KA ME RA: Modern Japanese Architecture through the Photographer's Lens

This book of two halves is at once a gallery of jaw-dropping modern Japanese buildings and an in-depth explanation of how the photographs of them were made.

Japanese architecture fans are introduced in this book to the nine photographers who have been instrumental in shaping the way we view the country's spectacular post-war buildings. Through its pages we can 'visit' these astonishing structures through the eyes – and camera lenses – of these remarkable artists.

But can documenting buildings in this way ever be entirely neutral? Author and Japanese architecture expert Ari Seligmann examines the post-Second World War evolution of architectural photography in Japan as a vehicle for considering both universal and particular issues in how we view the world around us through images. Through a veritable feast of exquisitely printed pictures, he grapples with the scope of architectural photography, recognising that it is more than making marketing images for architects and magazines, but not quite historical record.

Combining photobook, biography, and architectural photo history, the book traces developments in one of the most exciting architectural contexts anywhere in the world. Japanese architecture is globally recognised through the circulation of architectural photographs, but Japanese architectural photographers have had almost no global recognition, until now.

Profiled photographers:
Yoshio Watanabe (1907-2000) • Chuji Hirayama (1909-2005) • Akio Kawasumi (1923-2007) • Osamu Murai (1928-2016) • Yukio Futagawa (1932-2013) • Tomio Ohashi (1932-2017) • Kiyoshi Takai (1938-) • Shuji Yamada (1939-) • Mistumasa Fujitsuka (1939-)

About the Author

Ari Seligmann is the deputy head of Monash University in Australia’s architecture department, a frequent research visitor to Japan and author of books including Japanese Modern Architecture 1920-2015: Developments and Dialogues.