John Roderick, one of the best-known writers for The Associated Press, has a unique view of the Asia he covered over several decades.

His just-published "Minka: My Farmhouse in Japan" is an architectural look at Japan's remaining 17th-century farmhouses. It's also a cultural and historical adventure, a famous foreign correspondent's journal and a love story.

The book chronicles Roderick's growing love for his restored minka that he at first rejected as a monstrosity, for the Takishita family whose son he eventually adopted, and for Japan.

AWKWARD BEGINNINGS

The book builds from the basics of the love-hate relationship between Americans and Japanese that grew from the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the atomic-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the acceptance into his minka of luminaries including European royalty, ambassadors, governors.

Other visitors included a then-future American president, U.S. envoy to China George H.W. Bush, and a possible second future American president.

Roderick's memory of a visit to the farmhouse by then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and her mother while President Clinton attended a 1993 summit in Tokyo marks a delightful chapter in the story of the house Roderick purchased from a descendant of an ancient military clan in Gifu prefecture for 5,000 yen, the equivalent in the early 1960s of $14.

Roderick, with the help of his surrogate Japanese family, spent several thousand dollars over several years dismantling the house board by board and transporting it to a hilltop in Kamakura, then restoring it and another ancient farmhouse on the same property, creating a showcase of Japanese antiquity and modern ingenuity.

His adopted son, Yoshihiro "Yochan" Takishita, supervised the restoration and became a well-known antique dealer and rebuilder of Japanese farmhouses, including one in Argentina and a complex of three in Honolulu.

ROCKWELLESQUE

In 1983, the scene stepping out of the Kamakura train station to visit Roderick's minka reminded me of a Norman Rockwell painting. It may not be so quaint today, but his book assures that the minka still provides an escape from the roar of modern Tokyo and world turmoil.

"When the hurly-burly of today's world overwhelms me with its news of the never-ending war between good and evil, love and hate," Roderick writes, "I hobnob with the rustic ghosts of centuries past in my restored old farmhouse on a hill, overlooking Kamakura, the ancient capitol of Japan."

The book, published in Roderick's 10th decade of life, is also a testament to the possible joys of longevity. It celebrates a life well lived and is an accomplishment that serves as an inspiration for anyone entering advanced age with fear there may be no more of a life's story worth telling.