Tokyo: A Biography - (Tuttle Specials) by Stephen Mansfield (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The history of Tokyo is as eventful as it is long. A concise yet detailed overview of this fascinating, centuries-old city, Tokyo: A Biography is a perfect companion volume for history buffs or Tokyo-bound travelers looking to learn more about their destination.

In a whirlwind journey through Tokyo's past from its earliest beginnings up to the present day, this Japanese history book demonstrates how the city's response to everything from natural disasters to regime change has been to reinvent itself time and again. A calamitous fire results in a massive expansion of the city's territory. A debate over the Samurai code creates far-reaching social change. A malleable boy becomes the figurehead for powerful forces which change an ancient feudal society into a modern industrialized power within a generation. Utter destruction wipes the slate clean again so Tokyoites may start all over. And so it goes.

Tokyo's story is riveting, and by the end of Tokyo: A Biography, readers see a city almost unrivaled in its uniqueness, a place that--despite its often tragic history--still shimmers as it prepares to face the future.

Review Quotes

"Tokyo: A Biography is a curious way to look at a city, traveling from its shogunate infancy through the growing pains of a fiery adolescence and onto its later years as it strives to find itself and build an identity..." --Seattle Book Review

"Few of the new guidebooks to the city...will dive as deep into its history as Tokyo: A Biography. This 230-page portrait chronicles Tokyo's Godzilla-like rise from the alluvial mud to become the world's largest metropolitan area in the 21st century..." --Tokyo American Club's INTOUCH Magazine

"One of the pleasures of the book is Mansfield's prose, which draws on his considerable poetic skill to deliver memorable formulations...The range of approaches to writing the city is as varied as the city itself, including social history, natural and human geography, social ethnography, and studies in visual and material culture." --The Japan Times

"Tokyo's history could easily fill a volume twice this size, but Mansfield makes it feel complete, exploring not only how the city changed and grew, but why, and how it responded to various crises and obstacles. Tokyo: A Biography brings the city to life." --San Francisco Book Review

About the Author

Stephen Mansfield, an author and freelance photojournalist based in Japan, has contributed to over 60 magazines, newspapers and journals worldwide. His books include Tokyo: A Cultural and Literary History, Japanese Stone Gardens: Origins, Meaning, Form and Japan's Master Gardens.