The program "Platinum Family: A Glimpse into the Lives of a Glamorous Family" (TV Asahi, Tuesdays at 7 PM *excluding some regions) introduces the lifestyles of "glamorous families." On June Getsuku, the program will air a "Platinum Family & Tuesday's Yoshizumi Kotaro Combined Special," featuring a historic trick house near Nijo Castle in Kyoto.
This residence has been preserved and passed down by the Ogawa family for 13 generations since the Edo period. It was once designated as the second National Treasure among private residences in Japan, and is now an Important Cultural Property.
The house, which has been described as being "like a ninja house," is full of surprising mechanisms. On the first floor, there are surveillance windows disguised as skylights and hidden staircases, and on the second floor, there are hidden rooms inside closets, an escape route that leads from sliding doors to the roof, and "deceptive doors" that hold off pursuers, one after another. When Moriizumi visited the house, she praised the double-layered hidden room, saying, "The person who thought of this is a genius!"
However, these mechanisms were not created out of mere playfulness. The need for escape routes and hidden rooms stemmed from the family business the Ogawa family ran during the Edo period and from pressing circumstances rooted in the times, and that family business is revealed.
