1. "In Praise of Shadows" — updated
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki argued that Japanese beauty lives in not-quite-bright places. Modern homes that flood every room with the same brightness end up reading cheap.
2. Controlling daylight
Deep eaves (1.5–2 m) cut direct sun; shoji screens and timber lattice diffuse it. The protagonist is reflected light, not direct light. South-facing glazing is a winter gift; in summer, the eaves do the work.
3. The artificial-light recipe
- Colour temperature: 2700–3000K throughout (5000K reads as an office)
- Fixtures: mix downlights with cove, wall, and floor sources
- Illuminance: walls 100 lux, work surfaces 300 lux, bedrooms below 50 lux
4. Reflective vs absorptive materials
Polished stone and glass reflect; plaster, raw timber, and fabric absorb. Roughly 20% reflective to 80% absorptive is the luxury ratio.
5. Light by function
Deliberately dim the genkan — entering should feel like a transition. Bright LDK. Bedroom on a gradient down to near-dark. A bathroom can borrow the wall-grazing light of a ryokan.
Decide where the shadows fall before you decide where the light hits. That is the Japanese order of operations for premium interiors.