Time: 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Cost: FEW Members ¥2,000 / Guests ¥5,000 (supper and drinks included)
No advance reservation required.
Please note this is a women only event.

Venue: Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), Yurakucho Denki Building, 20th Floor (http://www.fccj.or.jp/~fccjyod2/aboutus/map)

Speakers: Karen Severns and Koichi Mori

The hallmark of great cities is architectural diversity, and after years of ‘ugliest cityscape’ status, Tokyo is now being celebrated as a showcase of contemporary design. But in the country with the world's longest life spans and the oldest population, the average building life is paradoxically the world's shortest.

When Frank Lloyd Wright first visited 100 years ago, Tokyo was at the tail end of the Meiji building boom, yet he still found Japan to be the ‘most beautiful, most romantic’ nation on earth and became the most famous celebrant of its architectural traditions. When his own masterpiece, the old Imperial Hotel, fell to the wrecking ball in 1967, it marked the birth of a preservation movement that is still faltering 40 years later.

Does it matter that Tokyo continues to obliterate its architectural legacy?
A city is not just its buildings - but how important are they to our lives, to our interactions, to our moods, to our very souls? Without the layering of different historical eras, cities lose their richness and meaning. If we destroy all traces of the past, can we even know what the point of the future is?

Please come prepared to discuss your own relationship with Tokyo’s built environment, your favorite places and the places you hate, with a couple who once applauded the city’s unbridled edifice complex before they came to their senses.

Karen Severns and Koichi Mori’s lives were transformed by a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Jiyu Gakuen School in Mejiro. They have since created a series of architectural videos that culminated in the acclaimed feature documentary “Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan” as well as in their founding the nonprofit Wrightian Architectural Archives Japan (WAAJ).

Profile: Karen received an MFA in Film from Columbia University, and also has an MS in Journalism. She has worked in both New York and Tokyo as a filmmaker, film critic, journalist and author. She has produced two dozen short films, including 2001 Academy Award nominee One Day Crossing.

Koichi studied engineering before working throughout Asia on building management and environmental conservation projects for a leading multinational. He holds an MBA in International Management from the Garvin School of International Management (Thunderbird).