A Tokyo Odyssey

Book excerpt: ‘An easily digestible, vividly illustrated look at Tokyo. I discovered stuff I’d never known despite living here for over thirty years.’ Rupert Miller. ‘Some amazing photographs that really open your eyes to the city’s history and what it is today.’ Lu Passidino. ‘A must read, browse or dip into for anyone visiting Tokyo for the first time or the tenth time.’ Dr. Ginny Butterfield. In this scintillating new book, the author peels away the fog that so easily obscures the world’s biggest, most baffling city. It is a piercing analysis of the place, the people, its history, and yet the picture painted is both beautiful and eloquent. The book covers much ground and yet is bang up-to-date including the fiasco of the Olympic Games. At the same time it avoids all the cliches that so many books about Tokyo fall back on. It is close to 300 pages long but also heavily illustrated with many images, most of which have never been published before. This is a history that also uses the voices of the people who lived and visited here, adding an authenticity that is beguiling. Tokyo is a baffling city but know its history and this facade can be unravelled. This is a thorough but also a personal history that meanders through a place that can confuse all comers. Read it an enjoy the journey.