A celebration of a unique culture and its experience, this text offers an examination of Japanese design at the start of the new millennium. The country's economic boom of the 1980s produced a surge of interest in land and building, and consequently in design in all its forms. From restaurant interiors to products, from private housing to recreational spaces, design received an unprecedented degree of attention. However the bursting in the early 1990s of this so-called bubble economy has prompted a reexamination of design and its role in urban society. The new environment for design in Japan...

A celebration of a unique culture and its experience of design, this sensitive text is a timely examination of Japanese design at the start of a new century. The country's economic boom in the 1980s produced a surge of interest in land and building, and consequently in design in all its forms. From restaurant interiors to products, from private housing to recreational spaces, design received an unprecedented degree of attention. However the bursting in the early 1990s of this so-called 'bubble' economy has prompted a re-examination of design and its role in urban society.