Tokyo [Paperback]

Donald Richie (Author)

Book Description

Series: Reaktion Books - Topographics | Publication Date: May 15, 1999

Donald Richie takes the reader on a revealing tour of the different districts of Japan's capital city. Starting from the original centre of Tokyo – the Imperial Palace – Richie branches outwards, taking in other areas such as Yoshiwara, the original red-light district, and Ginza, the world-famous shipping street. The author has kept a diary for the entire time he has lived in Tokyo, and excerpts from it provide on-the-spot insights into the significance of fashions and fads in Japanese culture (for example the recent Tamagochi craze), as well as the various aspects of life in a small neighborhood. Richie gives a real sense of how Japanese society has changed since the Second World War, yet remained rooted in its past.

With the eclectic eye and ear of a film-maker, Richie describes the flavor and idiosyncrasies of this chaotic, teeming city. Tokyo is illustrated with 30 intriguing photographs by Seattle-based photographer, Joel Sackett.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This small book is more an impressionistic "appreciation" than a guidebook or reference. Richie, the author of several books on Japan and an authority on Japanese film, discusses Tokyo's history, oddities, fads, mores, and habits. At the same time, he starts at the Imperial Palace in the middle of Tokyo and leads us outward, discussing areas including Asakusa, Ueno, the Ginza, and Shinjuku, though without maps. Richie quotes liberally from his own journal, kept continuously from 1947 to the present, as well as from such diverse authors as Aristotle, Italo Calvino, Edward Said, and Japanese authors Kobo Abe, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, and Yasunari Kawabata, among others. The quotations deal with general impressions of life or observations about various cities around the world, comparing or contrasting them to Tokyo. Richie is certainly knowledgeable and pleasant to read, but this book seems better suited to those who have visited Tokyo or who appreciate one person's view of life there.AKitty Dean Chen, Nassau Coll., Garden City, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Donald Richie was born in Ohio and has lived in Tokyo for over 50 years. He is the author of the travel book The Inland Sea, and one of his novels, Tokyo Nights, is being made into a feature film by the Hollywood director Wayne Wang.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Reaktion Books; First Edition edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861890346
• ISBN-13: 978-1861890344
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting observations, September 6, 2004

By 

Volkan (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tokyo (Paperback)

This is a different type of travel book, less filled with first person stories or dialogues but full of anthropological, architectural, historical & social observations of Tokyo. The author lived in Japan for over 50 years and is obviously fond of Japanese culture. The book gives a sense of what the life is like in Tokyo (as much as one can gather from reading a book).

6 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A book for no one. Detestable., September 23, 2003

By 

M. S. Velde "msvelde" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tokyo (Paperback)

There seems to be more quotations in this book than original text, and half of them deal with London or Paris! There is no structure to the book: it is one continuous chapter very poorly written at that. The author makes an assertion in one paragraph only to contradict himself in the next.
But the worst is not so much the style as the content. In this book, we "learn" that the Japanese are dirty (p.57), that they all look alike (p. 72), that they are like children (p. 88).
I was extremely dissapointed. People who have lived fifty years in a place are usually able to convey something about it. This is not the case here. There seems to be no redeeming value about Tokyo. This is something with which I disagree, having myself lived there for more than ten years.
This is not a book for people who would like to visit and not for people who have been there.
This is a book for no one.