Across the street from my Noheji apartment is a new building that is being constructed by a company called 'Canadian Homes'. I thought that was quite remarkable until I noticed that all over Aomori new homes are being built by seemingly Canadian companies. Anytime you see an area being cleared for construction, a red maple leaf almost always appears soon after. All I can figure is that to the Japanese, having a 'Canadian' home is somehow better than owning a Japanese one. Considering that Japanese homes don't have brick walls, central heating or even wall insulation I can understand why they might get that impression. I definately would prefer a true Canadian home over my humid, smelly and cold Japanese home. The only thing is, these so-called Canadian homes seem to be built exactly the same way as any other Japanese home. In other words.. no bricks, no insulation, no furnace etc. I'm not sure why it would kill them to build actual warm housing in Aomori.. maybe its just cheaper to build them this way and then pull the old 'Canadian home' bait & switch routine.