Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia is pleased to present Michiyuki: Japanese Time-Space Concept for Mindfulness of Everyone Everyday by Yoko Kawai and Takaya Kurimoto.

We all yearn for space that makes us more contemplative in this crisis of health and society. Can our physical environment, such as architecture and garden, foster mindfulness? How does it do it? Could we make such space at home or work? This talk examines how the concept of Michiyuki, traveling or procession in Japanese, could help us aware at the present moment. Yoko Kawai and Takaya Kurimoto, an architect/landscape-architect team of Penguin Environmental Design, will discuss the instrumental mind-body-space relationship of Michiyuki for mindfulness. Its traditional applications at Shofuso are highlighted (the talk will be broadcasted from Shofuso) and its contemporary applications are introduced.

Yoko Kawai, PhD, is lecturer at Yale School of Architecture and principal of Penguin Environmental Design (PED), L.L.C, at Hamden, CT, where the focus is on designing places from the outside in. She researches, educates, and designs architecture to promote and develop “space for well-being” by applying Japanese spatial concepts. She is an adviser to International Well Building Institute Research Advisory.

Takaya Kurimoto, ASLA, is principal landscape architect and a Japanese garden designer at PED. He explores how Japanese gardens contribute to and become a part of the modern world. His major works include a Japanese garden at the Frost Valley YMCA in New York (2014) and an interior stone garden for the “Tea Culture of Japan” exhibition held at the Yale Art Gallery (2009). Yoko and Takaya are co-founders of the Mirai Work Space Alliance in New York that brings “Space for well-being” to contemporary workplaces.