An Investigation into the Technological Urban Landscape of Japan
The failure of research parks to create a successful environment of innovation and integrate into the Japanese landscape is emblematic of the dual vision of the modern endemic to Japan. A successful alternative will synthesize both past and future and revitalise the relationship between the city, the workplace, and the home.
Japan’s historical socio-political complexities have created a dichotomy to the existing conception of modernisation. Japan embraces and epitomizes the global definition of modernity—high tech megacities and leading technological research. Parallel to this, the stories Japan tells itself about its technological affluence—that the nation arose from the restoration of imperialism during the Meiji period—reveal deep attachments to remnants of a feudal past. This ongoing internal conflict of conception can be viewed as a direct result of Japan’s desire for a national identity.
