Eucalypts of Hodogaya – Organic Cultural Diplomacy at Yokohama War Cemetery

保土ヶ谷のユーカリ： 横浜市英連邦戦死者墓地の設計

Thursday, April 23, 7:00 PM

Speakers: Professor Anoma Pieris and Athanasios Tsakonas

The Yokohama War Cemetery is the primary site of commemoration and remembrance for the Commonwealth Allies of the Second World War within mainland Japan. Set in the former Hodogaya children’s recreation park, this 27-acre cemetery site is arguably Australia and Japan’s first act of reconciliation post-war. Architects, horticulturists, suppliers, and builders from both nations collaborated to create a final resting place for over 1,500 service personnel. And yet beyond the official narratives, its inception, design and construction remain relatively unknown.

Designed and built by Melbourne’s Anzac Agency—now the Office of Australian War Graves—the cemetery nestled between cherry blossoms and hinoki pines on the outskirts of Yokohama blends Eastern Japanese and Western traditions in a garden of peace. It is considered an exceptional example of funereal landscape architecture, and now the subject of an exhibition opening 25 April at Yokohama Archives of History Museum.

Speakers:

Professor Anoma Pieris

Anoma Pieris is Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean Research at the Melbourne School of Design. Her recent books include the multi-authored Immigrant Industry: Building Postwar Australia (Berghahn 2024); with Lynne Horiuchi, The Architecture of Confinement: incarceration camps of the Pacific War (Cambridge University Press 2022); and the anthology: Architecture on the Borderline: Boundary Politics and Built Space (Architext 2019). In 2022, she was guest curator for the Museum of Modern Art, New York exhibition The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia 1947-1985. Anoma’s recent work is on war cemeteries across the Indo Pacific region.

Athanasios Tsakonas

Athanasios Tsakonas is an architect, writer, educator, and co-founder of Singapore design practice Tan + Tsakonas Architects LLP. His book In Honour of War Heroes: Colin St Clair Oakes and the Design of Kranji War Memorial, (Marshall Cavendish, 2020) revealed in detail the architect responsible for most of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s important sites of commemoration, throughout Asia. As of 2020, he joined the University of Melbourne as a sessional tutor for post-graduate Design Studio C, which introduces indigenous competencies to the students. His work has been published in journals such as Singapore Architect, Fabrications, BiblioAsia and Interstices.

The talk will be in English and will be followed by a Q & A session. To attend, please complete the form at the link below.

https://ycac.jp/event/history-talk

Admission to the talk is free. Food may be purchased from the YC&AC restaurant on the ground floor. (We recommend you arrive by 18:00 latest in case the restaurant is busy.) For drinks, a cash bar will be available in the function room from 18:00 onwards.