JAPAN STYLE
Architecture + Interiors + Design

Geeta Mehta and Kimie Tada. Photographs by Noboru Murata. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2005.

Soft cover with French flaps, 9” x 12”, 224 pages, color photographs.

Condition: Like New. A new, unread copy with a bit of shelf wear to the covers. No remainder mark.

Japanese homes speak to the soul and appear to hold time still. They provide a quiet and contemplative base from which to experience the world. Japan Style offers rare glimpses into twenty exquisite homes in Japan today. The lavish photographs in this book demonstrate clearly how Japanese architectural design achieves an expansive quality of space using a few simple, natural elements.

Wood is the preferred building material in Japan. The country’s Shinto roots have inculcated a deep understanding of and respect for nature. The houses in this book are a wonderful reminder that there are wonderful alternatives to “big is beautiful,” and that eternity is not about using permanent building materials.

The ideal of wabi-sabi, translated loosely by Frank Lloyd Wright as “rusticity and simplicity that borders on loneliness," is considered the epitome of sophistication in Japanese design. The houses featured in this book are important not only for the Japanese but for all of us. They invite us to rethink the wisdom of our unsustainable modern lifestyles. Contrary to Le Corbusier’s adage, a traditional Japanese house is not a “machine to live in,” but a home for the soul.

This quintessential Japanese style is illustrated by a 100-year-old rural minka farmhouse, a tiny merchant’s townhouse in Kyoto, a sprawling country mansion, and a modern concrete cottage. This book offers insights for architects and home owners by giving surprising alternatives that are relevant to the design of modem homes anywhere in the world today.