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Originally Posted by GoNative
Nyororin many cities and towns in Europe were just as, if not more bombed out than Japanese cities and towns. They managed to rebuild and keep the character and spirit of what was lost to bombing. Japan didn't and it's an absolute shame.
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I think you have to keep in mind the difference in building materials.
In Europe, the base building material was, and still is, stone. When a stone building is knocked down by normal bombing or fire bombing, the stone doesn`t disappear. It can be fished out and used almost immediately in the construction of a new building. When the base material is wood and very light flammable grass / paper... There isn`t anything left to salvage. You can`t pull the materials up off the ground and start rebuilding with them again.
Add to this an incredible need for housing as quickly as possible, and you get some very unattractive buildings made from whatever is cheapest and can be obtained the fastest.
In the decade following the war, this was cement, bamboo, and thin metal sheets.
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And to be honest I haven't been to that many bigger cities in Japan which would have been the main targets. Most places I've been I doubt were targets at all and still they are on the whole what I consider very ugly.
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Almost anywhere that looked like there were warehouses or workshops was bombed. Small towns out in the middle of nowhere were bombed because there was suspicion that they could be providing weapon components.
I think that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has sort of rendered the mass level of smaller bombings "forgotten history" for many. Unless you lived in a house that was completely isolated, there was a chance of being bombed.
I believe that Hokkaido was also extensively bombed - there was worry that it could be used as a Japanese homeland base for an attack on Alaska.
I don`t think this makes it okay that places are so ugly now, but I do feel that it kicked off the trend by destroying most older buildings and getting people in the mindset that they need to protect from fire at all costs.
I recall watching a documentary a couple years back about how the image of a "fashionable" home in Japan changed during the 50s. The new modern home that everyone dreamed of was a near copy of the military family housing on the US bases. Concrete military design inspired boxes became THE house all the affluent Japanese longed for.
These are things that changed the way people thought of housing, and it echoes to today.
As for the views - you know, I don`t think Japan has ever been into views. If you look at the older and historical home designs, they all focus on a private space. A private garden simulating nature instead of open to look at real, unpredictable nature. Windows are for light, and that`s about it. Even in the old houses, all the windows have paper over them letting the light in but nothing else.