Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan

The exhibition features 80 examples of buildings, civil engineering works and landscapes, etc., from all the prefectures of Japan, which are introduced through photographs, text and video images. It presents a rarely considered aspect of Japan, taking the built environment of the various of regions of a country that is geographically diverse and often struck by natural disasters, with the aim of examining how Japanese people have engaged and struggled with the natural environment and how they have carried on and created locality.

Curators
Shunsuke Kurakata (Associate professor, Osaka City University)
Satoshi Hachima (Professor, Chiba Institute of Technology)
Kenjiro Hosaka (Curator, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)

Exhibition Design
Hiroshi Kikuchi Architects

Exhibition Graphics
Masahiro Kakinokihara (10inc),Tomomi Nishikawa (10inc)

Dates

2027 first semester Croatia*TBC

2026 second semester Slovakia *TBC

2026 second semester Albania *TBC

2026 first semester North Macedonia*TBC

2026 first semester Bosnia and Herzegovina*TBC

February 27 - May 1, 2026
The Japan Cultural Institute in Rome (Rome, Italy)

November 20, 2025 - January 25, 2026
Centre de design (UQAM) (Montreal, Canada)

October 20 - November 2, 2025
Information and Culture Centre of Japan, Embassy of Japan in Canada (Ottawa, Canada)

August 8 - 29, 2025
University of Calgary, School of Architecture, Planning Scape City Building Design Lab (Calgary, Canada)

March 13 - July 15, 2025
The Japan Foundation, Toronto (Toronto, Canada)

January 26 - February 26, 2025
SCIArc (Southern California Institute of Architecture)（Los Angeles, U.S.A.)

November 7 - December 6, 2024
UNAM (Faculty of Architecture) (Mexico City, Mexico)

October 18 - 28, 2024
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus(Mexico City, Mexico)

September 5 - 29, 2024
National Museum of Anthropology David J. Guzman (San Salvador, El Salvador)

July 27 - August 18, 2024
House of Culture in Puntarenas（Puntarenas, Costa Rica)

June 20 - July 21, 2024
School of Architecture of University of Costa Rica（San Jose, Costa Rica)

May 6 - 30, 2024
Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism of the University of the Republic of Uruguay（Montevideo, Uruguay)

See past exhibition schedule

Photo: Moerenuma Park
Moerenuma Park Isamu Noguchi

Photo: Keihin Industrial Area
Keihin Industrial Area
Photo by Ken OHYAMA

Photo: Koyaguchi Elementary School
Koyaguchi Elementary School
Photo courtesy of Hashimoto City, Wakayama Prefecture

Photo: Hiroshima Naka Incineration Plant
Hiroshima Naka Incineration Plant Yoshio Taniguchi
Photo by Toshiharu Kitajima

Photo: Onagawa Station and Yupo’po
Onagawa Station and Yupo’po Shigeru Ban
Photo courtesy of Onagawa Town

Photo: Nagaoka City Hall Aore
Nagaoka City Hall Aore Kengo Kuma
Photo by Mitsumasa Fujitsuka

Photo: The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project
The Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project
Photo by Takuya Omura

Photo: Hakusui Dam
Hakusui Dam

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