KYOTO -- From the outside, Junko Shimomura's condominium looks much like the hundreds of other apartments in the highrises that line the Kamo River in Kyoto's Ukyo Ward. But the interior -- with the living room's mukunoki wooden floor sealed with natural paulownia-tree oil and the terra-cotta tiles on the floor below the window -- has an ambience far more inviting than that offered by the average Japanese condominium.

The condominium owes its unique interior to the renovations Shimomura and her husband have carried out since they moved in last May. Renovating is nothing new, but what the couple have attempted to do is "eco-reform" their residence -- or replace existing construction materials and fixtures with natural ones.

Eco-reform has come increasingly into the spotlight in recent years as Japan struggles to deal with its ever-growing piles of trash. According to Harumi Matsuno, a member of the Citizens Environmental Foundation, a Kyoto-based civic group, construction materials account for 25 percent of all the waste produced in this country. Repairing or renovating houses or apartments instead of demolishing them, she says, can play a significant role in reducing this figure.