Prof. Tsutomu Kimura from Japan's Nagaoka Institute of Design, as well as experts and artisans from Tsuboi Risaburo company, conducted a workshop on making traditional Japanese roof tiles in October.
It was the third time that Prof. Kimura has been invited to TNUA by the School of Culture Resources Graduate Institute of Architecture and Cultural Heritage, following his previous visits in 2009 and 2011.
The two-day workshop this year, which took place on October 12 and 13, saw Prof. Kimura, and the experts and artisans explain and demonstrate in detail the skills of making traditional roof tiles that can be used in repairing and preserving the many Japanese-style houses around Taiwan.
A lot of materials had been shipped to Taiwan from Japan to facilitate the demonstrations at the workshop.
Prof. Huang Shih-Chuan of the Graduate Institute of Architecture and Cultural Heritage explained that there were two major types of architecture in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial rule: one was influenced by European style, and the other Japanese.
But preservation for these Japanese houses from that colonial era has met with one major problem in finding the right tiles for their roofs.
Traditional Japanese roof tiles are totally different from modern ones found in Japan and those used in traditional Taiwanese houses, Prof. Huang explained.
Therefore, TNUA has been conducting workshops on preserving traditional Japanese houses to build up a pool of local experts for preserving such structures.