Canadian architect says Japanese roots shaped his aesthetic

TOKYO — For Raymond Moriyama, an award-winning Canadian architect of Japanese descent, the lessons of culture and community he takes from his ancestry formed the foundation of his aesthetics and architectural designs. He often sought inspiration and solutions from childhood memories, including his days spent at an incarceration camp during World War II, when he […]

The rediscovered works of Kaneji Domoto

While Kaneji Domoto passed away in 2002 at the age of 89, his work and life have been revived through an exhibit at the Center for Architecture in New York. Domoto, a native of Oakland, Calif., was a New Rochelle, N.Y.-based architect and landscape architect who studied and worked with legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, […]

Zen living in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. — Aside from running the renown jazz club and Japanese restaurant Yoshi’s in Oakland, Calif., the club’s owners and former married couple Yoshie Akiba and Kaz Kajimura share a uniquely Japanese home in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. The home, built in the early 1960s next to a great brick Catholic priory, features […]

Building a home suited to Nikkei roots and personal tastes

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At 8 years old, Don Inaba watched as his new home in Fresno, Calif. was constructed from the ground up. His father, Hitoshi Inaba, had been raised in Sacramento, Calif., but moved to Fresno to start a grocery store to expand the family business. Hitoshi Inaba was one of the three “Inaba […]

Japanese Gardens at The Huntington reopens after year-long renovation

SAN MARINO, Calif. — The historic Japanese Garden at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens reopened to the public April 11. The Japanese garden celebrates its centennial following a year-long renovation and improvement project. The $6.8 million project in the nine-acre garden adds an additional three-quarter-acres to the original garden and a ceremonial […]