Searching for Wright in Japan

bryannc · Post by **bryannc** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:12 am

Hello everyone,
I will be traveling to Japan for a week in December. The Imperial Hotel is no longer there. Is there any Wright related buildings/sites that I can visit in Japan, particularly around Tokyo?
For some reason, I have this impression that someone built an Imperial Hotel look alike/replica somewhere in Japan. Anybody knows anything about it?

Thank you for your help.

Bryannc

krietzerjak · Post by **krietzerjak** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:26 am

The entrance and lobby of the Imperial was reconstructed in Nagoya in the Meiji-Mura open air architecture museum. The Yamamura house may be open to visitors, in Hyogo-Ken, Japan. Jiyu Gakuen Girl's School may have areas open to the public, Tokyo.

Andy

RonMcCrea · Post by **RonMcCrea** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:57 am

Check out this web site:

http://www.wrightinjapan.org/

Also, see Karen Severns' film "Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buildings and Legacy in Japan." There are buildings by Wright's associate Arata Endo you could also see, and by architect Antonin Raymond, who worked on the Imperial with Wright and then stayed on to build many more modern buildings.

There is also a deluxe tour planned for the end of next March that will go to several cities, including Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Hakone. It's around $7K not including air fare, and you have to be able-bodied, but it sure would be great.

http://www.wrightwaytravel.org/current- ... japan.html

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:33 am

A book about those "almost Wright" buildings in Japan was published in the 80s, never available in the states. (I saw a copy Kathryn Smith bought in Japan.) Some of the buildings look so convincingly like FLW's work that one might easily conclude he did them, so beware of false claims.

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:57 pm

One such building was the official Prime Minister's residence, built in 1929 and subsequently replaced by a larger building. I don't know if the old one is still there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kantei_1929.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2774/4298 ... 571a_z.jpg

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/vt2/sub/index.html (requires Real Player)

http://blog.buildllc.com/wp-content/upl ... images.jpg

According to the Wright in Japan link above, he actually designed an official residence, though the drawing they show doesn't much resemble the building that was finally built.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:53 pm

These two are open to the public:

Imperial Hotel Lobby, Museum at Meiji-mura, Nagoya, Japan: http://www.meijimura.com/english/

Jiyugakuen Myonichikan, 2-31-3, Nishiikebukuro Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan: http://www.jiyu.jp/tatemono/index-e.html

Antonin Raymond stayed in Japan after Wright returned to the USA. He and Wright's other Japanese apprentices probably account for those other "Wrightian" buildings in Japan.

bryannc · Post by **bryannc** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 9:09 pm

Thank you so much for those helpful information. I appreciate it.

Bryannc

krietzerjak · Post by **krietzerjak** » Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:16 am

I found an interesting website on the Yamamura house. The house is located about 327 miles from Tokyo.

Map and tour information:
http://www.yodoko.co.jp/geihinkan/map/index_e.html

Here is the main page. Be sure to check all the links on here, especially "secrets of guesthouse":
http://www.yodoko.co.jp/geihinkan/index_e.html

Andy

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:55 pm

Interesting factoid about Yamamura: Built after FLW last left Japan, Arata Endo, who was in charge of construction, used FLW's floor plans with English measurements, but drew elevations and sections with Japanese measurements, giving the house an exaggerated height, like a slightly slenderized version of Hollyhock House, to which the design is closely related. It also contains both American-styled rooms and traditional Japanese tatami, shoji, tokonoma rooms.

Palli · Post by **Palli** » Thu Aug 01, 2013 10:58 pm

There are also Apprentices who practice in Japan. Karen Serverns identified an Usonian House with perfs for me as the work of FLLW Apprentice Ryosuke Isoya. He has only a few houses, the one I saw images of was in Mitaka.
The house: http://risoya.at.infoseek.co.jp/work.htm
His site: http://risoya.at.infoseek.co.jp/slidesh ... index.html

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:38 am

Palli,
Neither of those links work for me.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:52 am

Nor me

therman7g · Post by **therman7g** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:02 am

He's a member:

http://www.savewright.org/wright_chat/p ... 0454e28e54

Palli · Post by **Palli** » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:59 am

When therman7g called his work to my attention several years ago the website was operational on a Japanese server... I do hope it is archived somewhere and I hope he is in good health.

Therman7g, Have you archived any images of his Usonian House?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:00 pm

This appeared at Lotta Living, seven years ago . . .

http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5926

SDR