Despite being located in an isolated mountainous region unsuitable for rice cultivation, the Japanese Shirakawa-go village residents were able to survive tending to small fields of buckwheat and millet. The villagers cultivated mulberry trees for paper, produced calcium nitrate for gunpowder and reared silkworms in the attics of their large Gassho-style farmhouses. The steeply pitched thatched roofs of the houses are the only examples of their kind in Japan. The kumi system of mutual cooperation between neighbouring households ensured that maintenance and re-thatching of a roof could easily be completed in preparation for the several metres of snow that could fall during winter. After surviving economic upheavals, relocation for hydroelectric dams and military rule, the villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are now working hard to maintain their traditional way of life for the touristic trade. Source
