In an essay featured in his book Design as Art published in 1966, the artist and designer Bruno Munari praised the simplicity, brightness, and adaptability of a traditional Japanese house, completely amazed by both the functionality and the materials. Now, Mihoko Iida explores the contemporary craftsmanship and art of residential interior spaces in Japanese homes, from playful urban apartments to minimalist mountain weekend houses. Japanese Interiors demonstrates various philosophies and aesthetic principles of ever-evolving (yet timeless) Japanese interior design.
Whether you’re interested in Japanese culture and lifestyle or simply looking for some interior design inspirations, in Japanese Interiors published by Phaidon, Mihoko Iida provides an insider’s look into modern private houses from all over Japan, correcting misconceptions about Japanese design and its assumed minimalism and neutrality. Featuring 28 exemplary houses or apartments designed by some of the country’s top architects, Iida examines how Japanese design is aspirational, functional, and far from sparse.
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Book cover, Japanese Interiors by Mihoko Iida, with contributions by Danielle Demetriou. Phaidon, 2022. Courtesy of the publisher.
Japanese Interiors by Mihoko Iida, with contributions by Danielle Demetriou, pages 28-29. Phaidon, 2022. Courtesy of the publisher.
Japanese Interiors by Mihoko Iida, with contributions by Danielle Demetriou, pages 120-121. Phaidon, 2022. Courtesy of the publisher.
Japanese Interiors by Mihoko Iida, with contributions by Danielle Demetriou, pages 166-167. Phaidon, 2022. Courtesy of the publisher.
Japanese Interiors by Mihoko Iida
The cover of the book references Japanese paper screens.
Japanese Interiors
Peninsula House in the Kanto region was designed by Mount Fuji Architects Studio in 2018. Its monolithic concrete structure looks like it’s almost suspended in the air.
Japanese Interiors
House in Miyamoto, Osaka designed in 2017 by Tato Architects thrives on, surprisingly, a completely open space; its interior has neither private rooms nor storage. Instead, the owners’ belongings are out in the open to be cherished and enjoyed, instead of being hidden away.
Japanese Interiors
Inokashira House in Tokyo designed by Takashi and Mana Kobayashi in 2016 allows the couple to live and work in a forest from the urban center of Tokyo. The house overlooks the trees from a nearby park, the views captured by glass windows and glass roofs.
Interior design in Japan is not understood the same way it is in the West—Japanese interior design does not revolve around the colors of the walls nor the choice of décor and furnishings. Rather, it is driven by the exterior: the sunlight, the greenery, the mountains, or the coastline. The natural elements are engrained in people’s minds when they think of the interior. Therefore the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces is extremely important, which comes as no surprise in a country with weather prone to seasonal typhoons and land vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Home, according to the Japanese way of living, should be a place of safety and comfort before it is a place of beauty.
Furthermore, contrary to Western ideas about the space as an extension of an individual, in Japanese interiors, there is a value in communal functionality. It is common to think about the group before thinking about the individual when considering the space. This impacted the expectations of a Japanese interior.
Plain concrete walls by architects such as Tadao Ando have become synonymous with the so-called Japanese style, but that isn’t necessarily true. In response to the prevalence of minimalism as a dominating force within Japanese homes in the global eye, Iida reveals the truth about Japanese interiors and the problems emerging from the extremities of consumerism in modern Japanese society and the minimalistic approach to life and possessions rooted in Zen Buddhism. Contemporary Japanese reality is conceived on both the abundance derived from popular culture and the historical tradition of the “The less you have, the less you have to worry about” (according to Buddha). The minimalist homes inspired by shrines coexist in Japan with extremely small, cluttered condos inhabited by Tokyoites.
The cover of the book referencing Japanese paper screen is a cherry on top of this book: as always, Phaidon delivers an extremely aesthetically pleasing tome that goes well with their other titles on Japanese design. Each entry from Japanese Interiors is illustrated by gorgeous, full-spread photos of the estates bringing attention to both the architecture and little design details.
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Koji Fujii, Chochikukyo, 1928, Ōyamazaki, Japan. Photo courtesy Takenaka Corporation/Photo Taizo Furukaw (page 194). Courtesy of the publisher.
Tato Architects, House in Miyamoto, 2017, Osaka, Japan. Photo © Shinkenchiku-sha (pages 120). Courtesy of the publisher.
Chochikukyo
Chochikukyo house by architect Koji Fujii is his magnum opus, his very own dream house distilling his key ideas of fusion of Western and Japanese aesthetics.
House in Miyamoto, Osaka
A house of white, open structure in Osaka is a contradiction of minimalism with its space organized into a single room with everything out in the open.
What might seem like a survey of Japanese modern housing is actually an intricate exploration of the space being used and utilized in a way that brings harmony to both the residents and the environment around them. It will certainly make you look at the space we call home differently. Maybe it will make you appreciate little things (such as warm sunlight or gentle breeze) within it more.
Get your copy of Japanese Interiors on the publisher’s website.
- Interior Design
- Japan
- Tokyo
