On a sweltering afternoon in early July, in a quiet coastal town two hours southeast of Tokyo called Katsuura, a group of architecture students from halfway across the world found themselves bent over models and sketches in a 19th-century sake brewery.
The air inside was thick with the scent of cedar and rice, and dust motes floated above them between the long timber beams.
They were on the offshore studio component of an international design trip to Japan, run by the University of Tasmania. The trip's centrepiece was Yoshino Shuzo: a family-run brewery from the 1870s that has weathered earthquakes, typhoons, war, industrialisation, centuries of sea spray, and most severely: time.
Sammy and Nao Yoshino run the brewery now, and are the 13th generation of the family to inherit the mammoth task of protecting and maintaining the heritage building, while also taking on the complexities of running a modern business.
Japan's cities are known for pushing up higher and higher each year, striving for the most modern streetscape to house more in the same condensed footprints. The average lifespan of a building is just 30 years, before they're often demolished and rebuilt. But the brewery is of a different ilk – it has stood the test of time and is an honoured resident in this small fishing village. It's quietly pushing back against the pressures of modernity, honouring the generations now gone, who walked its halls and brewed there.
The architecture students are not here to merely observe, but to put their design minds and skills to the test.
They've been tasked with imagining new futures for the site: repurposing two 'kura', or traditional earthen-walled storehouses, and exploring options for a large, underutilised yet beautiful and atmospheric attic space, and finally proposing a new chapter for the traditional gardens surrounding the site.
The challenge wasn't just architectural – it was cultural, emotional and deeply contextual.
University of Tasmania Professor of Architecture Julian Worrall runs the offshore studio, which is in its third year. He has a special connection to Japanese architecture, and the country itself, having spent 15 years studying and working there. He's an expert in this field, and the best man for the job of opening new hearts and minds to a different way of life and design.
This is the third time the studio has run and Professor Worrall has seen students transformed through the beauty of Japan, the connection to locals through the grass roots design process he facilitates and the camaraderie between classmates.
"With its superlative traditional craftsmanship and dynamic contemporary culture, Japan is an outstanding place to inspire budding architect or designers," Professor Worrall said.
"But we've also seen other benefits, not just in teaching, of building up this program – also in research, collaboration, and for the School of Architecture and Design's international reputation.
"Our returning students have secured coveted positions with notable local architecture firms, and these same firms are interested in coming along on our trips, too.
"Our academic partners in Japan have started to develop research projects in Tasmanian, and one is coming to conduct comparative research on how the experience economy is helping regenerate regional and rural communities in Tasmania – they're keen to see what lessons they might learn that could be adapted to suit similar places in Japan," Professor Worrall said.
The Yoshinos welcomed the students not as consultants but as collaborators. They opened up the site, offered historical insights, and joined in the conversations about heritage, reuse, and identity.
Student Abbey Chorley said "Whilst receiving a tour of the sake brewery, I was in awe of the stunning and culturally rich traditional Japanese buildings that were on the land. The opportunities for the site felt endless and it was a privilege to create a proposal of possibilities for our lovely clients."
So, with all 12 students putting their heads together, they proposed a bathhouse and short-stay accommodation for the kura spaces; they worked on a transformation of the brewery's soaring attic space into a visitor dining and community space; and suggested reactivating the gardens using colourful sake crates, which is a contemporary, playful nod to the brewery's ongoing story.
When the students presented their proposals - meticulous 1:50 models and detailed drawings - the Yoshinos were visibly moved. Today, those models sit proudly on public display in the brewery's shopfront, tangible signs of a dialogue across cultures and generations. And inspiration for the next phase of transformation for the brewery.
The two-week trip wasn't confined to the brewery alone. Before arriving in Katsuura, students toured the architectural icons of Tokyo, visited Expo 2025 in Osaka, and took in the serene traditional landscapes of Takamatsu. They stood before whimsical sculptures on Naoshima, Japan's 'Art Island', navigated the frenetic business of Shibuya, and found quiet in moss-laden temples.
These moments of contrast, and the expert insights provided alongside them, shaped their thinking as much as the studio work did.
To document their adventure, the group has shared their experiences and reflections on The Deep Now www.thedeepnow2025.wordpress.com
"It's about capturing the texture of the experience, not just what they did, but how it felt," Professor Worrall said.
And how did it feel? Exhilarating. Exhausting. Transformative.
"My experience in Japan unfolded as an immersion into time and culture, exploring buildings that were not merely space, but time made visible," said Abbey Chorley.
Another student, Grace Wesley, said the trip changed how she thinks about architecture, not just as a profession, but as a social act, something entangled with population, culture, urgency, and time.
"This experience reminded me why I chose architecture, because it sits at the intersection of beauty, function and responsibility. I feel more focused now, more curious, and ready to contribute," she said.
Back home now, far from sake barrels and daily ramen staples, the students are still reflecting on their immersive learning experience. And the real conclusion may lie further ahead, in the projects they'll one day design with a sharper eye for heritage, a deeper respect for place, and, perhaps, a quiet memory of timber beams and fishing boats in Kaatsura-shi, Chiba.
