Westerners traveling to Japan for the first time often get the impression that the country is packed. Japan is, in fact, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Its population is less than half of the US, yet its land area is thirty times smaller. Much of its land – made up of an archipelago of over three thousand islands – is volcanic and mountainous and only twenty percent of it is inhabitable. Space is not in great abundance, of course, but the Japanese do not see it necessarily as a hindrance like foreigners might. “Space limitations are a function of how foreigners see the problem,” says Dr. Chris Thompson, Professor of Japanese Studies at Ohio University. So what it comes down to is how do Japanese attitudes and use of space reflect their values as a culture?

The Japanese have an aesthetic of simplicity and economy: making more of less and avoiding wastefulness at all costs. It is part of what they call the Mottainai spirit, which is a sense of regret or shame when the inherent value of something is wasted or misused. Upholding the Mottainai spirit is important regardless of the amount of available space, but it is even more crucial in Japan’s largest and most densely populated cities, such as downtown Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya, where space is very tight. To maximize space, Japanese architects have looked to the sky, building many narrow, high-rise apartment complexes and corporate offices. They have also raised older structures to build new, larger ones on a regular basis.

Some older generations of Japanese, however, have objected to how buildings have come to dominate the landscape of urban areas and left little room for plant life and other natural elements. They see the shift in space as an indication of a shift in values away from an appreciation of nature. In response, landscape designers have created gardens on the rooftops of some buildings, and planted flowers and trees in the narrower spaces or sukima in between buildings to make them more memorable and inviting.

But, with an ever increasing urban population, what can be done to offset the limits of time and space in Japanese cities? Architect Shoei Yoh said even higher buildings and a raised transportation system will be necessary. This would form sort of a futuristic aerial city and free up more space on the ground level for people and plant life. Some highways in Tokyo, in fact, have already been raised.

While space is maximized outdoors by building high, narrow structures, the Japanese have to exercise more imagination indoors. In the 14th century Zen Buddhist priests had a profound influence on Japanese housing design. Their aesthetic was to “eliminate the inessential” by creating an illusion of a more expansive and flexible space in smaller areas. One way the Japanese have followed this is by establishing a lower sense of gravity. Traditional Japanese furniture tends to be lower than in other cultures. Tea tables are typically around six inches to a foot high, so people can sit around them with their legs crossed. Some rooms also have elevated levels by the wall where potted plants and small pieces of furniture, which are very popular, can be placed. Another prime example is the futon. Unlike the western style, the Japanese futon consists only of a mattress and no frame. It can be spread on the floor with a sheet over it and folded up in a closet or left in a corner when not in use. Today, however, the influence of western culture has led more and more Japanese, especially in urban areas, to use higher-level furniture, as well.

To add to the illusion of spaciousness, Japanese interiors tend to have most furniture and fixtures kept against the wall to keep the center space of a room as open as possible. If there is furniture, like a futon, they are fragile and temporary materials that can be easily moved, so that the space can be used in other ways. A flexible space like this relates to the transient nature of things in Buddhist teachings. According to ancient Japanese tradition, utsu indicates a state of emptiness or vacancy state, which means that a space does not have a fixed style and that it can contain various ceremonial occasions. This is a basic Japanese concept of space: to make space functional for different purposes. Architect Shigeru Uchida says that the Japanese prefer not to obviously separate two given spaces with a wall because then their functions are distinctly separate.

Instead, the feature of the space can be changed by sliding room dividers – either shoji or fushima – in and out. This enables space to be expanded or contracted according to need. The space for the bathroom, for example, can be partitioned off when in use, but opened up for other functions that require more space, like a drying room. The room dividers, though, don’t offer total privacy. Because they consist of wooden frames with washi paper and cardboard, people can naturally hear right through them. But the Japanese are exceptionally polite by their nature, and the dividers serve mainly as a signal to others that they should just pretend not to hear. So there is what Chairman Koo Ue of the Japan Toilet Association calls an ‘implied privacy’ in Japan. On the other hand, the same doesn’t apply for one’s sleeping space. Sharing a bedroom with others is not popular, said Mari Gonsho of Tokyo. Although she said some young Japanese have shared rooms together lately, most Japanese would rather sleep in a smaller room by themselves than share a larger room with other people.

With all the different ways space is utilized in Japanese interiors, it becomes necessary to keep the space as clean as possible. Since the influence of the Chinese during the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it has been customary in Japan for people to wear slippers inside homes, as well some restaurants and hotels, to keep away the dirt and filth brought in by shoes from the outside world. The Japanese have a spiritual regard for their homes as a sacred space that should be in harmony with its inhabitants. Purity, therefore, as the ideal condition of the soul, is indispensable to maintain that harmony.

The Japanese use of space shows that they value the ideal of a fully integrated and adaptable society. On the outside, structures are permanent and divided into levels, but inside there is a greater interconnectedness and elasticity. Barriers are usually temporary and can be moved in and out. Spaces can serve different purposes depending on necessity. It is all about a collective Mottainai spirit. This is one area in which I think the Japanese have, for the most part, remained the same, despite the influence of western culture. One could say that this is where they have set their cultural bounds.

>Written by d/visible contributor Kevin Hogan.

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