Just a few minutes' walk from Tokyo's Roppongi nightlife district and surrounded by a surprising amount of greenery stands an East-meets-West home where Japanese and overseas intellectuals can deepen exchanges over a glass of brandy after dinner, and stay overnight.
International House of Japan Inc., or the I-House for short, was founded seven years after World War II ended. The building opened next to a 10,000-sq.-meter garden in Tokyo a few years later.
"The war obstructed cultural communications with overseas, and Japan became isolated," said 75-year-old Hiroshi Matsumoto, whose father, Shigeharu, was one of the founders of the house. "It was necessary to set up a place to coordinate international exchanges on a private level."