Unfortunately those pretty houses come at a cost. Traditional materials and techniques usually come at a price. Lots of wood and joinery work needs to be done, much of it by hand. They are also not well insulated so hard to keep warm in winter. They're so pretty though!.

You can still see a few of these houses and their traditional gardens in some of the wealthy, old-money smelling parts of Kyoto.

My next door neighbour lives in one of those thatched roof houses. I once visited in mid May, it was sweltering hot outside so I was in Tshirts and shorts. Inside, it was freezing! They had the kotatsu and a kerosene stove on.

You can certainly combine modern construction techniques with traditional looks. Don't expect 1:1 looks but you can make them less boring.