Join us at the RIAS Bookshop for a wonderful BookshopLATES... evening with author and architect John Barr talking about his book '20th Century Japan in 20 Buildings'. He will be interviewed by RIAS Award 2022 winner, Kieran Gaffney, and there will be an opportunity to talk to John afterwards and have your copy of his book signed.

By selecting specific buildings that have something particular to say about the development of modern Japan, John's book creates a compelling narrative, which places equal emphasis on historical, political, social and economic factors and architectural influences.

Event time: 6.00pm

Date: Wednesday 22nd June

Venue: RIAS Bookshop, 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh, EH1 2BE

Tickets: FREE

*Please let us know in advance if you will require disability access so we can assist you best.

**We kindly ask you to wear your mask until you are seated at the event. Thank you for your cooperation.

Book synopsis:

There is a long history in the West of viewing Japan through the twin lenses of orientalism and exoticism. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the re-opening of Japan after a long period of self-imposed isolation there has been a succession of commentators who have sought to present Japan as somehow ‘other’ and not susceptible to ready understanding. Too often the study of Japanese architecture has followed this pattern or has been presented as a series of visual images that are explained as if they emerged from some unique alchemy of sensitivity and mysticism.

This book argues that Japanese modern architecture emerged from identifiable events: political, social, economic, historical events, and is as susceptible as any other architecture to analysis and criticism in these terms. Episodic rather than encyclopaedic, it does not describe every twist and turn in the development of modern Japanese architecture, but rather, it examines twenty buildings spanning the 20th century and places them in the context of the political, social and economic, as well as the historical and cultural factors that shaped both them and modern Japan. Each building has been chosen because it reflects a major event in the development of modern Japan and its architecture.