For nearly two years, the men scoured Japan for suitable old houses. Brian Heywood with architect Sakano Masataka "It's a kind of cultural revival project for the modern age," says architect Sakano.

More information: zeitgeistsonoma.com, 707-525-4161 Back in the late 1990s and early aughts a wave of Old World fantasy swept ... up in more modest tract houses. It was all fun and romantic.