Using the subject of material culture as a lens through which Japanese urban architectural history and political debates are brought into sharper relief, this thesis argues that manufactured engineered wood products like cross laminated timber (CLT) are a part of the larger ongoing discussion on how to solve urban problems and offer the ability to connect sustainable and resilient building design agendas in cities. In addition, if CLT and other wood-based materials are domestically grown and responsibly manufactured on a larger scale than exists presently in Japan, industrial productivity of wood from local forests will recover after long periods of stagnant development, a move heavily invested by the present Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his administration.