This series of images by photographer Jérémie Souteyrat captures the everyday activities of people living in contemporary Japanese houses (+ slideshow).

Entitled Japan, Archipelago of the House, the photography series features 20 contemporary houses designed by Japanese architects.

The houses featured were all built between 1993 and 2013, and include projects by Shigeru Ban, Yasushi Horibe, Atelier Bow Wow and Mikan.

Examples include a residence with an asymmetric entrance tunnel, a tiny seaside house slotted between two windows and a dwelling designed for temperatures below 30 degrees.

The Tokyo-based French photographer documented the residences as a follow up to his Tokyo No Ie series, which focused on houses in Japan's capital city. This time Souteyrat chose to include the houses' occupants as well.

"After completing the Tokyo No Ie project, I was pleased to be able to visit contemporary houses and shoot them as they are used, along with the residents in their daily life," Souteyrat told Dezeen.

"To me, this series talks more about Japanese way of life than Japanese architecture."

Souteyrat has captured a young boy and his dog viewing the park from large window in Shigeru Ban Architect's Maison Visto, a young girl playing on the terrace of Kochi Architect's Studio's Maison Kn and a family partaking in a tea ceremony.

The images form part of a touring exhibition and book, which Souteyrat curated with architects Véronique Hours, Fabien Mauduit and Manuel Tardits.

It aims to "resolve misunderstanding surrounding the phenomenon that is the Japanese house" by providing historical and contextual information, as well as explaining how they are used as living spaces.

"Their relationship with tradition is often poorly defined," said architect and exhibition curator Tardits. "The very people who appreciate them for their creativity cannot help but question their habitability."

"This exhibition/book seeks to give contextual cues to understanding the development of these places for living designed by architects in Japan."

In addition to Souteyrat's latest series, there are two other sections in the exhibition.

One features 36 "portraits" of houses in their environments – also taken by Souteyrat – and 14 case studies of famous 20th-century homes built between 1933 and 1984.