Miyakojima Houses

While at the Miyakojima museum we learned a little about the history of the island. The housing was of great interest to me. We discovered that, until the 1950’s, the most common type of house on Miyakojima was made of naturally grown fiber-like stalk material, similar to hemp. I asked the translator to ask the museum worker why they have changed completely over to the concrete structures that exist everywhere on the island today. I only understood one word of what he said, because it was in Japanese. However, the one word that I heard was enough to completely answer the question; it was “Typhoon.”

Additionally, after a little more thinking I realized that, with the incredibly moist environment that exists here (you always feel damp), it must be a bit frustrating to have your house mold away on you.