The Ministry of Construction has announced plans to support fire testing for foreign roofing and siding materials. MOC has a budget available until March 1998 for this program. The objective is to assist foreign manufacturers with obtaining approval for usage in fire zones and quasi fire zones. Interested Washington State companies should contact Mark Calhoon for further information.

Home Center Opens in Kyoto

Another large scale home center has opened in Japan. Tsujii Mokuzai Group, a long time Kyoto wood products distributor, has established Tsujii Home Depot in Kyoto. The 1150 square meter facility contains an imported materials showroom and model rooms featuring imported products. In addition to imported materials sales Tsujii Home Depot provides design services and panelized products.

Imported Housing Park Opens in Osaka

The first model homes located in the ATC International Housing Park recently opened in Osaka. The model home park is located at the Asia Pacific Trade Center (ATC) in Nanko, Osaka. When completed, the park will contain ten imported houses, nearly all North American style 2x4.

HUDC Imported Homes

The Japan Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDC) sold its first housing units built with imported materials in an April lottery. The eleven houses were built by Tokyu Home in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. Mithun Partners, in Seattle, provided architectural design assistance.

The houses cost approximately 42,000,000 yen and averaged 200 square meters in size. The houses proved to be extremely popular with potential homebuyers; several houses had well over 100 applicants.

As of June of this year construction of four story 2x4 structures is permitted in Japan. This revision in the building code is part of the trend towards a more performance based certification process for building materials and methods.

Four story single family houses up to 13 meters may now be built in non fire zone areas. Larger Japanese builders are currently developing four story products for the market and some companies are able to build four story made to order houses. The 13 meter height limits the fourth floor to a gable roof loft.

Although the revision of the building code is a positive change, experts say that actual four story housing starts will be small. Fire code and other regulations make 4 story structures difficult to build, especially in crowded urban areas where small lot sizes make four story houses most attractive to home buyers.

Imported Housing Promotion Association Established in Kagoshima

Ten Kagoshima area companies have established the Kagoshima Prefecture Imported Housing Promotion Association. The organization will support members' imported housing business through a series of technical seminars, training programs and site visits. End user seminars and joint advertising are also being planned. Group purchasing and the establishment of an office in North America are also on the agenda.