AP Legend John Roderick Dies at 93
The Guardian Obituary: John Roderick
More photos

An article on Living in Japan’s past in traditional townhouses. ¥100,000/month? Hmmm …

There as some less ordinary machiya available for short-term  stay at kyoto-machiya.com.

My nephew lives on Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata prefecture. He has a master’s degree in architecture and has been interested in preserving ancient farm homes on Sado.

While visiting there last year, I learned that farmers who wish to move into more modern houses do not want to destroy their old farm homes, which are like shrines to their ancestors.

The farmers rent out the homes inexpensively as long as tenants keep the structures in good condition.

But it’s good to see an appreciation of fine tea: “over the past 16 years, tea-sales in the United States alone have grown from $1.8 to $6.5bn, with the largest growth in the high-end and specialty sectors.” (Although the author is a bit confused about green tea: it’s not “lightly fermented” but rather “lightly steamed”.)

Anyway, this reminded me of Omotosenke’s website, and its article on tea rooms and other aspects of traditional Japanese architecture (Omotosenke is one of the three main schools of tea in Japan). Although tea rooms might seem to be very far from traditional country architecture, the tea rooms often evoke a rustic quality. And Takishita-san has incorporated them into some of his reconstructed minka.

http://www.omotesenke.jp/english/chanoyu/4_0.html

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10431721

I remember telling some Japanese friends that my house in Vancouver was 50 years old and I expected it to last for another 50 years (and the joists might be used even longer, as high-quality large beams are very rare now). There seems to be a belief that Japanese houses are especially high-maintenance; but more likely this is because of shoddy construction. The Japanese buildings that are repaired and renovated tend to be expensive, such as Buddhist temples — so Japanese people perhaps think that renovation is so expensive that replacement with the latest modern conveniences is better.　Nevertheless, renovation is catching on, as a Google search for “リホーム” shows (I wonder — does this word come from “reform” or “re-home”?)

To start things off, here’s a recent article in the Los Angeles Times: Replanting Farmhouses. It’ll go into the articles page.