Large clerestory windows face the street at the Higashibatas’ house in Tokyo, optimizing both privacy and natural light within.

The engawa deck is a traditional Japanese feature. It's a place where guests are often greeted to sit with a casual cup of tea. The David and Mayuko also uses it as a viewing porch toward the back yard for when the kids play in the grass.

At the client’s request the kitchen contains neither upper cabinets (Shino can’t reach them) nor an oven (they only used the old one once—to reheat a pizza). A modular Roche Bobois Mah Jong sofa adds a decorative flourish to the living area while maintaining as low a profile as the traditional Japanese furniture.

The top of the house is dedicated to a dining area and a kitchen outfitted with steel-topped cabinets from Sanwa Company. Read more about this dimensional three-storied Japanese home here.

The couple asked for a “no maintenance, not low maintenance” backyard. However, Shino tends to “Carlsbad's largest public bathroom for cats” (otherwise known as their Japanese-style rock garden) about once a month. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

The back of the house has sliding doors that open far enough to expose the entire livingroom to the families' back yard.

The family sits around, and under in the case of four-year-old Kaz’ma, the sunken table for a snack. Makiko made the covers of the mats her mother sent from Japan by hand. The black lamp is from Ikea.

The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.

The Lais designed their house to be theirs forever. As such, they were able to make design moves that made sense for themselves but that wouldn't have high resale value, like the Japanese-style master bathroom in the middle of the second floor instead of off of the master bedroom. The traditional setup features bath stools from Muji for washing off.

Nakada works from an Alvar Aalto table in the living and dining area, adjacent to the kitchen. He saved on some elements, such as the plywood cabinetry, and splurged on others, such as the Finn Juhl chairs and Vilhelm Lauritzen lamp. A skylight beneath the angled roof allows in a sliver of constantly changing light.

A glowing home in Japan has milky-white, one-and-a-half-inch plastic sheets wrapped around the exterior to let in light and provide insulation.

Takuma strikes a pose from the loft lookout as seen from the second floor. The loft is used for storage as well as a place for some peace and quiet.

The long, lean Kobayashi complex includes a bathroom and storage room in the structure on the far right.

Creative Direction The arrowhead-shaped corner at the end of the living room evolved from the need to accommodate a standard sliding-glass-door module. “It would have been astronomically expensive to custom-build it,” says Chris Bardt. This architectural gesture— the arrow “points” toward the river—“enabled us to be very generous with the view area without having to extend the entire house.”

Outside the three daughters' separate bedrooms, natural light cascades through a ceiling of skylights. Aluminum louvers diffuse indirect sunlight to create a soothing glow in the afternoons and a refreshing wake-up call each morning.

The residents requested in the project brief that the home revolve around family spaces. To that end, the outdoor area, with its green courtyards, is meant to recall a campground experience.

Bookshelves add extra utility to the undulating staircase in Tokyo's 921-square-foot Coil house. The space was designed by architect Akihisa Hirata for Sakura and Ryo Sugiura, a young couple with two children.

Tsutsui continued the Oregon pine from the floor to the steel-reinforced cantilevered staircase, which appears to float above the floor.

The staircase leads to the living area upstairs.

The sunken bathtub in George Nakashima’s Sanso Villa mimics the shape of a swimming pool on the grounds. His daughter, Mira Nakashima, took over the studio after his death and now lives and works on the property. “A Japanese garden often has a central pond derived from the character for ‘heart’ or ‘spirit,’ and this may be an abstraction of that character,” she says of the tub’s sculptural form.

The main draw of Fukasawa's hut: a bathroom featuring a large, Japanese-style tub with a view.

Inside, the bottom floor contains the bedroom, off of which is the bathroom, with a tub from Kaldewei and a Duravit sink.

The house is surrounded by buildings on all sides except its south facade, which faces the street. An expansive operable window is key for effective ventilation during hot summer months. Additionally, a cantilevered balcony shelters a carport, bike storage, and even a playful swing.

The building's shape and materials are the sort you find in a modernist residence in the UK, but it's the unfussy Japanese interior that reveals a design tailored to this multicultural family.

The top of the house is dedicated to a dining area and a kitchen outfitted with steel-topped cabinets from Sanwa Company.

The bathroom's sauna-like interior includes a deep Toto bathtub—characteristic of traditional Japanese baths. The wooden hiba paneling, chosen because it is more water resistant than hinoki, is specific to the Northern Aomori region of Japan.

“We adjusted the combinations to see what kinds of spaces they created in relationship to the site and the surrounding buildings,” his associate Satoshi Ohkami explains.

Funda-in (2008) - Honoring the meticulousness of the temples’ mostly unknown architects, Hassink photographed 34 locations over the course of a decade. Her fascination with Japanese religious vernacular yielded a compelling photo series that reveals the hidden dynamism in these carefully composed structures.

"I was looking into dome homes built by a company called Bess," Hasui tells FvF. "Dome homes are strong and can withstand storms and natural disasters, and the space inside is such a unique shape and works well for sound."

The girls' bedrooms are partitioned by sliding screen panels, which can be opened for access or shut for for privacy. Each room enjoys a stunning wall-to-wall exterior view.

Like many traditional Japanese bathrooms, Wilkin and Pini’s is clad almost entirely in wood.

The brass fittings are new to the project but are similar to metal that was originally used elsewhere in the project. The fittings, seen here in the children’s bathroom, will quickly acquire a dark patina.

The common space stretches nearly the length of the home, from the edge of the master bedroom to the wall of a guest bedroom. A “family stage” sits at the center of the home between the kitchen and bedrooms. There, the children entertain their parents and guests with a violin ensemble during the holidays.

Mohawk found this Japanese Boro wall hanging at a local flea market. It's now on sale at the holiday pop-up.

Kintai Bridge, Japan-A 5-arch wooden bridge, built in 1673 below the mountaintop Iwakuni Castle. Photo: Kyle T. Ramirez

The owners, who are a couple with three children, requested a bright home with a gentle, pervasive light that is far from cold.