Japanese studio Kichi Architectural Design has converted a farmyard barn in Ibaraki Prefecture to create a simple home and office featuring exposed wooden ceilings and an angular partition wall (+ slideshow). More about Renovated Japanese barn contains home and office by Kichi Architectural Design
Huge sliding doors at the front and rear of this weekend house in rural Hiroshima allow residents to open out their timber-lined living spaces to the scenic mountain landscape (+ slideshow). More about Hinanai Village House opens out to a scenic mountain landscape
A doorway is the only opening in the faceted concrete facade of this family residence in Tokyo by architecture studio MDS. More about Shirokane House by MDS concealed behind windowless concrete facade
An intricate three-dimensional lattice of narrow timber slats forms a cloud-like mass around the exterior of this pineapple cake shop in Tokyo by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma (+ slideshow). More about SunnyHills cake shop by Kengo Kuma encased within intricate timber lattice
Chunky wooden columns and beams support the sloping timber ceiling of this small pharmacy by Japanese studio Ninkipen! in the city of Ogaki (+ slideshow). More about Ninkipen! exposes wooden columns and trusses inside O Pharmacy
Japanese architect Shimpei Oda has reworked the dark interior of a humble 1920s house in Kyoto to bring natural light into living spaces and create a small gallery that opens to the street (+ slideshow). More about Shimpei Oda reworks humble Japanese house to create light-filled spaces
This house in Hyogo, Japan, was designed by Tato Architects with the same hipped roof, stilted structure and wide balcony that are common to residences in Queensland, Australia (+ slideshow). More about House in Kawanishi by Tato Architects with hipped roof and stilts
This Tokyo house by Japanese office Atelier Tekuto features a huge triangular window that angles up over the rooftops of surrounding houses to bring daylight in from above (+ slideshow). More about Tokyo house by Atelier Tekuto with skylight designed to "frame the sky"
This house by Japanese architect Shogo Aratani clambers over a steep rocky site in Hyogo, so it was named Krampon after the spiky devices that strap onto shoes to improve grip for climbing (+ slideshow). More about Krampon house by Shogo Aratani climbs over a rocky site
Japanese architects Sides Core left mineral wool insulation exposed on the ceiling of this hair salon, wrapping light fixtures like vines along pipes and suspending light bulbs at different levels (+ slideshow). More about Hair salon with an exposed ceiling and twisting lights by Sides Core
A bulky concrete apartment appears to hover above the glass roof of a patisserie at this combined home and workplace in Chiba Prefecture by Japanese studio Yuko Nagayama & Associates (+ slideshow). More about Yuko Nagayama floats an apartment above a patisserie in Japan
The latest project to complete in Toyo Ito's Home For All community rebuilding initiative is this timber and concrete pavilion in a Japanese fishing village, designed by Kazuyo Sejima's protégé Yang Zhao (+ slideshow). More about Yang Zhao completes fishermen's pavilion for Toyo Ito's post-tsunami reconstruction project
This tiny seaside home in Kanagawa by Japanese office Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects is contained within little more than a pair of oversized windows raised up on stilts (+ slideshow). More about Micro house by Yasutaka Yoshimura slotted between two huge windows
Sheets of translucent black material separate areas of this Aesop skincare store in Kyoto by Japanese studio Simplicity (+ slideshow). More about Translucent fabric divides Aesop store in Kyoto by Simplicity
Toshiharu Naka of Tokyo-based Naka Studio added an asymmetric roof with overhanging eaves to this house in a Japanese skiing village to create a huge sheltered terrace for residents (+ slideshow). More about Cedar-clad villa by Naka Studio shelters a huge terrace beneath its roof
A wooden ladder and a pair of winding steel staircases link the rooms of this lofty house in Sapporo, Japan, by Jun Igarashi Architects (+ slideshow). More about Jun Igarashi's Case house comes with two twisting staircases
A geometric pattern of skylights frames views of the sky from inside this angular white residence in Tokyo by Japanese firm Atelier Tekuto (+ slideshow). More about Atelier Tekuto creates an angular house with a pattern of pointy skylights
Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has layered wooden boards to create striations inside this workspace and cafe for an online restaurant guide based in Osaka (+ slideshow). More about Kengo Kuma stacks wooden layers inside office and cafe
A glazed facade reveals the two-storey interior of a house-shaped hair salon by Japanese firm Ryo Matsui Architects in Chiba, Japan (+ slideshow). More about Ryo Matsui's Hairdo salon has a transparent house-shaped facade
Trees line the protruding balconies of this concrete house in Tokyo by Japanese studio Ryo Matsui Architects (+ slideshow). More about Four-storey house with tree-lined balconies by Ryo Matsui Architects