History of Japan House

Junzo Yoshimura and Japan Society
Japanese modernist architect Junzo Yoshimura (1908-1997) designed Japan Society’s
headquarters building, also referred to as Japan House, which opened to the public in
September 1971, and was landmarked in March 2011.

The history of Japan Society, Japan House, and Junzo Yoshimura is very much intertwined with
that of John D. Rockefeller 3rd, who revitalized Japan Society after the end of the American
Occupation of Japan, serving as its President from 1952 and then as Chairman from 1970 until
his untimely death in 1978.

Yoshimura was selected as the designer of Japan House primarily through his connections with
the Rockefeller family. As the March 22, 2011 New York City Landmarks Preservation
Commission Report wrote: “Yoshimura was closely associated with the Rockefeller family
throughout his career; he built an exhibition house in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art
in 1954, as well as two structures at the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills.”

From the time of its founding in May 1907 until the opening of Japan House in 1971, Japan
Society occupied nine different locations. By 1965, Japan Society was housed in Asia House,
which Rockefeller had financed after founding the Asia Society in 1956. The shared space was
barely adequate to maintain Japan Society’s programs and staff, leaving no room for expansion
at a time when interest in Japan was burgeoning in both business and the arts. In May 1965,
Executive Director Douglas Overton proposed building an independent headquarters for the
Society, with a particular focus on architecture, noting that “Japan Society—and Japan—
deserves a really significant building, and I feel that we should be prepared to employ a great
architect to do the job. Japan has several world-famous architects (for instance, [Kenzo] Tange
and [Junzo] Yoshimura), none of whom yet has a building in New York.”

At a special meeting on January 26, 1966, the Board decided to build a permanent home for the Society. Land for the new building was pledged by Rockefeller as well as one third of the
construction costs, with the remainder of the funds to be sourced equally from corporate
donors in the United States and Japan. That fall, Yoshimura made a preliminary presentation to
the Building Committee, and in February 1967, the Directors officially chose him as the
architect of the new Japan House.

By late 1967 Yoshimura and George Shimamoto of Gruzen & Partners of New York had drawn
up the final design to be implemented by the Turner Construction Company. A formal
groundbreaking ceremony was held in September 1969 and construction proceeded as
planned. Staff moved into the building in the spring of 1971 to test out the new facilities before
the official opening that fall, including a private runway event by young Japanese fashion
designer Issey Miyake, his first international show.

On September 13, 1971, Japan Society formally opened the doors to Japan House with five star-studded days of celebratory events. Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Hitachi were present at the ceremonies, bringing Japan’s best wishes to the Society. Japan House was very warmly received both by the press and the public. Leah Gordon of The New York Times wrote:
“In an area replete with UN Missions and consulates, this building has no seals, no mottos and
is distinguished only by a slanted, 3-foot iron fence… It is soon apparent that this is no
customary New York architectural atrocity but a sedate, jewel-like structure that, in its quiet
way, commands attention.” The chief appeal of the building—the first building in New York to
be designed by a contemporary Japanese architect—lay in its distinctively Japanese feeling, and
this effect, remarkably, had been accomplished almost entirely with American materials.
At the time of the building’s opening, Yoshimura told the press: “In designing Japan House I
have tried to express in contemporary architecture the spirit of Japan…. In Japan a house and a
garden together make a sort of microcosm, and we Japanese feel a deep need… to be in close
touch with nature…. Thus I have tried to arrange the rooms of Japan House around its gardens
so that the interior spaces and gardens create a harmonious whole…. If the visitor to Japan House senses here the spirit of Japan, I shall be rewarded.”

Although a major renovation and expansion (in two parts) took place between 1990 and 1997,
adding a fifth floor to the original design and—for climate control and security—enclosing the
Gallery space, among other changes, Yoshimura’s original intention for Japan House has
essentially been preserved.

In his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony on September 16, 1969, John D. Rockefeller 3rd
noted that, “As an independent, private organization, the Japan Society can take initiatives not
available to governments. This new House, as the home of the Japan Society, can serve as a
meeting place for the peoples of both countries, from many walks of life, where we can learn
from each other and explore many topics together. Japan House, will, in itself, be a visible
symbol of Japanese-American partnership.”

From the moment a visitor opens Japan Society’s doors, they enter into Yoshimura’s timeless
design for Japan House. The building still has in active use many of the original fittings and
furnishings dating from its opening—much of which Yoshimura personally selected and
imported from Japan—including the exterior door pulls.

Japan House was landmarked on March 22, 2011 by New York City’s Landmarks Preservation
Committee, which called the building “a conspicuously serene work of late modernism. In a city
where buildings often compete for attention, Yoshimura’s muted design is remarkably timeless,
reflecting Japan’s unique architectural heritage and the Society’s mission to serve as a venue for
international exchange.”

About Junzo Yoshimura (biographical information excerpted from the New York City Landmarks Commission Report of March 22, 2011)

Junzo Yoshimura (1908-1997), chief designer of Japan Society, was a major figure in 20th-century Japanese architecture. A year before construction began, the Australian architect critic
Robin Boyd wrote, that Yoshimura was: “Like his buildings: gentle, gray and impeccably
civilized. He and they represent a subtle blend of tradition and modern that erases
international cultural boundaries not so much by drawing the modern West into Japan as by
disseminating the Japanese essence into the modern West.” Born in Tokyo, Yoshimura trained
in the Architecture Department of the Tokyo Arts College (now Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku) and as
a student was associated with the Czech architect Antonin Raymond (1888-1976). Following
graduation in 1931, he joined Raymond’s Tokyo practice. For a brief period in 1940, Yoshimura
lived in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Raymond operated a school, and helped design,
fabricate, and supervise installation of a teahouse at the short-lived Japan Institute, on the 36th
floor of the International Building at Rockefeller Center. A year later, an American oil embargo
was launched against Japan and he returned home. Yoshimura designed approximately 237
houses, as well as many structures for Japanese cultural institutions, such as the Aichi
Prefectural University of Fine Arts (1966-71), the Nara Prefectural Museum (1972) and the Hall
of Chamber Music, Yatsugatake (1988) in Nagano. For much of his career, he taught
architecture at his alma mater and in 1995 was recognized by Japan’s prime minister as a
“Person of Cultural Merit.