Kuroshio Town Ogata Library

One of the delights of wandering the backwaters of Japan, for me at least, is stumbling upon huge pieces of modern architecture, often quite surreal, which would not look out of place in a big city, but are found in the most rural, depopulated areas.

The number of small towns and villages which are home to massive auditoriums, museums, etc is quite staggering, and most date their inception and funding back to the tail end of the bubble era. Vanity projects for architects, and a cash cow for the ubiquitous concrete and construction industries, the funding for their construction came from the central government, however their maintenance and upkeep fell to the local communities, and many, like the Ogata Library featured here  down near Shimanto in Shikoku have now been closed.

Prince Charles may call these structures carbuncles, and the local people may not think much of them, but for my style of photography they are great. I've been here twice but unfortunately both times were really overcast....

It was built in 1998 and designed by Dan Norihiko,  a relatively young architect. He's younger than me so that makes him young.