A History of Tokyo 1867-1989

“There can be few cities in the world that live, pulsate, and breathe through their geography as Tokyo does, few cities with a history that shifts through the creases of space as does that of Tokyo. This is particularly ironic in a city whose neighborhoods today hold few distinctive features and whose gentle topography has been all but obscured by batteries of building. But it was not always so, and what better way is there of writing Tokyo’s history than by reflecting this shifting geography as neighborhoods prospered and declined while others, more aspirational, climbed up the socio-spacial ladder? This is precisely what Edward Seidensticker does in the pages of [this book].” –Books on Asia“This is a great book and I highly recommend it…if you are passionate about the history of ‘the world’s greatest city,’ this book is something you must have in your collection.” —JapanThis.com

Edward Seidensticker (1921-2007) was a distinguished translator and scholar who was responsible for introducing the works of a number of important modern Japanese novelists to the English-speaking world. At the time of the writing of this book, he was spending half of the year in New York where he was Professor of Japanese at Columbia University and half of the year in Tokyo. He is widely known for his translation of The Tale of Genji, which he described as “a labor of love”–it took almost 10 years to complete. He also wrote several nonfiction books about Japan and was awarded a National Book Award for his translation of The Sound of the Mountain in 1971.

Donald Richie (1924-2013) spent nearly sixty years witnessing and reporting on the transformation of Japan from its postwar devastation to a twenty-first century economic and cultural powerhouse.

Paul Waley is a geographer at the University of Leeds. He has written several books on Tokyo’s history, social development, and its changing dynamics in contemporary Japan.