On the top of my head I could think of, make konyaku, miso, tofu and dashi.
Repair a hole in shouji, change the whole shouji paper, fusuma repair/restoration. Clean and restore door tracks.
Making tools out of bamboo. Make washi. Change the cover on tatami mat.
If you have wind you can dry in the shade, not so sure about the summer though.
We dry all kinds of things on a roof space which itself has poly-carbonate roof, it blocks some of the UV light and the wind dries things quite quickly. A friend dried under the roof between two buildings where the wind pass through.
I read somewhere that the Japanese houses were built to be comfortable during the warmer seasons, instead of 3 unbearable seasons and 1 comfortable winter season. From what I understand they used to have the wind also blow under the house to cool and circulate the air. Some places also had
natsushouji which would let the air blow through the building even when closed, during the hot and humid summer. If I remember correctly they also closed the
amado at night to prevent moisture come into the house during the night, not sure though. Placed reed mats against the dirt-walls during winter to keep the wind from blowing directly on them.
I've been looking for the book but I can't find it.
Here many old houses have wood paneling. Some even have a unit made wooded paneling which is then raised, attached and locked to the framework on the houses using hooks and a locking mechanism. Not sure if some of them have dirt-walls behind or not. Some have wooden paneling half-way to keep rain splash off the dirt-walls.
In Sweden during the cold winter we always seal off the crawlspace ventilation with fir/pine branches and snow to keep the cold outside air from moving in under the house. The stove heat would then transfer through the masonry into under the house keeping it from going below freezing.
If I were to build a traditional Japanese house, I would definitely have a thermal mass under the house, use the interior dirt-walls as thermal mass, use a rocket mass heater to heat up the mass and air in the house. Make the warm air circulate under the house coming up in all the rooms. Have a easy way to seal off outside air from the crawlspace under the house during winter (Insulated panels?), keep it open during other seasons to have the wind cool down the thermal mass. Adjustable passive ventilation so the house could ventilated even if we are not there and have the doors closed.
Rainwater management is also very important. You don't want water splashing on the framework, dirt-walls or paneling.
Roof gutters and/or
amaochi. You can lead the water where you want it.
I'm probably going to try to make a CAD models in the future with various concepts, easier to show and get input on.
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