British houses used to be made of wicker walls with a mix of mud and sh** slapped on, and a hay roof or something like that.

Weve definately come a long way since then.

I live in scotland so we dont have the luxury of wooden homes, its generally better off to build out of stone and insulate the walls, our winters arnt exactly artic but their pretty damn close (so close actually it never really gets really dark in summer at night).

I wouldnt mind a japanese house if i lived in the tropics or a part of the world thats always hot, since tis stylish and technically should help towards keeping the home cool?.

Actually scrub that, a heavy stone built house would probably feel cool like a cave in those climbs then a wooden house.

You know, i cant think of any real reason for wooden houses rather then lack of stone, lack of knowledge of how to build with stone, and the fact that japan is a tsunami-earthquake zone so, maybe wooden buildings survive a bit better, and are easier to build.

Still, the fires i can emagine would be a nightmare in a wooden city.