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...