Japanese Architecture

Traditional Japanese houses are different, any anime fan can tell you that. Japanese culture, a semi-tropical climate, Japan's island environment and the fact that Japan itself is both earthquake and typhoon-prone have resulted in building traditions that are very different from those seen in the West. Traditional Japanese houses are light, airy and flexible structures that are relatively easy to build and thus quick to replace.

Traditional Japanese houses tend to be fairly spartan, with multipurpose rooms and relatively little furniture. Closets and cabinets are used to store bedding and clothing. At the most basic there may only be one main room, which functions as living, dining, or bedroom as the situation requires. Modern Japanese houses run the gamut from mostly traditional with some Western features to tiny apartments little different from anything you'd find in the West.

Some typical features of Japanese houses.

Genkan: The traditional Japanese entryway. Typically a tiled well in the floor where one removes their outdoor shoes, the genkan can be found even in the smallest studio apartments, even though it may be no larger than a doormat. Larger houses (Such as the Tendo residence in Ranma ½) will often have an entire entry hall, and schools even larger ones, where the shoe lockers can be found.

Shoji and Fushama (or Fusuma): The traditional wooden-framed rice paper screens used as partition walls and doors. Translucent shoji are typically found on the inner wall, and opaque fushama on the outside. These can be quite fragile, and poking them full of holes is often used as a sign of pettiness and immaturity.

Amado: Sliding rain doors used to enclose Japanese houses from the elements. Typically glazed and configured so they will slide into a stack on either or both sides of the engawa. In My Neighbor Totoro Professor Kusakawa is shown opening the amado of his family's new house.

Engawa: Often loosely translated as "porch" or "veranda", the engawa is actually the strip of floor between the inner screens and the outer rain doors. The engawa functions as a porch when the amado are open and a hallway when they're closed. A popular spot for eavesdroppers, or just a good place to hang out.

Furoba: The traditional Japanese bathroom, with a wash area and one or more soaking tubs. Not the toilet, however: that is almost always found in a separate alcove, either off the main bathroom or even in another part of the house.

Tatami: Traditional rice-straw floor mats, made in uniform sizes that vary from region to region, generally with length/width ratio 2:1. Room and even house sizes are often expressed in numbers of mats, a system referred to as Ken. Once commonly found throughout Japan, but nowadays typically only found in formal rooms, such as tea rooms, receiving rooms, and dojo.
 * There are several different sizes of tatami, each characteristic to its region of origin. Largest of them are tatami from Kyoto, known as Kyoma and measuring 0.955×1.91 meters, and smallest are Kantoma, tatami from Tokyo, which are 0.88×1.76 m. Tatami from Nagoya are of intermediate size, 0.91×1,82 m, which is very close to the 3×6 feet.

Many modern Japanese still include one Washitsu or "Japanese" formal room featuring most of the traditional features listed above, even if the rest the house is yōshitsu (Western-style). Conversely, in the mid twentieth century it was common to include or add one western-style room to an otherwise Japanese style home.

Since Japanese houses are traditionally built on posts instead of foundations, the area under the floor is often easily accessible and is the traditional lurking spot for spies, sneaks, and ninjas. These post foundations are a key part of the relatively flexible structure which allows Japanese houses to withstand mild earthquakes without shaking to pieces.

Traditional Japanese houses also lack any form of central heating or air conditioning. Whatever heat the occupants may require is provided by a heater traditionally mounted on the bottom of the dining table known as a Kotatsu: a sure sign that a kotatsu is in use is the equally traditional quilted skirt hung around the table to retain the heat. As for air conditioning, long eaves, big overhangs, and of course the sliding screens and amado, which allow the whole house to be opened up for natural ventilation (at some expense of privacy) reduce the need for artificial cooling.

And, of course, the garden is where you will find The Thing That Goes Doink.

Anime and Manga

 * The Tendo House from Ranma ½ pretty much embodies this trope
 * Ouran High School Host Club has a little fun with kotatsu: Tamaki, a Japanese culture Otaku raised in France, is obsessed with kotatsu, which he sees as the ultimate Japanese family bonding ritual, much to the bemusement of ultra-wealthy Kyouya, who has little use for such "commoner" things himself.
 * Note that Tamaki is arguably even more wealthy than Kyoya, he's just that curious. Pretty fitting to his Idiot Hero personality.
 * The Kusakawa house in My Neighbor Totoro is a good example of a mid-20th century Japanese house with a western- style addition and a classic wood-fired Furoba.

Real Life

 * Tropers who live in or visit Florida who want to learn (or see) more may want to visit The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Del Ray Beach; a traditional Japanese home through which visitors may wander is one of the many features of the gardens.
 * There is also a two-storey silk merchant's home at the Children's Museum in Boston. It was shipped over from Boston's sister city of Kyoto back in 1979.