International

The year 1988 commemorating the fourth generation since the Meiji Restoration of 1868 defined Japan's position-political, economic, and cultural-in the modern world. This period of history, which witnessed the rise, defeat, and rebirth of contemporary Japan, gave rise to a distinctive and important architectural style. David Stewart explores the modern Japnese ideals by interrogating the early and, then, the mature works of Kazuo Shinohara and Arata Isozaki-linking the buildings of these years with a surge of interest in phenomenology, a fascination with the techniques of Russian formalism, and even a Japnese rereading of Proust. Finally, Stewart gives an explication of "Japnese Space."