#Japaneseculture

From Imperial Power to Consumer Power : Imperial Palace, Kyoto to Naka Incineration Plant, Hiroshima

John Barr

May 7, 20193 min read

From Imperial Power to Consumer Power : Imperial Palace, Kyoto to Naka Incineration Plant, Hiroshima

The Naka Incineration Plant Hiroshima illustrates Japan's movement from a pre-modern, feudal, society to a post-modern, consumer society.

Tokyo Story : Looking Without Trying to Prove Anything

John Barr

Feb 26, 201920 min read

Tokyo Story : Looking Without Trying to Prove Anything

Between 1932 and 1962 Yasujiro Ozu made a series of films that provide a slice of Tokyo life during the arrival of Modernism in Japan.

Do|Co|Mo|Mo|Japan|05 : Kagawa Prefectural Government Offices : Takamatsu : Kenzo Tange

John Barr

Dec 12, 20189 min read

Do|Co|Mo|Mo|Japan|05 : Kagawa Prefectural Government Offices : Takamatsu : Kenzo Tange

The Kagawa Prefectural Government Offices (1958) offered a radical new vision of what Japanese public buildings might be.

Do|Co|Mo|Mo|Japan|04 : The Hiroshima Peace Centre : Kenzo Tange

John Barr

Nov 21, 20186 min read

Do|Co|Mo|Mo|Japan|04 : The Hiroshima Peace Centre : Kenzo Tange

The background to the Hiroshima Peace Centre hardly needs to be explained: the first use of the Atomic Bomb and the deaths of over 200,000.

Do|Co|Mo|Mo|Japan|03 : International House of Japan : Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura, Junzo Yoshimura

John Barr

Nov 3, 20183 min read

Do|Co|Mo|Mo|Japan|03 : International House of Japan : Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura, Junzo Yoshimura

The International House of Japan reflects the changed realities for Japan after WWII.

Kiyonori Kikutake (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

John Barr

Jun 29, 201813 min read

Kiyonori Kikutake (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

The widow of Japanese Architect Kiyonori Kikutake has described different facets of her husband's personality, one gentle and reflective.

John Barr

May 21, 20187 min read

Sabi (A Matter of Life and Death)

Sabi is an important concept in Japanese aesthetics that can be difficult to grasp because there is no directly equivalent word in English.

Katsura Imperial Villa (All Things to All Men)

John Barr

Apr 25, 201816 min read

Katsura Imperial Villa (All Things to All Men)

In the 20th century Katsura Imperial Villa became a kind of touchstone for the essence of Japanese architecture.

The Golden Temple (Zen and the Theory of Everything)

John Barr

Dec 10, 20178 min read

The Golden Temple (Zen and the Theory of Everything)

The Golden Temple in Kyoto is viewed through the eyes of the psychopathic arsonist of Yushio Mishima's novel.

In Search of Japan-ness : Part 2 (We're All Japanese Now)

John Barr

Oct 1, 201711 min read

In Search of Japan-ness : Part 2 (We're All Japanese Now)

An examination of Jun'Ichiro Tanizaki's essay In'ei Raisan (In Praise of Shadows).

In Search of Japan-ness : Part 1 (Putting Lipstick on the Gorilla)

John Barr

Sep 3, 201713 min read

In Search of Japan-ness : Part 1 (Putting Lipstick on the Gorilla)

For Japanese architects, 1933 was a pivotal year in their search for a Japanese modernism.

Two Houses: Bonus Track (Sticking it to The Man)

John Barr

Aug 1, 20179 min read

Two Houses: Bonus Track (Sticking it to The Man)

The Akatsuka House is perhaps the only example of architecture making a political statement in Japan.

John Barr

Apr 30, 20174 min read

Bullshit from the Barbican

Are we still indulging in 19th century Exoticism and Orientalism in our view of Japan and Japanese architecture?