As seen throughout history, government buildings that accommodate officials and their proceedings inevitably become symbols of the government itself. An average US citizen may not be able to recognize the members of Congress, but they will be able to recognize the building they congregate at. As such, the image of the Capitol Building has become synonymous with the legislative branch and has even transcended that significance to represent democracy itself. Thus, the designs of these buildings become very important, as they will often be seen as representative of the nation’s governing body.
As seen in Jonathan Reynolds’ "Japan's Imperial Diet Building," the architects who designed the National Diet Building were very aware of this. How Western or how Japanese the initial designs were were heavily influenced by how pro-Western the people in power and the general public were. Thus, not only do these buildings reflect a country’s national identity, but the people who are building them are tasked with intentionally injecting national identity into their designs. This can become problematic when the country’s national identity is undergoing immense changes, as Japan’s was during the Meiji Era. This caused the National Diet Building to go through many neoclassical iterations and many traditional Japanese iterations, eventually resulting in a building that is lost somewhere in between.
From the outside, the building looks very neoclassical, complete with pillars and a grand entrance flanked by two identical wings. The general interior design is quite reminiscent of the US Capitol Building, with the Chamber of the House of Representatives being extremely similar to the Capitol Building’s House Chamber. However, the Japanese elements come through in the details. As mentioned by our guide, carvings that represent the four classes during Japan’s feudal age line the balconies. We also saw the murals of Japan during the four seasons that stand above the building’s entrance. Additionally, there was a coy pond in the courtyard and a Japanese garden in front of the building. Due to the architects wanting to accommodate both sides, we end up with this odd dissonance of a Western-style building smattered with traditional Japanese symbols.
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