Last Saturday we went to visit Shirakawa-go (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), which is a small historic village known for their A-frame, thatched roof farmhouses that date back to the year 1100. After many years of war and natural disasters, the people of the village came together in 1971 and agreed on "Do not sell, do not rent, and do not demolish." Since then, the families have all maintained the original village and are very involved in protecting it. 
It took us 2 hours to drive here, but the drive was really nice because it was all along mountains and rivers. During the day we ate lunch in one of the houses, walked down the streets, and went shopping in some of the small shops. We couldn't believe that people actually still live in these houses. It was definitely weird seeing their laundry hanging outside and the people going about their daily lives.
The straw roofs are replaced every 25-35 years by 100-200 of the villagers. The re-roofing of 1 house is done in 1 day. Every year 2 or 3 houses require new roofs, which is good so the new generations of villagers can learn the traditional methods of roofing. We weren't lucky enough to be there when a roof was being replaced, but we found the picture below on the internet of what it looks like.
We loved the terraced rice fields surrounding this house. 
We went inside one of the houses. We were surprised that the roof was assembled without using any nails or iron clamps, they just used tightly bound thick straw ropes.
We also visited a shrine in Shirakawa-go. It was very peaceful and serene being surrounded by huge trees.
This village was a great day trip for us and gave us a chance to see what much of Japan looked liked hundreds of years ago.
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