Zen Spaces & Neon Places: Reflections on Japanese Architecture and Urbanism

Moving across Japanese history in time and space—from its ancient Shinto beginnings to its largest recorded earthquake, and from the spiritual calm of Ise and Ryoanji to the psychedelic consumerism of Shinjuku and Ginza—Zen Spaces in Neon Places is the first book to catch all of the dimensions and sensations of the Japanese built environment: its architecture and urbanism; its historic buildings and cities; its digital streetscapes and mega-structures; its hyper-speed trains and theme parks; and its concurrent cultures of kinky love hotels and contemplative tea ceremonies. Zen Spaces also looks back at the vital defining moments in the culture's recent history—the reforestation policy of the Tokugawa, the entry of European influences, the insinuation of Western democracy, the expansion and collapse of the economic bubble—and the transformative effects they have had on the Japanese built world.

Combining two decades of author Vinayak Bharne's scholarship, fieldwork, and personal experience, this landmark volume evokes the bewildering and contradictory built world of Japan, and weaves together its delicate and raw intellectual textures into a unique reading experience.