When: FRI SEP 18 to THU OCT 01 , 2020
Duration: 14 days/ 13 nights from Tokyo to Tokyo.
Minimum 4 people Maximum 6 people

Fee:  includes choice accommodation, dinners and most breakfasts,

admission to the attractions, additional transport cost.

​

Fully escorted by an Australian guide who speaks the language fluently and can sing all the tunes

from "Strategies against Architecture 1, 2 & 3" by heart.           

Not included: JR pass, lunch, international airfare, airport transfers and insurance.

This tour will take you to see the traditional and modern architectural splendour of Japan.

We will spend ample time at open air museums which preserve some of the period pieces

from Edo, Meiji, Showa periods.

Works of modern architects we will see include :

Flank Lloyd Wright (sic), Tadao Ando, Yoshio Taniguchi,  Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins,

Kisho Kurokawa, Toyo Ito, Yoshio Taniguchi, Bon Jour Caux, Terunobu Fujimori, Kenzo Tange,

Kengo Kuma, Makoto Tanijiri, Hiroshi Hara, Tachu “King of Towers” Naito and many more.

​

Click HERE to get a glimpse of the VISUALS you will see on the tour

 

Pre tour TBA – we can assist – just ask !

 

Day 1 (FRI SEP 18) TOKYO
Good Morning ! Getting together in downtown Tokyo, we then walk to our hotel and check in.

The hotel is one of a few pre-war buildings that survived the fire-bombing of Tokyo during the war, wanton destruction during the building boom decades,

and is still standing and operating to give us an architectural taste of bygone days.

We will be staying here until Monday.

 

Our architectural exploration around Tokyo begins at the Tokyo railway station (Kingo Tatsuno) doing some houseworks and marveling at the recently restored gateway to the city.
Then to a marine park (Yoshio Taniguchi) or a Hokusai gallery  (Sejima Kazuyo) depending on the mood of the day. If we are peckish, we might drop in a bakery cafe (Ryue Nishizawa).

Most evenings, we will explore downtown areas for funky dining experiences including

a visit to an authentic down to earth tempura restaurant, a Southeast Asian diner with 30, 000 vinyl records, a world cuisine restaurant, and whatever else is hot and cool at the time in Tokyo.

​

Day 2 (SAT SEP 19) TOKYO

Today, we will stroll around Ginza, a district full of excellent architectures, old and new,  including Nakagin Capsle (Kisho Kurokawa), NICOLAS G. HAYEK CENTER (Shigeru Ban), Ginza Maison Hermes Shop (Renzo Piano), MIKIMOTO Ginza2 (Toyoo Ito), Tiffany Ginza (Kengo Kuma), Ginza Six (Yoshio Taniguchi), Tokyo branch office of Shizuoka broadcasting and newspaper (Kenzo Tange), Ginza Place (Klein and Dytham) and Ginza Okuno Bldg.

​

In between all these, we will go to one of the oldest cafes in Japan, opened in 1911, and has been frequented by the noted journalists, authors artists and many other culture types, local and overseas visitors including Al Einstein, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

We may finish the day at a bar to sample a bit of FLWright.

Day 3 (SUN SEP 20) TOKYO

We keep the FLWright mood going, and today, we visit one of the two still standing in Japan,

an old girls' school building. Then to Ikebukuro, lunch, catch Laview(Sejima) to Tokorozawa,

then to Kokubunji on Chuo line, then to Tokyo tatemono en for the afternoon.

Later on, we look at a public music and culture venue (Toyoo Ito) in the area,

before having a dinner at a Southeast Asian diner with 30, 000 vinyl records. Any request?

​

Day 4 (MON SEP 21) TOKYO/NAGOYA
We will wonder around the Omote Sando/Minami Aoyama area and

sample more of architectural splendors such as Dior Omotesando (SANaa), ToDs (Ito),

Sunny Hills (Kuma), Nezu art gallery (Kuma) and Watarium gallery (Mario Botta).

OR we do a Tange tour, depending on the mood of the day, around the town including

the National gym, UN university and the Kuwait embassy, if it is not yet demolished.

​

Late in the afternoon, we will travel to Nagoya.
After checking in, we will go out for dinner, and along the way,

check out Nagoya tower (Tachu Naito) and Oasis 21 (Obayashi kumi).

​

We will be staying in Nagoya until Thurs, and the dinner will be selections of famed Nagoya cuisine,

such as miso katsu, miso nikomi and tebayaki, all that you cannot find outside Nagoya!

Enjoy them while you can. Our accom will be architecturally interesting, we think you will agree.

Day 5 (TUE SEP 22) NAGOYA

After breakfast, we will travel to Yoro to spend the morning in the Site of Reversible Destiny

(Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins) where there is absolutely no piece of flat land.

It is an art complex with interesting architectural experiments.

Later in the day, we go and check out a public housing complex. A public housing complex?

Supervised by Arata Isozaki, four wings desplay the splendid and distinctive works of four female architects, Sejima, Akiko Takahashi, Elizabeth Diller and Christine Hawley.

A model example perhaps, of what a housing complex should be like.

Day 6 (WED SEP 23) NAGOYA
We will spend all day in Meiji-mura, the open air museum of architecture where you will

see many preserved buildings of significance from the Meiji period preserved,

including a part of the Tokyo Imperial Hotel (FLW).

Just so much to see, so we will come back here again next day.

Day 7 (THU SEP 24) NAGOYA/OSAKA
We will spend another day in Meiji-mura before we move to Osaka in the late afternoon.

Or if we have seen enough of Meiji-mura, or depending the weather,

we will go and check out a tiles museum (Terunobu Fujimori).

​

We have our eye on kitsch splendiferous accommodation, and an evening stroll to

the awesome Sky Building (Hiroshi Hara) before the dinner.

Whatever you do, just keep looking up, not down!

Osaka is famous for its own cuisine and we will take you where you can sample some

and more during the stay.

 

Day 8 (FRI SEP 25) OSAKA

Today's feature architecture include Tsutenkaku (Naito), Abeno Harukus (César Pelli)

and Namba Parks (Jon Jerde), the retro kitsch tower, the tallest building in the country,

and the bold architectural experiment where nature culture and commerce flourish in harmony,

and anything in between.

 

Day 9 (SAT SEP 26) OSAKA
This morning, we will inspect old farmhouses preserved at an open-air museum of old farmhouses.

They are relocated from all over the country, representing the regional architectural styles.

Afternoon at leisure, before dinner, we will head down to check out a steampunk bar for a quick drink.

 

Day 10 (SUN SEP 27) OSAKA

In the morning we will visit the site of Expo 1970 which is back to the future -

and see the iconic tower of the sun (Taro Okamoto) and the national museum of ethnology (Kurokawa).

In the afternoon, we will visit the world's most expensive garbage processing plants

(designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser) where we would like you to ask the ultimate question,

“is this art or is this rubbish?”

​

We may have just enough time to check out (or check in, anyone?)

the world's first ever capsule hotel (Kurokawa), opened in 1979. See how the "metabolism" works.

 

Day 11 (MON SEP 28) On the road to IMABARI and architecture island
After breakfast, we travel to Imabari, and catch the train under the one of the longest bridges

in the world, the Seto-Ohashi.  Dropping our belongings at our accom, a traditional Japanese ryokan,

we then head to Omishima island.  Here we will see the Toyoo Ito Museum of architecture (Ito).

​

Also on the island, there are a few other galleries also designed by Ito,

which exhibit Japanese paintings and sculptures.

Dinner features fresh fish from the Inland sea right in front of the ryokan.

Cannot be any fresher than that.

Day 12 (TUE SEP 29) IMABARI and to UCHIKO

Today we spend a day around Imabari, we will leisurely stroll around and

sample some of the early works of Kenzo Tange who spent his formative years in the town.

Nothing extravagant or extraordinary like his government office building in Tokyo.
There are seven buildings designed by him, mostly during the 60s and 70s, dotted in the city,

including the City Hall and City Hall annex.
In the vicinity there are some fine examples of Kuma, Makoto Tanijiri, Hara and so on.

​

We will spend the whole day, checking out works of these well-known architects in one city.
In the afternoon, we travel to Uchiko, the town that retains one of the best old streetscapes.

To absorb the atmosphere to the max, we will be staying at the old house of a Japanese beer baron

who was born in this town. Not a party venue, but we will have a whole house to enjoy

the silence of the well-looked-after Japanese garden.

How's the serenity? Did we hear that?

 

Day 13 (WED SEP 30) UCHIKO
We stroll around Uchiko in the morning (at leisure).
We get together in the afternoon and go to Saka No Ueno Kumo museum in Matsuyama (Tadao Ando),
then back to Uchiko for our last night together.

 

Day 14 (THU OCT 01) Back to TOKYO

Today, we are heading back to Tokyo. At Marugame, on the way, we will make a brief stop to

check out MIMOCA - the Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Arts (Taniguchi).
After lunch and the museum, we resume our way back to Tokyo by bullet train.

We will arrive there at around 7.30pm.

The tour ends there and we can assist you to get to the airport, or other onward arrangements.

​

One of our suggestions for post "Strategies" tour is our sister tour "Kumano my house" which takes you to the world heritage listed pilgrimage road and beyond. "Kumano" starts right after the "Strategies" (or you can do the Kumano before the "Strategies"). Any questions? Just ask us please.

​

​

​

​