Most people are only too aware of the devastating effects of global warming -- the breaking up of polar ice shelves, weather patterns going haywire, glaciers in retreat, that documentary starring Al Gore. But the thermal consequences of all the carbon that humans assiduously upload into the atmosphere are somewhat harder to spot in the mountainous regions of central Japan, where, every year, winds from Siberia having crossed the Sea of Japan dump some of the heaviest snowfalls in the world.

As might be supposed, the weight of all that white stuff through the long winter months puts enormous strain on the roofs of buildings in such areas. And one distinctive architectural response to the heavy hand of nature can be seen in the farmhouses of Gokayama.

Along with nearby Shirakawago, Gokayama, in Toyama Prefecture, became a World Heritage Site in 1995. Like Shirakawago, Gokayama entered the UNESCO list owing to its unusual ga-ssho-zukuri farmhouses, whose steep gable roofs are, as the name indicates, thought to resemble hands held together in prayer. With their 60-degree pitch, the roofs allow an easier sliding off of the snow, whose weight would otherwise cause the roofs to collapse. Because of their UNESCO link, Shirakawago and Gokayama are naturally closely associated in most people's minds. Being just 25 km apart, the two villages are often visited on the same trip. But at one time, these communities had virtually nothing to do with each other.