Japan House London

Japan House London is the cultural home of Japan in London, one of three Japan Houses established by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs alongside Los Angeles and São Paulo. It occupies a listed Art Deco block on Kensington High Street, its Portland stone facade and tall metal-framed windows reading from the street exactly as they did when this was a department store. Inside, Katayama Masamichi of Wonderwall designed the three floors around the tokonoma, the alcove in a Japanese room where a single object is set out for guests. Since opening in summer 2018 the institution has delivered eighteen exhibitions and more than a thousand events.

The bookable rooms sit across the building. On the lower ground floor, the Hall is a white room of 15 by 9.8 metres with retractable tiered seating, a built-in screen and house AV; a white curtain conceals the seating when it is stored, leaving a plain floor for a reception or a seated dinner. The Library beside it holds a bookshelf exhibition curated by Haba Yoshitaka of BACH and takes small meetings, talks and tastings. On the first floor, the Japanese restaurant AKIRA can be taken exclusively, with the eight-seat Tatami Room next to it for private dining, tastings and interviews; guests remove their shoes to use that room, as is the custom in Japan. Exclusive access to the Gallery can be added to a hire, as can workshops in kintsugi, sushi, origami, wrapping and kumiko latticework.

Hire here is conditional, and the condition is the first thing to establish. Japan House London states that it welcomes venue-hire enquiries "from Corporate Members and organizations whose activities support and promote Japanese cultures, society and business", and that its hire spaces "are only suitable for private events and not available for privately organized events that are open to the general public". Alcohol is served between 11:00 and 22:30 and the Hall carries a noise restriction after 22:00, so this is a room for a daytime programme, a reception or a dinner rather than a late night.