As Segun mentioned Coubousier and other modern theorists went to Japan and Morocco to source modernist styles based on zen ascetism and funtionalism.
http://socks-studio.com
http://socks-studio.com
http://rosafrei.photoshelter.com/image/I0000dmrdosse_ss
20th Century Moroccan modernism:
http://architectureofdoom.tumblr.com/
www.archisearch.gr
This was an aesthetic (if modernism truly was funtionalism Courbousier would have built the sloping roofs for rainwater - in the event he was periodically sued due to water damage from his buildings). And why modernism fits in fluidly, and looks homegrown to the Japanese, while is done to whitewashed perfection in Morocco - both having had 700 years of refining it.
Not many people have noticed this, but our modern interiors today are Japanese:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7107311891500221/,
www.designingcity.com
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7107311891500221/,
www.designingcity.com
Moroccan version
www.designingcity.com