In the Gifu Prefecture of Japan is Yoro Park, a site of reversible destiny by architecture/poetry duo Arakawa & Gins. Appropriately, they provide clear ‘directions for use’ [read more]

“I wanted to make a space with very ambiguous borderlines, which has a fluctuation between local spaces and the overall space,” says Junya Ishigami of his new structure at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology [read more]

For many years Yokohama was considered little more than a dormitory city for Tokyo, but in recent years it has established itself as home to some of the most exciting cultural events and artistic communities  [read more]

A cave-like structure that appears both open and closed, rough and smooth, heavy and floating, the onishimaki + hyakudayuki space currently open MOT changes its form dramatically as you navigate through and around it [read more]

Bringing together two of Japan’s most visionary and free spirited women, an installation from SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima for Comme des Garçons has opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo [read more]

Currently celebrating its 5^th year, The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art remains an extraordinary feature of the quiet, remote and inclement town of Kanazawa [read more]

A new exhibition has just opened at 21_21 Design Site (a foundation that was established by Issey Mikaye and friends in 2007), showcasing 100 objects by product designer  Naoto Fukasawa, accompanied by images of his work from photographer Tamotsu Fujii [read more]

The British author Angela Carter was one of many to become fascinated with the ephemerally of things in Tokyo, which she described as a city of ‘constantly changing appearances, all marvellous but none tangible.’ [read more]

Everybody knows Japanese architects have got it going on. While we marvel at their edifaces all the time, it is less comon to be able to peek behind the ‘walls’ into their prepatory processes. In recent flea market rummaging I stumbled across a book called Drawings by Contemporary Japanese Architects which comprises diverse 2D work from 87 vivionary architects. While many represent purely fantastical renderings or projects which were abandoned before construction, they display wildly creative and conceptual approaches to built environments. The book was published in ‘82, way back before 3D design software took over from architects properly cultivating hand-drawing skills [read more]

In a short space of time Kazuya Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA have achieved international acclaim with projects around the world such as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Louvre Annex, Lens, France; the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan [read more]