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The fantasy world of Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki will come to life as a theme park, set to open in central Japan in 2022, the regional government said Wednesday.
Miyazaki is the cofounder of Studio Ghibli, the nation’s premier animation studio, and is renowned internationally for works including “Princess Mononoke” and “Spirited Away.”
Studio Ghibli has released a basic concept for the vast park, which will be built by 2022 near Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture.
— The Japan Times
Plans for a Studio Ghibli theme park have been floating for some time, but they appear to become more concrete now with the announcement by local officials in Japan's Aichi Prefecture and the release of (very conceptual) illustrations of the park depicting structures that resemble buildings from... View full entry
The boutique hospitality chain, Ace Hotel has announced it will open its first-ever Japanese outpost next year with a Kengo Kuma designed building in Kyoto. According to the company's president, Brad Wilson, "it’s been [a] long-standing dream to put down roots in Japan." "We feel incredibly... View full entry
Freed from the conventions of architecture and construction, what would this world look like?
It’s a question Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has been trying to answer for the past decade, dreaming of structures that are as light as a cloud, as vast as the sky, as random as the trees in a forest or the stars in the sky.
— The Guardian
Glass Pavilion, Park Groot Vijversburg, NL. Image: junya.ishigami+associates.The Guardian's architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright, takes a closer at the fascinating work of Junya Ishigami, the bright new star on the Japanese architecture firmament, who is catching more and more mainstream... View full entry
[...] the value of the average Japanese house depreciates to zero in 22 years. (It is calculated separately from the land, which is more likely to hold its value.) Most are knocked down and rebuilt. Sales of new homes far outstrip those of used ones, which usually change hands in the expectation that they will be demolished and replaced. In America and Europe second-hand houses accounted for 90% of sales and new-builds for 10% in 2017. In Japan the proportions are the other way around. — The Economist
The Economist article describes Japan’s throwaway housing culture as a phenomenon that is not only a burden on the national economy and the environment but also does not see renovation and refurbishment of existing structures as an appreciation in value. There are exceptions of course: one rare... View full entry
Tucked away in the dense network of narrow streets in Kyoto's central Gojo Karasuma district, an old house has come back to life and—after a thorough, yet thoughtful, makeover—enjoys now a refreshed existence as a boutique guest house for tourists visiting the area. In charge of the redesign... View full entry
Rejecting flashy forms in favor of buildings in harmony with their environment, the architect — poised to become world famous for his stadium for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — is trying to reinvent his entire trade. [...]
Kuma, a constant source of paradoxes and ironies, often makes demagogic statements on behalf of his own brand of architectural modesty. “I want to change the definition of architecture,” he told me; in a way, he already has.
— The New York Times Style Magazine
Nikil Saval pens a beautiful profile of Kengo Kuma for T Magazine and investigates the architect's ongoing quest to ground his version of Modernism in authentic Japanese craftsmanship. View full entry
Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd. has announced that it plans to build a 70-story 350-meter mixed-use skyscraper in Marunouchi, a central Tokyo business district, by the year 2041. [...]
The project [...] is estimated to cost 600 billion JPY (5.5 billion USD). This is almost twice that of conventional high-rise buildings using current technology, but the company hopes to reduce costs by making technological advances in wood-based construction.
— Real Estate Japan
Image: Sumitomo ForestryWooden skyscrapers have been seeing an unprecedented boom phase in recent years, but even the more ambitious projects don't even come close to what Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry, in collaboration with Nikken Sekkei, is proposing to build in Tokyo by the year 2041. ... View full entry
The Japanese answer to the hostel, the capsule hotel, debuted in Osaka in the late 70s as a way to provide cheap, basic overnight accommodation to businessman. Stripped down to the bare necessities of a hotel room, individual pods the size of a single bed are stacked together while also offering... View full entry
The Omoshiro Block is a note pad that unveils itself as it gets used revealing an architecture miniature hidden inside. Using laser-cutting technology, what appears as a regular cube of paper note cards eventually turns into an intricate miniature model. These unique note pads are designed by... View full entry
The first images of MUJI Hotel Shenzhen have been released, and they show that it has been built to reflect the ethos of the brand that is best-known for its minimalist homeware products. [...]
The company says the hotels have been designed to reflect “an anti-gorgeous, anti-cheap” concept. Its goal is to offer great sleep at the right price, provide a space supporting both body and mind while away from home, and connect travellers to local people and places.
— Lonely Planet
Bedroom inside the MUJI HOTEL in Shenzhen.After experimenting with houses for (strictly) dogs and (mostly) humans, Japanese lifestyle design retailer MUJI is now also entering the hospitality sector with two new branded hotels to open in Shenzhen on January 18 and in Beijing on March... View full entry
Dignitaries at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will obviously get the best seats--those made of wood--but ordinary common folk will have to make do with plastic. — Asahi Shimbun
Less than 1 percent of Tokyo's Olympic Stadium seats will be wooden. Those will be allocated for the best views of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track and field events. The country's timber industry has been advocating since 2016 to install wooden seats for all the spectators as a... View full entry
The historic Japanese city of Kumamoto, famous for its picturesque 15th century castle, experienced a damaging earthquake in 2016, leading to the demolition of several of its historic buildings. The World Monument Fund has pledged to help restore the remaining older buildings (although it should... View full entry
As tensions with North Korea flare in light of the news that they may have successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, everyone is scrambling to determine how seriously to take them. Back in May, when North Korea began testing nuclear weapons with growing... View full entry
In Japan, small companies offering custom-built underground nuclear shelters claim a boost in sales in recent weeks. Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, based in Kobe, western Japan, told Reuters it typically receive six shelter-building orders a year, but has received eight orders in April alone. Another company, Earth Shift, says it has received 10 times more inquiries for quotes this year. — Quartz
North Korea has been busy launching missiles and testing nuclear weapons the past few weeks—and their flexing of power on the international stage has many worried. As fear of global conflict increases, their neighbor, Japan, is left particularly vulnerable due to its proximity to North Korea and... View full entry
There is Makoto Yamaguchi’s Polygon House, a quasi-Brutalist geode of distressed steel and glass that perches on a hill in a forest like an abandoned space pod; the concrete, glass and larch wood Omizubata N House by Iida Archiship Studio, as well as TNA’s Passage, Ring and Stage House(s) — T Magazine
Hanya Yanagihara visited the mountain town of Karuizawa, which has a collection of houses designed by prominent Japanese architects. View full entry