Once there was a nation that went to war, but after they
conquered a continent their own country was destroyed
by atom bombs... then the victors imposed democracy on
the vanquished. For a group of apprentice architects, artists,
and designers, led by a visionary, the dire situation of their
country was not an obstacle but an inspiration to plan and
think... although they were very different characters, the
architects worked closely together to realize their dreams,
staunchly supported by a super creative bureaucracy and
an activist state... after 15 years of incubation, they surprised
the world with a new architecture - Metabolism - that proposed
a radical makeover of the entire land... Then newspapers,
magazines, and TV turned the architects into heroes: thinkers
and doers, thoroughly modern men... Through sheer hard
work, discipline, and the integration of all forms of creativity,
their country, Japan, became a shining example... when the
oil crisis initiated the end of the West, the architects of
Japan spread out over the world to define the contours
of a post-Western aesthetic...
