In the heart of the Japanese mountains, the villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are home to treasures of traditional Japanese architecture: thatched cottages with sloping roofs, designed to ...

Japan’s history spans millennia ... Nestled deep within Toyama Prefecture’s Gokayama region, Ainokura is famous for its 20 gassho-zukuri farmhouses. The term “gassho-zukuri” translates ...

The large houses with their steeply pitched thatched roofs are the only examples of their kind in Japan. Despite economic upheavals, the villages of Ogimachi, Ainokura and Suganuma are outstanding ...