lighting fixtures I couldn’t afford yet, and eventually saving up for a Louis Poulsen pendant and an Isamu Noguchi table. Not because I was trying to follow a trend — but because something about that particular kind of beauty felt right to me.
Then a few years ago, I came across an article in Pen that finally gave a name to what I’d been gravitating toward my whole life: Japandi. The marriage of Japanese wabi-sabi and Scandinavian minimalism. Functional, calm, deeply intentional. As someone who grew up in Osaka and has spent years surrounded by Kyoto’s quiet aesthetic — the moss gardens, the wooden machiya townhouses, the way light falls through shoji screens — reading about Japandi felt like recognizing something I’d always known.
I’m not an interior designer. I’m not an architect. I’m an engineer who loves beautiful, considered spaces and has spent way too many hours researching the perfect low-profile sofa.
That’s what YOHAKU is. Yohaku (余白) is a Japanese concept meaning negative space — the intentional emptiness that gives a composition meaning. It’s at the heart of Japandi design, and honestly, it’s at the heart of how I try to live.
This blog is for anyone who wants a calmer, more intentional home — without needing a design degree or an unlimited budget. I focus on real products, honest recommendations, and the kind of quiet beauty that doesn’t shout for attention.
Welcome.
— Zen, Kyoto