Series: New Perspectives

Kanagawa Prefectural Music Hall opened in 1954 as Japan's first public music hall. Modeled after the Royal Festival Hall in London, the hall was designed to provide the best acoustics, and was praised as having the best sound in the East when it first opened. Its sound is still highly regarded both in Japan and abroad. The walls of the hall are all made of wood, and its acoustic sound continues to impress people even 60 years after its opening. In 1998, the Ministry of Construction selected the hall as one of Japan's "100 Best Public Buildings" as an excellent public facility rooted in the community. In 1999, the hall was also selected as one of Japan's "20 Best Modern Movement Buildings" by DOCOMOMO (an international organization established to record, investigate, and preserve buildings and environmental formations related to the modern movement) as an important cultural heritage of the 20th century.