Tokyo Vanilla [Paperback]

Thomas Boggs (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0854492550 | ISBN-13: 978-0854492558 | Publication Date: April 1998

Taking place during the height of the giddy "bubble" years of Japan's economic prosperity, Tokyo Vanilla is an atmospheric novel of sexual repression and the price it demands. College student Fumio awakens to his own sexual nature in a traditional society where homosexuality is still seen as best hidden away. Introduced by his straight fellow-student Tatsuya to the "host clubs" where good money is to be made, he is torn between his unrequited passion for his schoolfriend and the comfortable life of a kept boy he is offered by a rich professor. When the professor proposes that Fumio marry his daughter, the web of deceit grows steadily more complex.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Boggs was born in Iwakuni, Japan to an American serviceman father and a Japanese mother. He has spent most of his life in Tokyo, where he presently lives and works. He is the author of Green Roses and Seahorse Variations. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Heretic Books (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0854492550
• ISBN-13: 978-0854492558
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,637,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical "coming out" novel, September 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tokyo Vanilla (Paperback)

I found this book to be a very pleasant surprise. I read "Tokyo Vanilla" straight through on a long business flight and was very sorry to see it end (although I did find the ending a bit of a letdown). It is the story of a Japanese college student who gradually realizes his sexual orientation and falls in unrequited love with a handsome Japanese heartbreaker. The plot takes many twists and turns, some of which I found a bit implausible, but overall I enjoyed the ride. According to the cover notes, Thomas Boggs is "an American Japanese writer who has spent most of his life in Japan's capital." I cannot speak to the accuracy of Mr. Boggs' description of Tokyo's gay world, but I have definitely placed it on my list of future vacation destinations. I must agree with other reviewers on the title, though - I haven't a clue what "Tokyo Vanilla" means

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the promising inside look of the Tokyo gay scene, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tokyo Vanilla (Paperback)

Sure I enjoyed reading Tokyo Vanilla (strange title-perhaps there is some connection I have not yet made since I myself am an American). There was very little to struggle with and made for a light read. Gifted? No. Magical? Nope. New and exciting? Yawn. But don't we all love an internationally billed novel dusted with just enough of the familiar to make us feel international? The novel is not exactly a study in Japanese Culture and the stereo typical characterization hardly props up an otherwise tedious theme. There is really not much going on in any of the subplots (nothing really thick enough to call a sub-plot). Fumio, our hero, is your basic back-wards -everyday man- numbskull who is in denial about his homosexuality. Fumio finally breaks down and scratches the curious surface of homosexuality. You can guess the path he finds and to where it leads.

The novel tells us, through every character introduced, that we shall pursue that which we shall never have, and that our pot of gold rests under that rainbow. This theme endures in each protagonist and every antagonist, even if from slightly different perspectives of age, social class, social vehicle, etc.. The only differentiating character trait seems to be one characters willingness to accept that as fact and another character who is relentlessly in pursuit of more. We see the promising and the pathetic sharing the same fate and every beautiful and grotesque mask it can wear...and don't even try to tell me that is the self-effacing trait of Japanese or the first tenant of Buddhist Culture, etc.. The author does contrast and I greatly appreciated the relief.

O.K., O.K., I enjoyed this novel because I could identify with some of the names and places and words. Hey, I am a sucker for feeling international. But there were very little (even then almost begrudgingly so) steamy scenes, and nothing I found that you would consider romantic. If you are a Gai-Jin who has lived in or traveled extensively in Japan, then this is a good read. If not, then be ready to aquaint yourself with the isolationism of Japan, because you will not be introduced to anything with Tokyo Vanilla.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tokyo Vanilla: A Splendid Milshake of Japanese Literature, October 26, 2000

By 

Enrique Villavicencio (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tokyo Vanilla (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book which is more than simple gay history, it's literature. It shows the complexity of the Japanese mind in human relations, and how they can live with opposite thoughts and purposes. It's quite interesting how it depicts the deep search for beauty and armony. Fumio,a nineteen years old virgin boy, puts his eye in a drilled tiny hole in his room contiguos to a neighboor room, and he watched his forever love: Tatsuya. A lot of boyeurism and a complex internal life. Fumio's great achievment was to have the seeds of his lover in his wife, to guarantee the posesion of the beauty of his beloved lover in his non-biological own son!

The books also shows the rush for life in the new generation and in large cities. Gay people will find in it more than a fantasy, but a lot of possible events in a complex unpurposed web.

Thomas Boggs is an excelent writer. I don't have any doubths that he will be one of the best writers of Japanese Literature of this time.