AP - "Minka: My Farmhouse in Japan" (Princeton Architectural Press, 241 pages. $24.95), by John Roderick: The extraordinary living room on the cover of John Roderick's new book of Japanese-American love brought back a precious memory of my best days as an Associated Press correspondent in Asia and sent me digging for a 24-year-old album that includes my own first impressions of Roderick's beautiful minka.