Wa: the essence of Japanese design

Conference proceedings, "Why Does Modernism Refuse to Die?", 2002

Any discussion of the survival and re-birth of Modern architecture begs the question “what is Modernism?”, a question problematic enough in itself. Yet when we consider Modernism’s pervasiveness in non-Western countries the question becomes much more challenging. It demands consideration of its social corollary: the more fundamental query of “what is Modernity?” This paper will attempt to illustrate, with reference to traditional and contemporary Japanese architecture, how a number of qualities of Japanese society and culture problematize our definitions of these terms. A rethinking of our preconceptions of Modernity and Modernism can suggest how it might be that Modernism is still with us when so many of the values on which it is based – values of Modernity – have been called into question.

Critical Design in Japan: Material Culture, Luxury, and the Avant-Garde, 2020

A Review about the Book "Critical Design in Japan" in Design and Culture Journal

Printed by Multiprint 2011 ISBN 978-952-60-0040-4 (print) ISBN 978-952-60-0041-1 (pdf)

2019

2017

Low-seated chairs for tatami mats that are characteristic of Japanese-style interior appeared after late 1940s. This article focuses on the ambivalence between Western lifestyles and Japanese lifestyles by tracing the comments of designers, critics, magazines, and so forth to clarify a background of them. The introduction of chairs in Japan was actually involved, by definition, in a dichotomy between sitting on the floor and in chairs, which therefore was far from the domestic practicality of lifestyles among the public. Then we have to observe the two points for the introduction of chairs to break through this rigid situation: (1) how did the public establish definition of chairs outside the Westernization? This article grasps the fact that the artisans and early designers accumulated their experience of producing chairs from scratch, through trial and error. (2) How did the relation between sitting on the floor and in chairs break out of the dichotomy, through ambivalence? This article focuses on the fact that the public enjoyed the physical relaxation offered by the mix of sitting on the floor and in chairs. This constituted the domestic practicality of chairs for the Japanese. Therefore, such experiences of making and using chairs can be summarized as the awakening of a universe in the distance between the floor and the seat-height of Western chairs. It was a new frontier for Japanese designers, and low-seated chairs were born in this space. This article concludes that it marked the transition from Westernization to Japanese modern design.

RMIT Design Archives Journal Vol 12 No 2 , 2022

This issue of the RMIT Design Archives Journal explores how design archives can provide insight into less expected histories, depending on the slice we take through them. The 'slice' for this issue is Australian designers' relationships with Japan,1960-1990

Japanese public policy has placed weight on state initiatives to foster the further development and internationalization of Japanese ‘content industries’. Motives have been mixed: potential direct economic benefits from growing export revenues, spillover effects for other industries from enhanced positive foreign sentiment towards Japan, and broader ‘soft power’ benefits. The relative importance of each motivation has often been less clear. Uncertainty about the scope of policy was compounded by the discourse of ‘content industries’. Although rather inclusive, and informed by technological and business developments driving ‘convergence’, it did not align with established industry identities and private-sector organizations. Nor did it accommodate a range of cultural and other sectors – from architecture to cuisine and contemporary fashion – that have been identified as common factors in Japan’s positive influence abroad. This paper reviews key policy developments over the last decad...

This paper considers Charlotte Perriand’s stay in Japan as a Government official designer advisor between 1940 and 1941. Firstly, we compare Japanese architectural principles observed in her travel diaries with those of her five articles edited in France from 1946 to 1950. Secondly we investigate C. Perriand’s designs after Japan. Case studies are the Ambassador’s Residence (1968) and the Tea-house UNESCO (1993) in Paris. Our findings are constituted by recent study (2006) of C. Perriand archives in Paris and bibliographic researches. C. Perriand (1903 – 1998) works at Le Corbusier’s Atelier de Sèvres in Paris from 1927 until her first departure to Japan, in June 1940. There is no evidence that French architects have any other knowledge of Japanese architecture than descriptions from Mallet Stevens and B. Taut . At Sèvres, C. Perriand works with K. Maekawa (1928 – 30) and J. Sakakura (1931 – 36). She reads Okakura’s famous book of Tea , a copy given to her by J. Sakakura. C. Perriand’s mission in 1940 is to give a report to the Japanese Government about industrial design potential for the production of new objects and furniture to be exported to Europe. Therefore, she visits craftsmen, museums and sites all through Japan and proposes an exhibition in Tokyo to be open in spring 1941, entitled Tradition, Selection, Creation. C. Perriand selects traditional Japanese crafts and shows them with her new creations for a western and eastern living style. She observes several similarities between traditional Japanese architectural principles and modern European architecture such as standardization, modularity and space flexibility. Beside, she finds in Japan other design strategies such as the use of screens, the disposition of filters between exterior and interior, the concept of integrated equipment and mobile furniture. C. Perriand is convinced by the modernity of the traditional Japanese house and proposes it as prototype for western dwellings.

2015

This essay offers a critical reading of Japan’s attempt to craft a modern identity. Eschewing the conventions of most scholarly writings, however, the essay builds on a personal history of political and intellectual engagement with key figures in post-war Japan to outline a counter-narrative about the ethno-politics of contemporary Japan. In distinction to both Orientalist and Occidentalist versions of Japanese modernity, the essay draws attention to the invidious return of notions of ethnic supremacy in Abe Shinzo’s contemporary state project and the occlusion of a long-standing tradition in Japan of pluralistic co-existence among diverse communities. In drawing attention to the occlusions shaped by the entanglements of Japanese colonialism and state-building with American hegemony, this essay attempts to locate practices of exclusion within Japan (and vis-à-vis its Asian neighbors) in an account of what the essay contends is a civilizational project, best thought of as “Smart Occi...

Design and Culture 1. The Japanese names follow the Japanese custom of name writing, in which the first name is preceded by the surname.