TOKYO (dpa) – Long ignored by many Westernized Japanese, traditional wooden houses have experienced a renaissance in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Rather than building a new house, lovers of the traditional homes renovate them and install floor heating and Western-style bathrooms to make life more comfortable. Saving money by not building from scratch is a pleasant side effect.Others wouldn’t want to live in a new house even if they can afford it. They spend more money on the renovation than it would cost to build a new house, carefully refurbishing 100-year-old wooden beams and pillars.“Due to the economic recession, more people tend to maintain their traditional Japanese houses these days. There are also people who think it’s cool to live in a traditional house,” said Geoffrey Moussas, an American architect who is based in Japan’s western Kyoto prefecture.Moussas said it costs an average 5 million yen (43,000 dollars) for renovation while a new house will set one back about 50 million yen.“Many people prefer new things to old and destroy precious traditional houses. I try to tell people how they can renovate their home to make it more comfortable to live,” Moussas said.Traditional Japanese houses are made of wood and are covered with a straw thatch. Instead of walls, screens and paper-covered sliding panels separate the high-ceiling rooms. Straw mats cover the floor.They are often too dark and too cold, but modern amenities such as floor heating and the right lighting can take care of these shortcomings, Moussas said.Initially, these homes were designed for Japan’s long, hot and humid summers and relatively short, cold and dry winters. The light structures were meant to keep inhabitants cool, much like in Malaysia and other tropical areas.Having no walls translates into a noisy home without privacy. Screens and shojis, or translucent paper-covered sliding panels, block the view of the person in the next room, but it’s mostly the Japanese quiet and respectful culture that has made this way of living work.Yoshihiro Takishita, an architect and author of the book “Japanese country style – putting new life into old houses”, said after World War II, Japanese rushed to destroy wooden houses because those thatched roofed homes were considered a symbol of poverty.“After Japan was defeated in World War II, many Japanese were influenced by Western cultures as they felt that everything, including their values and aesthetic senses, was denied as a result of the defeat,” Takishita said.Then the homes became trendy again after UNESCO in 1995 named three villages consisting of traditional houses in Japan’s central Gifu and Toyama prefectures a World Heritage Site.“The Japanese tend to listen when outsiders tell them how great traditional Japanese architecture is. My mission is to stop culture from disappearing and raising consciousness of what people are losing,” Moussas said.These days, it is difficult to build the houses from scratch as high-quality wood is scarce and many people who have the know-how are dead, Takishita said.After the economic boom, Japan was obsessed with material wealth and discarded its past.“Architecture is the mirror of the times. Those old houses with more than 100 years of history could prove that Japanese people were living with a sense of inner fulfillment at that time,” Takishita said.Sadao Nagaoka, former head of Japan Interior Designers’ Association, said traditional Japanese houses have the five principles of attractive architecture: natural, simple, honest, dynamic and direct.