Tokyo
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, NYCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.