Ahead of their 1968 trip to Japan, Robin Boyd arranged for Fred and Diane Romberg to meet with Japanese architect Yoshinobu Ashihara and Paul Hopkins. Boyd was working with Ashihara on the Australian Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka, while Hopkins, a young Australian architect working in Kenzo Tange’s office, was Boyd’s local contact for the architects featured in New Directions in Japanese Architecture (1968). Frederick Romberg preferred traditional Japanese architecture, disliking the clash between history and modernity he saw in Japanese cities.