In a mountainous village in western Japan's Nara Prefecture, there is a unique old building that attracts young creative types from all over Japan.

The house is a shared work space conceptualized by the village of Higashiyoshino and a designer who moved there from Osaka Prefecture.

The locals hope that it will draw more people involved in creative pursuits to move to the village to arrest its shrinking population, a fate familiar to many local municipalities in the country.