A note from the Kumamoto International Desk of Thatched Rooves (merged with that of Thatched Roofs due to spelling disagreements). Kumanichi reports that Kumamoto has scored another internal export market: thatch. A cooperative in Aso, Greenstalk, has begun supplying thatch to customers centered in Kansai. Apparently, a unit of thatch is called a “sheaf” of a determined weight of 0.00666666667 short tonnes (or tuns, or tons), which I don’t understand either, but seems to be 6.67 kilograms. Some industrious people in Aso raked up 20 tonnes (or tuns, or tons) - 20,000 kilograms - of thatch for what are likely very heavy Kansai rooves (or roofs). Word has it that 150 sheathes make a tonne (or tun, or ton), so that would be about 3,000 sheaths (or sheaves). It seems that one tonne (or tun, or ton) covers about 4 squares, or 37 square metres, of long straw thatching, so this works out to about 740 square meters of rooving (or roofing). And Aso is 20 tunnes (or tuns, or tons) lighter. - William