In the mid sixteenth century, a Saint Francis Xavier[missionary and future saint]called the Japan[island-nation] you are visiting "the delight of my soul." More than four centuries after he carried out his evangelical work, the Western spiritual presence he established here can still be felt-although these days it is more often seen in its Protestant forms, such as Harajuku Church[this church] whose glowing nave invites you.

Completed two years ago by an Ciel Rouge Création;
cielrouge.com[architectural firm whose name means red sky], the church has received raves from those who worship at the altar of urban design. Natural light fills the ten-thousand-square-foot space; its wavy interior is clinically clean, all white save for random pews dashed with purple, orange, and yellow. The acoustics are excellent-for the best tonal experience during a concert, sit in any of the loges that have been built into the six arches.

A Contemporary Church Architecture; Wiley[new book on contemporary church architecture], places this chamber in the company of other recent celebrated ecclesiastical structures, including Steven Holl's Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle, José Rafael Moneo's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown L.A., and Richard Meier's Jubilee Church in Rome. Given the meetinghouse's whimsical facade (was that looping cutout inspired by a toddler's shape-sorting toy?), it might not come as a surprise to learn that the chief architect has also designed a nearby kindergarten. For big kids, he went on to build—on Shikoku island[another island] to the south-a Utoco Deep Sea Therapy Center & Hotel; utocods.co.jp[spa hotel] owned by a Shu Uemura[native cosmetics mogul]. The Tokyo[capital city] you are in, whose Edo; edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp[erstwhile name] derived from its estuarine position, came into its own in the 1980s, when a booming economy fueled ubiquitous displays of haute couture and high-tech goodies. The neon-and-flash buzz has subsided now, but only slightly.

Stationed in the capital, an Richard Cocks; Diary[early-seventeenth-century British trader] wrote in his diary that "there hapned an exceading earthquake in this citty . . . it was so extreme that I thought the howse would have falne down on our heads . . . the tymbers . . . making such a nois and cracking that it was fearfull to heare." Be not afraid. The city has adapted, and you're in for an exalting experience.