Planning and construction The construction of the Bunka Apartments was planned by the , an organisation founded by to raise the Japanese standard of living by promoting
westernisation. The project, which was announced in February 1923, encountered a number of difficulties in the planning and land acquisition stages. While Morimoto had secured public financing for the building, the
Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923 interrupted both the release of these funds and work on the project. Government cutbacks due to the fiscal burden imposed by the earthquake resulted in a reduction in funding, but the project continued. The
Home Ministry even supplied imported American lumber to support construction. The destruction wrought by the earthquake made land acquisition easier, and ultimately a site in the well-connected
Ochanomizu area was secured. The building was designed by American architect
William Merrell Vories in the
Spanish Mission style, and constructed by the
Obayashi Corporation. Completed on 15 November 1925, it was the first western-style block of flats ever built in Japan. The four-storey
reinforced concrete structure was designed to be both earthquake and fire resistant, and offered a hotel-like lifestyle. Flats were fully furnished in the western style, and equipped with modern conveniences like telephones and gas cookers. Residents could make use of a lounge, café, dining room, and shops. Cleaning and laundry services were provided by domestic staff.
Impact and criticism Morimoto Kōkichi, who earned his doctorate at
Johns Hopkins University, aspired to introduce the American
middle-class lifestyle to his home country. Addressing a meeting of the
Phi Beta Kappa Association at the Bunka Apartments in 1926, he explained that his organisation planned the building as part of an initiative to improve housing conditions in Japan, rather than purely for financial gain. He said he hoped that the Bunka Apartments could become a place of cross-cultural understanding, as it was home to both Japanese and foreign residents. In accordance with Morimoto's principles, the building's living spaces were designed to replicate those of the American middle class, and featured appliances imported from the United States, such as electric
washing machines and
clothes dryers. In practice, however, the luxurious Bunka Apartments were too expensive for the average Tokyoite. Rent was, on average, more than double that of a flat in a wooden dwelling, or equivalent to a month's wages for the average
salaryman. At the building's opening, one third of its 43 flats were occupied by non-Japanese. Morimoto's Bunka Apartments project was later criticised for having produced a publicly-financed residence for the well-off, and being "estranged from reality". The Bunka Apartments' expensive Americocentric design can be contrasted with those adopted by the
Dōjunkai, a government-backed corporation that constructed 16 blocks of flats from 1926 to 1934. Built to accommodate people affected by the Great Kanto Earthquake, these reinforced concrete structures incorporated Japanese style
tatami spaces and simpler facilities, and were more reasonably priced. While the Bunka Apartments served as one example of an earthquake- and fire-resistant alternative to traditional Japanese housing, the high cost of building in this style prevented its wider adoption prior to the end of the
Second World War. The Dōjunkai's buildings, on the other hand, went on to become a model for middle class multifamily housing in Japan.
Repurposing and demolition Amid wartime restrictions on private enterprise, the Society for the Diffusion of Culture sold the Bunka Apartments to the in March 1943. That organisation, which was created to control the Japanese publishing industry, used the building as its national headquarters. Following
Japan's defeat in the Second World War, it was requisitioned by the
US military to billet officers. After a period of disuse, the building was sold to the publishing company. Obunsha repurposed it to house students from provincial Japan visiting Tokyo for exams or school outings. This facility, called the , opened in 1959. The ageing building was razed in 1986 and replaced by the
Century Tower. ==Influence==