America and Japan : influences and impacts of Westernization on Japanese architecture

Abstract

Traditional Japanese architecture is among the finest in the world. Japan's isolation allowed its traditions and customs to be refined over centuries, whereas the origins of American architecture reside in European styling. When Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1853, he opened Japan up to an influx of Western culture that transformed it into a modern nation. Japan's struggle to find a modern identity and to reconcile Western and traditional architecture is examined from 1853 to the present.