Tange Kenzo to Kuma Kengo (Kenzo Tange – Kengo Kuma - Architects of the Tokyo Games 1964/2020)

This book was conceived as a catalog for the exhibition of the same name held at the Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, just before the opening of the Paris Olympics. While it is significant that the Paris Games were preceded by the Tokyo Olympics—and that both Kenzo Tange and I were involved in the architecture for these two Tokyo Games—there is no doubt that the true catalyst for this exhibition and this book was the profound relationship both architects shared with France.
 
It is universally acknowledged that Tange was the architect who spearheaded Japan’s postwar reconstruction, and it is equally certain that this reconstruction was a collaborative effort between the United States and Japan. Yet, for some reason, Tange appeared indifferent toward America, leaving behind almost no work there. Conversely, it was in his architectural projects in Paris that Tange invested his greatest energy.
 
I believe the backdrop to this was Tange’s personal experience of the atomic bomb. Having studied at a high school under the old system in Hiroshima, the experience of witnessing the destruction and disappearance of the land of his youth turned Tange into an anti-American in spirit, drawing him closer to Paris.
 
My own approach to Paris was triggered by the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Having lived in New York in the 1980s, I witnessed firsthand how neoliberal economics was reshaping the world, while simultaneously feeling its inherent fragility. After the bubble burst, all my projects in Tokyo were cancelled, and I spent the 1990s struggling to survive by traveling through and working in rural Japan. From that trauma, the question of how to transcend American-born neoliberalism—and how to transcend "America" itself—became my lifelong theme. It was for this reason that, as my work in rural areas began to gain recognition in the 2000s, I chose to open an office in Paris rather than in America.
 
What was it about America that made these two architects feel such a sense of displacement, and how did they attempt to move beyond it? This inquiry connects to a major historical theme: the nature of the relationship between Modernist architecture and the United States. I would be honored if you could view and reflect upon this two-person exhibition through such a long-term lens. I have embedded the clues for this exploration within the pages of this small catalog.
 

(Written by KUMA Kengo, University Professor / Professor Emeritus, Office of University Professor, School of Engineering / 2026)