{"id":9900,"date":"2012-08-15T16:05:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-15T22:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=9900"},"modified":"2012-08-15T16:05:57","modified_gmt":"2012-08-15T22:05:57","slug":"the-honest-home-and-what-it-has-to-do-with-idaho-timber-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/15\/the-honest-home-and-what-it-has-to-do-with-idaho-timber-exports\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Honest” Home, And What It Has To Do With Idaho Timber Exports"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chris Gladis \/ Flickr<\/p>

A small home in Japan's Kyoto Prefecture<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/del>Our recent story<\/a> on Japanese homebuilding preferences and how they’ve helped one North Idaho sawmill led me to a guy named Roger Williams.\u00a0 He’s an architect based in Seattle, but he’s done a lot of work in Japan.\u00a0 He’s made dozens of trips there over the years.<\/p>\n

I was trying to understand why there’s such a focus on wood quality in Japanese home construction.\u00a0 I wondered about the origins of that emphasis, and what it has meant for the Japanese housing market.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, Williams was involved in a curious effort mounted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state commerce departments, and western wood products associations in the 1990s. They wanted to export American-style home construction, creating a market for U.S. timber products and providing cheaper Japanese housing, all in one fell swoop.<\/strong>\u00a0 Japanese homes have long been much more expensive than homes in the U.S.\u00a0 They tend to be custom-built from high-quality materials.\u00a0 American homes rely on the trusty 2×4.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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