There used to be many mansard-roofed houses in Otaru.
I guess the mansard roof was employed in Hokkaido to make the snow slides off easier in winter.
Most modern houses here have flat roofs with a gadget to melt the snow and drain it, and mansard houses are disappearing from the cityscape as they get older.
The old house and roses in the image look to bring out their beauty each other, and the atmospheric scenes of this kind is something what I like about Otaru.