ABSTRACT
Time has not yet imposed its own interpretation on the staggering succession of events and changes which have occurred since the end of the Allied Occupation in 1952. Study of the recent past presents its own peculiar problems and opportunities. An historical perspective, using the focus of the relationship between architecture and authority, uncovers much in contemporary Japan which is consistent with the past, particularly with the experience of buildings as a projection of identity and authority and as the built environment in which the power of the state and of big business operates.
