RHIf you had to build a private shelter for yourself, what would it look like?
JAMy personal shelter is made of a new form of skin. It surrounds my body and adjusts itself automatically. Sometimes it’s close to my own skin fitting like a tight glove: soft or hard, invisible or shocking and then again like a chameleon absorbing surrounding colors and patterns. Other times it expands and then I am inside a bubble, a cave, a bunker, a warm room whatever. Maybe it can also turn into a psychic sphere that shields me from negative emotions and energies. The possibilities are endless like nature itself, where plants and animals have developed their own intricate protection systems over millions of years.
RHNow, in 2008, after ten successful years, there are growing signs that Japan’s contemporary architecture is losing ground in the international design world. Japan’s bureaucracy suffocates creativity because of new construction rules. Do you agree?
JAAbsolutely. Japan is moving in a wrong direction. In the eyes of bureaucrats we are the bad guys; they don’t trust us. Out-of-the-norm creations have become suspicious. “We don’t know what those architects are up to,” they say. “We have to watch them closely!” It has become difficult to get innovative approaches approved. Architects don’t want to lose business and so they play it safe. They avoid experiments and stick to standard designs to get constructions quickly approved and to avoid any delays in the construction process.
RHYou mean you belong to that last, lucky generation of Japanese architects that started out in a free creative environment where unusual concepts on paper could be turned into real buildings?
JAYou could say so. Today, young Japanese architects right out of university should seriously consider starting their careers abroad. Now, if my colleagues have the option, they work less here and more in other countries. It is not that they do not like Japan, but they would rather work where their creativity is respected. The result of this new attitude will become visible in Japan in the next six or seven years, with less interesting projects defining our cityscapes.
