ABSTRACT
Japan is one of the most highly urbanized nations in the world. Four-fifths of its population now reside in urban areas and the landscapes of the cities, towns, and villages are a vivid portrayal of both growth and modernity. Contrasts in scale on the Japanese landscape are the rule. The Japanese landscape is a vivid portrayal of Japanese ideas and their value system of spatial organisation. The urban landscape mirrors this preponderance of mini-sized units, or fine texturisation. The urban landscapes are meticulously organized in terms of both time and area. The American urban landscape focuses on functional economic zones rather than on the social concept of the neighbourhood. Americans especially may well maintain that immaculateness is a fundamental characteristic of the Japanese landscape. The public garden of Japan is internationally renowned, but it is the garden of the home that constitutes an omnipresent landscape element of Japanese culture.
