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Abstract
This paper reviews the development of conservation legislation in Japan. Three distinct periods of activity are shown between 1897 and the present. Currently, the key issues are the small number of areas and buildings conserved, and the conflict in central and local government between town planning and cultural property.
... On the downside, intense urban redevelopment and regeneration lead to a gradual loss of historic cityscapes with neighborhoods that are sometimes barely recognizable from one generation to another. To protect historic urban environments, regulations aimed at preserving groups of historic buildings have been implemented through the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (three inter-war laws consolidated in 1950, Asano, 1999) [20]. Protected areas are usually former samurai towns, merchant towns, and/or streets that must be designated as preservation districts by local municipalities, but this process is done quite rarely [21]. ...
... On the downside, intense urban redevelopment and regeneration lead to a gradual loss of historic cityscapes with neighborhoods that are sometimes barely recognizable from one generation to another. To protect historic urban environments, regulations aimed at preserving groups of historic buildings have been implemented through the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (three inter-war laws consolidated in 1950, Asano, 1999) [20]. Protected areas are usually former samurai towns, merchant towns, and/or streets that must be designated as preservation districts by local municipalities, but this process is done quite rarely [21]. ...
The Japanese city presents a certain number of peculiarities in the organization of its physical space (weak zoning regulations, fast piecemeal destruction/reconstruction of buildings and blocks, high compacity, incremental reorganization). Compared to countries where urban fabrics are more perennial and easily distinguishable (old centers, modern planned projects, residential areas, etc.), in Japanese metropolitan areas we often observe higher heterogeneity and more complex spatial patterns. Even within such a model, it should be possible to recognize the internal organization of the physical city. The aim of this paper is thus to study the spatial structure of the contemporary Japanese city, generalizing on the case study of Osaka and Kobe. In order to achieve this goal, we will need to identify urban forms at different local scales (building types, urban fabrics) and to analyze them at a wider scale to delineate morphological regions and their structuring of the overall layout of the contemporary Japanese city. Several analytical protocols are used together with field observations and literature. The results, and more particularly the building and urban fabrics types and their location within the Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area, are interpreted in the light of Japanese history and model of urbanization. A synoptic graphical model of an urban morphological structure based upon Osaka is produced and proposed as an interpretative pattern for the Japanese metropolitan city in general.
... Today, the building is no longer water-tight, there is no hot water, many abandoned capsules have moldy and fallen ceilings and walls, and make-shift water proofing contraptions made of plastic bags and tubes are commons sights in the hallways. 1 A few of the capsule owners today, are passionately attached the design of the original capsules and do not want the buildings to evolve and the capsules renewed (Kuchrek 2007). Ironically, this desire for conservation is counter to the architect's original Metabolist concept. ...
... As common in other parts of the world, property rights and the profits associated with them are often the barrier to preservation of buildings. The owner must consent to the designation of Traditional Buildings Conversation District (TBCD) for the benefit of the public over the private (Asano 1999). The challenges of obtaining a historic preservation building status for a modern building is not just limited to Japan. ...
Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972) by Kisho Kurokawa has been at the center of a preservation debate for over a decade. In the Metabolist spirit of continual growth, the architect designed the capsule living units to be replaced every 25 years while the concrete cores were to permanently remain. In the 43 years since its completion, no replacement has taken place. The building is in an advanced state of decay and neglect, but a strong voice of opposition from architects worldwide has continued to postpone demolition. A point of contention is that it has not reached a 50-year mark at which a work of architecture could, having proven its significance on its own, qualify for protection as historic landmark in Japan. The reason for Nakagin Capsule Tower's ultimate demolition, ironically, may be its inability to live up to its principals that made it landmark-worthy in the first place – the idea of the metabolic cycle, interchangeability, and adaptability. The paper will question preservation of a building which materialized ideals and principals that are culturally significant and yet did not economically and physically survive for 50 years. Furthermore, it will examine what it means to preserve a building such as the Nakagin Capsule Tower that was built upon the ideas of both permanence and impermanence.
... On the downside, intense urban redevelopment and regeneration lead to a gradual loss of historic cityscapes with neighborhoods that are sometimes barely recognizable from one generation to another. To protect historic urban environments, regulations aimed at preserving groups of historic buildings have been implemented through the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (three inter-war laws consolidated in 1950, Asano, 1999). Protected areas are usually former samurai towns, merchant towns and/or streets that must be designated as preservation districts by local municipalities, but this process is done quite rarely (Okata and Murayama, 2011). ...
The Japanese city presents a certain number of peculiarities in the organization of its physical space (weak zoning regulations, fast piecemeal destruction/reconstruction of buildings and blocks, high compacity, incremental reorganization). Compared to countries where urban fabrics are more perennial and easily distinguishable (old centers, modern planned projects, residential areas, etc.), in Japanese metropolitan areas we often observe higher heterogeneity and more complex spatial patterns. Even within such a model, it should be possible to recognize the internal organization of the physical city. The aim of this paper is thus to study the spatial structure of the contemporary Japanese city, generalizing on the case study of Osaka and Kobe. In order to achieve this goal, we will need to identify urban forms at different local scales (building types, urban fabrics) and to analyze them at a wider scale to delineate morphological regions and their structuring of the overall layout of the contemporary Japanese city. Several analytical protocols are used together with field observations and literature. The results, and more particularly the building and urban fabrics types and their location within the Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area, are interpreted in the light of Japanese history and model of urbanization. A synoptic graphical model of an urban morphological structure based upon Osaka is produced and proposed as an interpretative pattern for the Japanese metropolitan city in general.
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, Japan has been experiencing an unprecedented decline in population that is expected to accelerate over the coming decades. Rural areas, in particular, have been at the cutting edge of this demographic transition as young people often out-migrate to urban areas to pursue education and career opportunities and to explore spaces and lifeways viewed as cosmopolitan and international. At the same time, some urbanites have decided to either return to the rural climes of their upbringing or move there for the first time to start small businesses. And rural communities have attempted to attract large projects, such as the International Linear Collider, that it is hoped will draw in new people, prevent younger people from out-migrating, and bolster local economies. A combination of individual and institutional entrepreneurial activities is changing the social and geographical landscape of rural Japan and reinventing that space as one that blends perceptions and experiences of the urban and rural, cosmopolitan and rustic.
While there has been considerable research on rural Japan and numerous studies that focus on entrepreneurs, only limited attention has been paid to the intersection of entrepreneurial activities in rural Japan and the ways in which entrepreneurs more generally are contributing to the re-formation of rural space and place. This ethnographic study develops the concept of cosmopolitan rurality as a social and geographical space that cannot be characterized as either urban or rural nor as specifically cosmopolitan or rustic. In the “rural” Japan of the early twenty-first, as in many other parts of the industrial world, we see the emergence of a new type of social context forming a hybrid space of neo-rurality that brings together people and ideas reflecting local, national, and global frames of experience. One of the key drivers behind this hybrid space is expressed in entrepreneurial activities by locals to generate an entrepreneurial ecosystem that it is hoped can attract new people and ideas while retaining ideational and geographical elements associated with traditional values and spaces.
Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st-Century Japan is an important book for Asian studies, rural studies, anthropology, and the study of entrepreneurialism.
The ancient civilization of Japan, with its Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, is also closely associated with all that is new and modern. Looking outward, Japan sees what it has become since Hiroshima: the world's second-largest economy, a source of fury and wonder, a power without arms. Looking inward, Japan sees old ways shaken and new ones developing at a hectic pace. Japan in the Twenty-first Century offers compelling insights into the current realities of the country and investigates the crucial political, economic, demographic, and environmental challenges that face the nation. A combination of text, maps, and photographs provides an essential understanding of Japan's geography, cultural heritage, demography, economic and political development, and of many other important issues. Pradyumna P. Karan explores the obstacles and opportunities that will shape Japan and affect the world community in the coming years. He highlights strategies and policies that will facilitate economic and political change and stimulate the development of effective institutions for long-term, sustainable prosperity and economic vitality. Unique field reports drawn from direct observations of events and places in Japan illuminate Japanese traditions and sensibilities. The first full-length English-language textbook on Japan's geography, culture, politics, and economy to appear in nearly four decades, Japan in the Twenty-first Century will be a vital resource for researchers, academics, general readers, and students of Japan. Pradyumna P. Karan, professor of geography and Japan studies at the University of Kentucky, is the author or editor of numerous books on Asian geography and culture, including The Japanese City and Japan in the Bluegrass. Copyright © 2005 by the University Press of Kentucky. All rights reserved.
Five aspects of urban morphology in Japan are reviewed. First, the study of castle towns is considered in terms of both the compositional principles and generative processes of these towns. Secondly, research on historical Machinami and Machiya is examined with a view to establishing a set of guidelines and theories for urban conservation. Thirdly, a revision of perspectives on the modernization of urban form and spaces between the latenineteenth century and the middle of the twentieth century is proposed. Fourthly, investigations are described of over-populated urban areas, including those on the periphery of large cities, in relation to the potential of the Machizukuri movement as a method of upgrading such areas. Finally, the particularities of Japanese methods in designing and planning are examined with a view to overcoming the sterile view that to modernize is necessarily to Westernize.
Townscape preservation (machinami hozon) and environmental protection first came to public awareness in Japan in the late 1960s, triggered by the enormous damage to the natural environment as well as to townscapes caused by the drive towards rapid economic growth since the mid-1950s. In 1976 the Japanese government acknowledged the first seven 'Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings' (IPDs). Twenty years later, there are 44 IPDs heading a widespread movement towards townscape preservation at the local level. Although faced with many economic, legal, administrative and taxation obstacles, the movement continues to gain importance in urban planning, and it may one day be possible to say that machinami hozon started at the beginning of the 1990s.