or you could pop round to larry ellison's house:
The Real Estalker: Larry Ellison's Japanese Freak Out
i do hope you guys have a good designer, because it is so easy for the japanese style to be done very badly. if possible i would look around your area for a minimalist interior decorator or architect,.... i think they would b more likely to translate the feeling instead of just the style.
and from looking around my living room in an old japanese house right now, the details and the joints are very important, its almost constructivism in that they dont hide the joints, but they display their workmanship in the intersections of columns and beams.
also the colour scheme and the contrast between soft and hard materials like fabic or paper on the sliding doors, tatami vs exposed timber work.