October.

October's AR is a special issue devoted to Japan. The Japanese scene is one of the most fertile and fascinating and despite recent undercurrents of economic and political turmoil, it continues to thrive, with a younger generation beginning to make its presence felt through lively small-scale works. Hitoshi Abe's new sports stadium in Sendai, Atelier Bow-Wow's block of flats in Tokyo and Tezuka Architects' Roof House are all thoughtful and imaginative responses to relatively conventional programmes and address such particularly Japanese concerns such as lack of space and a rigorous yet poetic approach to materiality.

We also look at recent work by more established architects, such as Toyo Ito, whose much discussed Mediatheque in Sendai forms a new landmark in a provincial town, and ltsuko Hasegawa, who has just completed a community centre in Fukuroi. The building elaborates on traditional ways of defining space with a light membrane or manmuku. Kengo Kuma's museum to house work by the great ukiyoe artist Hiroshige Ando also reinterprets traditional building techniques to harnesses light in an exquisitely lyrical way. Composed of cedar slats, the building appears to float and shimmer, forming a disembodied presence in the landscape.

In 'Made in Tokyo', Yoshihara Tsukamoto presents some reflections on Japanese urbanism, examining how new and increasingly bizarre building types have evolved in response to the extraordinary pressures of life in Tokyo's hyper-metropolis. Plus Japanese Interior Design, House and Design Review. Subscribe to the world's most intrepid and entertaining architectural monthly by clicking on our website.