Abstract
The originality of Japanese culture is discussed with attention paid to engineering, especially to Japanese housing. The fundamental characteristic of Japanese housing is we do not distinguish between inside and outside. Shoji, paper wall and paper window, penetrates humidity and air so people inside the house can feel the situations of the outside world and lighting through Shoji generates ambience. In the western culture, lighting is considered with specific purpose and sensors are developed in the same way. But in Japanese housing, ambience is evaluated very high and our basic concept is holistic. It does not assign specific role to anything. Everything works together for the whole. Thus, there are no distinction between the part and the whole. Holistic and working together for the whole is Japanese culture. This characteristic should be re-considered and should be taught in design education. Holistic engineering is on the horizon. Thus, Japanese culture will play an important role tomorrow.
