I had to go to Gifu Prefecture last month when I went to Japan, and I saw this really interesting building called the SANYO Solar Ark. I think it's their headquarters or at least one of their really big regional offices.

Anyway, the Solar Ark (besides being a cool office building) has solar panels built into it -- all over. In fact, the whole thing is basically one of the world's biggest solar energy generation systems. It makes enough energy everyday not only for its own needs, but to power the equivalent of 200 homes as well.

There's a really big push for environmentally friendly (or so-called "green") buildings in Japan right now. Tokyo, for example, requires all new commercial buildings to include a roof top garden so the air will stay cleaner.

At first, we just built whatever we could after the war. The basic architectural philosophy was, "let's just slap something up and get to work before everyone starves to death." But now thousands of new buildings are going up that represent a whole new attitude. The new public and company buildings are cool and dramatic ... and green.

You can see the SANYO Solar Ark here: http://www.solar-ark.com/english/about/index.html or go to Japan and visit it for free!