The aim of this report is to illustrate how contemporary Japanese architects think of commercial buildings in the city, through studying their published articles after World War II. Firstly, the contents of each article were considered and some descriptions about the exterior expression of building were extracted. Then, these descriptions were abstracted into two different levels; what the concept and how they represent the exterior expression of building. Secondly, the meaning of concept was analyzed by applying the KJ method. After that those meanings were divided, from a viewpoint of vector in the concept, into two different types; from city to building and from building to city. Thirdly, the representation for exterior expression of building was classified into three types; skin, volume, and space. Consequently, a relationship between the concept for city and the representation of exterior expression of building was found.