2023 Annual Conference

AZBY BROWN

Azby Brown is a native of New Orleans, and has lived in Japan since 1985. He is a leading authority on Japanese architecture, design, and environmentalism, and the author of many influential books and articles, including The Very Small Home (2005), Just Enough: Lessons in living green from traditional Japan (2010), and The Genius of Japanese Carpentry (2014). He majored in fine art and architecture at Yale University, graduating in 1980. In 1985 he was named a National Foreign Scholar by the Japanese Ministry of Education, which supported his graduate studies in architecture at the University of Tokyo. He joined the Faculty of Architecture at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in 1995. In 2003 Azby founded the KIT Future Design Institute, focussing on cognitive and cultural issues surrounding the human hand and its use in the creative process, and conducting collaborative research with neuroscientists and perceptual psychologists. His creative work has been widely exhibited at galleries and museums internationally. An amatuer rakugo performer since 2010, he is a student of Kokontei Kikuchiyo, the first professional rakugo-ka in Japan.

Since the start of Fukushima Nuclear Powerplant disaster in March 2011, Azby has been closely involved with assisting affected communities and analyzing and reporting the issues they face. He is Safecast’s lead researcher, and is primary author of the Safecast Report. A sought-after speaker on both Japanese culture and the scientific and social consequences of the Fukushima disaster, Azby is frequently quoted by major media outlets who seek a credible, critical, and independent voice.

azbybrown.com