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    • All Posts
    • Japanese Architecture
    • Japanese Modernism
    • Antonin Raymond
    • Gunma Music centre
    • St. Anselm's Church
    • San-Ai Dream Centre
    • Nikken Sekkei
    • Kenzo Tange
    • St. Mary's Cathedral Tokyo
    • 1964 Tokyo Olympic Stadium
    • Sachio Otani
    • Kyoto International Conference Cent
    • 114th Bank Headquarters
    • Arata Isozaki
    • Oita Prefectural Library
    • Japanese Exoticism
    • Zenecon
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    • Kunio Maekawa
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    • Zainichi Koreans in Japan
    • Japanese Imperialism
    • Bruno Taut
    • Jun'Ichiro Tanizaki
    • Tokyo Bunka Kaikan
    • Kyoto Kaikan
    • In Praise of Shadows
    • Fuzzy Logic
    • Washi (Japanese Paper)
    • The Golden Temple
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    From Imperial Power to Consumer Power : Imperial Palace, Kyoto to Naka Incineration Plant, Hiroshima
    John Barr
    • May 7, 2019
    • 3 min

    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, 2019
    • 20 min

    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, 2018
    • 9 min

    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, 2018
    • 6 min

    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, 2018
    • 3 min

    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, 2018
    • 13 min

    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.
    Sabi (A Matter of Life and Death)
    John Barr
    • May 21, 2018
    • 7 min

    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, 2018
    • 16 min

    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, 2017
    • 8 min

    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, 2017
    • 11 min

    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, 2017
    • 13 min

    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, 2017
    • 9 min

    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.
    Bullshit from the Barbican
    John Barr
    • Apr 30, 2017
    • 4 min

    Bullshit from the Barbican

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

    © 2017 by john barr ARCHITECTS

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