Unique houses survive major Japanese quake

THE New Year's Day earthquake demolished wooden buildings all across Japan's Noto Peninsula, but thanks to decades-old smart architecture, one fishing village stood strong.

Except for a few loose roof tiles, not one of around 100 structures in Akasaki, on the stick of the land's western coast, collapsed in the magnitude 7.5 quake whose epicenter was just a few kilometers (miles) away.