Back in New York and, I confess, after reading Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead," I became something of an architectural enthusiast. So when I arrived in Japan and observed a veritable bonanza of styles I'd never seen up-close before, I was ecstatic.

So it was with an otaku's giddiness that I spoke with Nsenda Lukumwena, an authority on Japanese buildings and one of the architects behind some of the structures seen here in Japan. The 61-year-old Lukumwena resides in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, but is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Which is not to be confused with the Republic of the Congo," he says. "We're neighbors. The R.C. was a French colony and the DRC was a Belgian colony. I'm from the DRC."

Lukumwena explained that this colonization lasted from 1876 till 1960, and that the Congo suffered severely under Belgian King Leopold II. He bled the country of its resources — primarily rubber, ivory and precious metals — and was responsible for the death of 8-10 million Congolese. Those who survived were subject to a level of brutality and torture that would make a Nazi nauseous.