The history of Traditional Japanese houses is very affluent. In old times, people of Japan typically lived in free standing houses, which are known as Minka. In cities they lived in Machiya or in row houses which are called Nagaya. These kind of houses can be seen in many places of Japan. Kyoto is very famous for having this kind of Japanese traditional old style houses. Modern buildings and traditional wooden houses are mixed in the areas. Japanese traditional house is generally built of wood. Japan often experiences natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons. The weather in Japan is seems humid. So the Japanese people usually think that the life of a traditional house is less than 40 years long. Therefore, some old houses are come down and some new houses are built. Following the old techniques now modifications has been done to the traditional Japanese houses. The roof of traditional houses is made of straw or stem of reed. Now, Japanese houses are generally tile-roofed. Traditional roof tiles are blackish. Blue or brown roof tiles also to be found. The entrance of a Japanese house is the place where you take off your shoes. So there is shoe cupboard aside. And generally there is a step to the room, and it is 20 to 40 cm high. In a room of Japanese style house the partitions are made with sliding doors. The sliding door is a screen of paper. They are called fusuma or shoji. Fusuma is the screen of opaque paper and the shoji is the screen of white and thin paper. If you open a fusuma, you often find the next room. In a Japanese style house fusuma and shoji have the function of both doors and walls. Fusuma was the canvas of artists in medieval times and many pictures by famous artists are remained old houses and castles.