Postwar Japan and the Search for National Identity

The heavy appropriation of traditional premodern Japanese architecture by modern architects began just after the Allied Occupation of Japan ended in 1952. This effort sought to connect the contemporary architecture of modernist Japanese architects-often built using concrete and other modern materials-with traditional, premodern Japanese styles. Elements reminiscent of the Ise and Izumo Shrines as well as the Shosoin storehouse (or the "Imperial Storehouse") at Nara can be seen in such important and renowned structures as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum designed by Kenzo Tange, the Kyoto International Conference Hall designed by Sachio Otani, and the Japan Vilene Co., Ltd. Shiga Factory, designed by Ichiro Ebihara. The architects who designed these modern buildings-Tange, Otani and Ebihara-were driven to look back to premodern Japanese architecture like that of the eighth century during the postwar years by a desire to recreate and articulate a national identity that was uniquely Japanese, untainted by aspects of recent Japanese history, such as the military defeat, occupation, and economic crash surrounding World War II.