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The paper explores the analysability of landscape experience and the interpretation enabled by the concept of the chronotope. Beyond its potential for a holistic study of texts, the chronotope can also be applied in landscape studies. In geography, the chronotope has primarily been used for analysis within three different areas: discourses and narratives, spatiotemporal sense of everyday places and biological spaces. Our aim is to show the applicability of the chronotope in the experiential aspect of landscape studies. Experiencing the landscape implies a dialogic understanding of action in a situation including the subject's interrelationship with the environment. We examine how the subjective experience of an abandoned landscape is internally multiple and has significant value for imagination and meaning-making. The example analysed is an Estonian architect's description of his visit to Hashima Island, Japan, and focuses on three levels of chronotopes—the topographic, the psychological and the metaphysical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically reconstructs the path of 'the model of a core of a future city' concept, from formation to culmination, proposed by Uzô Nishiyama's team for the Master Plan of the site of the Osaka World Exhibition of 1970. Although it was not realized, what was important was the proposal to build, in the Expo 70 site, a structure that could be used for the event and which could later become a model for a future city centre area. The main objective of this paper is to clarify fundamental elements of that idea through an analysis of Nishiyama's plans from 1960 to 1973, which define a singular period within his whole career. Nishiyama was an important figure in Japanese urban planning, relatively unknown abroad because few of his plans were realized. His importance lay in his work developing a critique of current planning practices in Japan. Support for his ideas led him to become Vice-President of the Architecture Institute of Japan in 1959 and to be consulted on major planning projects of national importance. The new concepts he proposed during the peak of his career will be contextualized within the historical process of Japanese urbanization, showing that Nishiyama developed his ideas by responding critically to the system of planning then in place. This paper uses, among others, primary sources collected in 'The Memorial Library of Uzô Nishiyama' and aims to introduce Nishiyama's work in detail, almost unknown internationally. Also, this investigation gives a new perspective on the site planning process of Osaka Expo 70, commonly regarded as a project developed mainly by the Japanese architect Kenzô Tange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with two collections in the Náprstek Museum, the collection of M. R. Štefánik, a Slovak politician, soldier and astronomer, who visited Japan in 1919, and the collection of Bedřich Feuerstein, Czech architect, who lived in Japan in 1926--1930. These collections, similar in size and in the time of creation, reflect different reasons for obtaining the objects. Both collections are only a small part of the objects originally belonging to Štefánik and Feuerstein, and had been unpublished for long time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this study are to reconstruct the design process of the Yonago Public Hall (1958) by T. Murano–Mori Architect Office and to reveal the architects' formal manipulations conducted under strategic design thinking. The study materials are the original design sketches that are in the possession of the Museum and Archives, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan. Initially, the chronological order of the design sketches was established by inspecting their dates and analyzing their formal similarities. Furthermore, the transformability (variations or changes of architectural form presented in a certain state of design) of each "study" (subdivided partial process in design) was analyzed and interpreted. Finally, the architects' formal manipulations were reconstructed and presented, and relevant design intentions were revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of upgrading product quality standards on product and professional labor market equilibriums when both markets are regulated. The Japanese government revised the Building Standards Act in June 2007, requiring a stricter review process for approving the plans of large-scale buildings. This regulatory change increased the wages of certified architects in Tokyo by 30 percent but did not increase their total hours worked because of an inelastic labor supply. The stricter quality standards created a quasi rent for certified architects and owners of condominiums at a cost to consumers. Evidence suggests that the new standards increased the transaction price of existing condominiums by 15 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007) was a world-famous Japanese architect who made his impact on urban architecture in Japan and many other countries. His philosophy of symbiosis influenced several generations of designers and social architects in Japan and the world. In his heyday during the mid 1980s, Kurokawa started a twenty-year journey of architectural design and urban planning in China. His designs in China are closely involved with the contemporary architectural history and practice of the country: for example, in importing foreign architectural design, researching the formal design language and the emerging of private development. The authors traced the footprints of Kurokawa in China and investigated the relevant building and urban design cases. This paper reviews Kurokawa's outstanding works in China, tries to reveal the master's trajectory of adapting 'symbiosis' and 'grey' concepts in different conditions, and fills a gap in the understanding of modern Chinese and Japanese architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the way the Japanese education system strategically channels talent towards its elite universities, turning out a high proportion of engineers and architects for the construction industry. At the same time, it provides limited education for construction workers and technicians in public vocational institutes and technical colleges, preferring to turn out a highly educated workforce of generalists who are trained for specific jobs by employers through the training centres of large firms, private vocational institutes, or on-the-job training by smaller subcontractors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of Shirai's essay "The Jomon style" was not to admire the Jomon culture but to consider how to understand the inner potential of the object without being misled by its external form. His theory of tradition subsequently developed into the "theory of expansive tradition." He objected to confining the argument over tradition to Japan and set out to consider the concept from a universal viewpoint. He gave shape to it and proposed a new concept, namely the "Eurasian" style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses hospitals as medical technology in itself and discusses the evolution of hospital design. As a case study, it focuses on Japan from 1918 to 1970. Hospital systems in this country experienced a major shift between the prewar and postwar periods. While the prewar period was characterised by the domination of numerous private small hospitals in urban areas, the postwar reconstruction was based on the extension of large public hospitals. This article demonstrates the major roles that architects played in introducing hospital designs in Japan and adapting the Western functional model for use in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the concept of Japanese architecture. It is said that the works of architects depict their lifestyle and contemporary values. By looking at architectural works in Japan, one can see how architects reflect their perception based on experiences and memories. The article describes four architectural designs, including a hanger tunnel, the Yokohama Triennale mobile stage, gallery pub walls made from chopping boards and used-paper chair.

The article features the Museum at Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan, designed by English architect Josiah Conder in collaboration with Japanese workmen and students under his training. According to the article, the completion of the museum signaled the successful implementation of European technology and professionalism in Japan. The destruction of the museum in the Great Earthquake of 1923 accelerated the waning the confidence in the mode of architectural science and aesthetics that the building had originally represented. The article notes that the museum was an embodiment of the complex power relations between a non-Western country that struggled to maintain its independence and a host of Western countries encroaching on this right.

Presents an interview with Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu on the aspects of architecture. Relationship between the exterior and interior facade of the architecture; Concept of designing a gap; Dimension of the methodology of Takamatsu.