If the Japanese ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Kazuko Yokoo, has a favourite room in Oakfield, the Japanese embassy residence in Foxrock, it is the Japanese room with its walls of shoji - Japanese screens that open on one side to an Irish garden and on the other to a Japanese garden. Here, she says, she can sit for hours at a time, listening to the sounds of the garden, calmed by the simple decor and neutral colours of the room around her.
The room, which was constructed by a team of Japanese craftsmen, is one of several strikingly modern spaces in the newly-built residence on Brighton Road. Five years ago, the Japanese government decided to upgrade its Irish embassy residence, which it had occupied since the mid-1960s. The 100-year-old house was demolished to make way for an 8,000 sq ft building with a stark, fortress-like facade and a stunning light-filled interior.
Designed by the Nagamatsu Architectural Firm of Japan, with A + D Wejchert acting as on site architects, the two-storey house is surrounded by gardens landscaped by Verney Naylor and Japanese landscape designers Takenaka. Electronic gates open on to a driveway that winds around the compound, past staff quarters, before leading to the front of the two-storey house.
A long portico leads to a Georgian-style front door, with its simple fanlight - a nod to the architectural heritage of the host country. High overhead is a stylised chrysanthemum, the symbol of the Japanese royal family.
Inside, one steps into a magnificent central foyer with a soaring 18m-high ceiling and a wall of glass overlooking the back garden. On either side, granite lined openings lead to the formal entertaining rooms - a superb drawingroom on one side, and a diningroom on the other side.
Solid Irish oak doors with elegant polished steel handles feature throughout the house, lending a sleek, contemporary look that is enhanced by the use of polished Wicklow granite pillars and dozens of twinkling downlighters set into high ceilings.
In the drawingroom, the look is softened by sofas and armchairs, upholstered in simple cream, grouped, Western-style, about a contemporary fireplace and a coffee table. Huge, galaxy-like chandeliers from Denmark are suspended from the oak-coffered ceiling, although the room is already bright.
A second set of double doors opens on to a corridor leading to the tea room and a sunny conservatory that is furnished with simple wood and basket weave chairs.
Ireland's 760-strong Japanese community is regularly invited to functions at the embassy, ranging from large, formal events such as the celebrations for the Emperor's birthday in December to more informal gatherings held in the room of the screens, where the ambassador hosts tea ceremonies and dinners.
