Japan 2000

Japanese architecture and design acquired international prominence during the boom of the 1980s. Japanese products were sold in record numbers throughout the world and, together with Japanese architecture, became synonymous with high-quality and aesthetics. "Japan 2000: Architecture and Design for the Japanese Public" has been written by Japanese and American architects and designers. In a series of in-depth essays, this lavishly illustrated book presents the architectural and design era of the post-boom 1990s in Japan to a Western audience for the first time. The architecture section focuses on the rapidly expanding public building sector in Japan today. Using some of the most spectacular examples as a basis for their analysis, the athors examine the Japanese government's role in architecture as well as the historical background of postwar building. In the design section, roughly half the objects featured are award winners in the Good Design Selection System competition, which has done much to raise the standards of design in Japan and is a central theme to this volume.
The other half of the objects result from collaborative efforts between industrial designers and traditional craftsmen and are not mass-produced. This reflects the growing concern in Japan to preserve traditional art forms and to revive, or redefine, a specifically Japanese aesthetic. Each section is accompanied by a series of colour and black-and-white illustrations, and future projects are also included.