Japan Signature Series Tour

References

General

Reading

• Roger Davies, (ed.) The Japanese Mind; Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture Tuttle 2002

• Yuichiro Edagawa, Japanese Creativity; Contemplations on Japanese Architecture, Jovis, 2018

• D.T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture, 2019

• Joan Stanley Baker, Japanese Art, Thames and Hudson, 2014

• Mira Locher, Japanese Architecture; An exploration of Elements and Forms, 2015

• Jun'ichirō Tanizaki In Praise of Shadows, Vintage Press, originally published in 1933

• Extract from In Praise of Shadows, about the Japanese Toilet!

Tokyo

Day 2 - Omotosando Architectural Walk - References

Day 3 - Team Lab

Extra places you might like to visit

Harajuku / Omotosando

• GA Gallery Book store - https://shop.ga-tbc.co.jp/ nearby Harajuku Station. For all your architecture book needs. Has a small gallery attached, totally for Architecture and Design nerds!

• Wara Tako - Takoyaki stand in Cat St! Standing in the street eating Octopus Balls on a paper tray!!

Ebisu

• Generally very cool shopping around here for Japanese brand clothes. Look out for the Shibuya Toilets in the area.

• Daikanyama T-Site Tsutaya Books - Great book store with coffee and wine if you want it, plan on spending about 45 minutes here I’d say. Designed by Klein Dytham Architects. https://trulytokyo.com/daikanyama-t-site-tsutaya/

• Tokyo Photographic Art Museum - https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1712/

  Ginza - Tokyo Central Station

• Cotton Club Jazz venue. Upmarket, supper club type experience. You’ll need to book for this one. https://www.cottonclubjapan.co.jp/jp/

• Yakatori Alley – Ginza https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/yakitori-alley-in-yurakucho/14087

• Kitta – A shopping centre, but you’ll love it. Lots of great stuff to buy here. Easy walk from Tokyo Central Station > Super recommend for shopping all in one place. Google maps ref. https://www.google.com/maps?q=35.679784,139.765058, good website, https://whereintokyo.com/venues/25639.html

  Shibuya

• The Tokyo Toilet,https://tokyotoilet.jp/en/

• Yonbei Nococho - Drunkards Alley Tiny Bars - more info here

• Miyashita park -More info here… only recently opened, its Shibuya’s newest “situation”… good for cheap drinks and snacks on the ground level, and interesging park life on the roof including skateboard ramps and at the moment a pop up store for the Baseball!

  Ropponggi

• 21 21 C Design Site - Design Museum by Tadao Ando, always has good exhibitions, and not too far from the National Art Centre Tokyo (also worth a visit), but the current exhibiiton ends on the 8th of March, so you gotta get this one early if you are arriving in Tokyo before we start the tour!. https://www.2121designsight.jp/en/

• The National Art Centre Tokyo, A large Gallery, with a big collection of contemporary works from Japan and around the world. https://www.nact.jp/english/

Hakone

• Day 4 Enoura Observatory - more info here

• Day 5 Pola Museum and Hakone Open Air Museum

Kyoto

Days 6 and 7

…for the morning off

• Tokufuji Temple

• Sanju-san-gen-do - Temple with 1000 buddist statues

• Ryoanji Temple - The quintessential Zen Temple and garden focused on the raked stone garden with 14 stones. UNESCO World Heritage Site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dan-ji

• Arashiyama, Bamboo Grove and foot bath! - The Bamboo forest is a good experience, lots of shops with sweets, but the foot bath located on the local rail line train platform is a must! For just a few Yen, this is so quirky and Japanese.

• Kiyomizu-dera, A spectacular temple standing on impossible timber coloumns in the hills overlooking Kyoto. If you plan to visit, go early, it gets busy. https://www.kiyomizudera.or.jp/en/

Some background reading

• The Garden - Symbolism & Esthetics, IN THE TRADITIONAL JAPANESE GARDEN: AN INTRODUCTION by Dr. Koichi Kawana

• Beauty to the Modernist Eyes: Katsura Imperial Villa as an Experience of Modernism and Modernity by Sa Xiao, Photography and Culture Journal, 2023, link here

Naoshima / Teshima

Days 8 and 9

• The Naoshima File… (Anthony’s slide show/talk) pdf

• Miyanoura Port Terminal, SANAA, https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/terminal-de-transbordadores-de-naoshima-kagawa-10

• Teshima Art Museum, AV Magazine article, good overview including the construction process, link here.

• Tadao Ando, Pritzker Prize 1995 Laureate Biography

Some background Reading

• The Japanese Island that was saved by Art, BBC 30 May 2025, Simon Richmond, https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250529-the-japanese-island-that-was-saved-by-art

• Benesse Art Site,main website. Lots of good info here.

• Island Odessey, Disegno, link here, good info included Teshima and Inujima

• Tadao Ando, MoMA, On Tadao Ando’s early work, by Keneth Frampton, a famous Architectural Historian as part of a MoMA exhibition on Ando’s work, 1991

Osaka

Day 10 and 11

• Himeji Castle, UNESCO statement of cultural significance

• Awaji Temple, Hopukuji, a good overview here