Tokyo

by Eiko Maruko Siniawer

From sleepy fishing village to samurai capital to vibrant global metropolis, Eiko Maruko Siniawer takes readers through Tokyo's rich history, revealing four centuries of transformation deeply woven into its fabric. This accessible guide introduces a world of shoguns and Kabuki theater, riots and earthquakes, wartime devastation and reconstruction, booms and busts, bright lights and skyscrapers, all viewed through the lived experiences of those who have inhabited and shaped a city of distinctive neighborhoods and different personalities. Emphasizing the city's human heart, Siniawer conveys a vivid sense of time, culture, and place through ten moments that have shaped Tokyo's many lives.

Genres: Audiobook, Japan, Nonfiction

284 pages, Paperback

Published February 27, 2025

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book on the history of Tokyo. Siniawer takes us on a journey from the city’s founding at the close of the Sengoku period (and slightly before), to the modern day Tokyo Olympics. She does this by framing the book in 10 ‘snapshots’; moments in time that she uses to tell the reader about how the city and its people were. For example, chapter 2 uses a scandal between a senior lady in the Shogun’s palace and a Kabuki Actor to zoom out and look at the advances in literacy, arts, and popular culture that happened during the Edo period, and another chapter (7 or 8 if I recall correctly) uses Crown Prince Akihito’s (later Emperor Heisei) visit to a new housing development to showcase Tokyo’s economic recovery during the 50s, 60s and 70s.

One thing that this book is not is a travel guide, or things to do in Tokyo! This is a well written and researched, incredibly readable history of one of the most interesting cities in the world. My only criticisms, tiny as they are, is that for one I wish that the book was a bit longer. Siniawer’s writing style is engaging and makes it hard to put down, I easily could have read another 10 snapshots, and two, I wish that there was perhaps more discussion about the outskirts/peripheries of the City (this might be my bias though as I used to live in one of those peripheries, Chiba represent!)

All in all, 5 stars. I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for some months now and it absolutely did not disappoint. I now know that this is a Cambridge series, and I definitely will be keeping my eye out for more of them, the format is great.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may almost be obligatory to write this, but if there’s one thing we don’t have a supply issue with, it’s books on Japan. So do we really need another? And one focused on its most well known, populous city? It’s the capital after all. Most everyone flying in starts or ends there. Too many books, perhaps, so why another? And a history one? Tell me how many history books there are about Japan. Endless, surely!

But this one has a different mission and due to its full title, Ten Moments That Shaped Tokyo, my interest was piqued. What’s more, this is no regular travel book and surely no pop history book either. The author, Eiko Maruko Siniawer, has impressive credentials and last I heard, Cambridge University Press was not publishing pop culture and pocket-sized history books. This one thus is different and I believe the magic can be found in the title for just how can one select only ten episodes in the history of such a city to fully define it? Absolutely possible? Doubtful, but can ten occurrences—and ones perhaps your average non-Japanese may be unfamiliar with—paint a lush picture of Tokyo perhaps better than larger tomes?

Already off the bat, this is an interesting concept:

“Structured around ten evocative moments in a city's past, these concise and engaging volumes allow readers to discover the rich histories of cities around the world. Our expert authors combine vivid historical detail and insightful analyses to tell the story of each city in an accessible and compelling manner.” (series blurb quoted from Cambridge University Press’s site)

And again, it’s that on one hand, this is not a big book. On the other, it’s written by a true expert in their field. And why not—on one more hand, in spite of avoiding being too encompassing, we get a book that through a unique selection process tells a tale where less actually feels (in a good way, mind you) like more. Ten episodes, ten occurrences, that even for those who know a lot about Japan will almost certainly leave knowing even more. But how? Easy: for the most part, each chapter seems to start by talking about some event that may be ‘common knowledge’, but rather than stay on a familiar track, seems to shift gears and lead the reader to new way stations. Perry, a known name for Japan buffs, but his relation to catfish art? New to me. How about you?

From start to finish, this was a fun book to tackle though Japan fans and residents alike be warned: the last two chapters probably are not going to feel like much more than a slightly academically oriented look at things you all probably are quite familiar with already. Besides that, as both a gateway book into Japanese history with a Tokyo focus (of course) and in a format that’s both quick yet more educational than it may seem, this is a book you can’t go wrong with. Hopefully Cambridge continues to push out books in other cities both in Japan and beyond.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting and accessible history of Tokyo. Would definitely recommend.

[Augusto Bernardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and most importantly I learned a lot about Tokyo and cities in general I think. I realized how difficult and inconvenient the premise of this book actually is. It's not a great idea in practice. Maybe in principle which is why I was sold by the title. I say that because in practice the major "moments" that happened in Japan didn't happen in Tokyo. They occurred elsewhere in the country, like Hiroshima, Osaka and Fukushima. And maybe that's one of the key ingredients to have such a large and successful city like Tokyo. Especially one as isolated as Tokyo is. Japan is already isolated but the whole concept of Tokyo or Edo was that it was isolated, thereby kind of confirming my point, not in the middle of action. And the term "moment" is used very VEEERY loosely in this book. True, there are indeed some moment's mentioned in the book that happened in Tokyo but they often served as a symbolic example of a more important bigger picture. Didn't necessarily shape Tokyo at all. Chapter 2 or 8 or 10 as an example of that. The true revolutionary chapters in the book were not moments at all but a long string of movements of cultural changes. That's the polar opposite of a moment actually. It's a slow gradual process. Most of the chapters were examples of this really. This is telling for me that truly cities are actually shaped by gradual success or tragedy. And Tokyo might not be a good example. Moscow and Berlin and Jerusalem might be, but not Tokyo.

Wanted to read this because I love Tokyo so much when I've visited it before.

Of course the first moment, the creation by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1690. The main focus of this chapter is actually it's unusual choice of geographical location. Far to the east of the other major cities. In the same region, the Kanto region, as the old capital, Kamakura. After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, Edo, as the city was called then, became the capital. Of course the centerpiece of city, as in most cities of the time, was the castle, Edo castle. It took an enormous amount of natural resources of the area to build which is why it could contribute to the money flowing into the city. Another important part of Edo is the alternate attendance system by Tokugawa to have the daimios pay homage to him from all over the country. That would bring in thousands of people and is one of the main reasons why Edo's population crew so quickly in the early years. The daimios would stay closer to the castle and the surrounding areas would become the area for the various trades. Pretty much divided into districts by trade.

Ejima-Ikushima affair in 1714 is the next incident. Something I knew nothing about and seems to be nothing more than an over exaggerated punishment for some noble women from Edo castle being late to their curfew after some partying at a teahouse with some Kabuki actors. How on earth is this one of the major events, you may ask? Well this is often a feeling I get with Japanese values. They don't always match western values. But on a superficial level, the incident truly is minor. It becomes even more confusing as it wasn't the first time noble women watched Kabuki or partied. Actually, the incident is just the straw that broke the camels back on a bigger power struggle within the shogunate. Ejima was just an opportunity to serve as an example for the upper class mingling with lesser actors. It's relevance in this book is that it is an example of social crossover that was happening at the time in a growing Edo. Commoners were about equal in population as samurai in Edo at the time. Not the case previously. By now one of the largest cities in the world alongside Beijing. It grew in spite of big fires that constantly raged in the big wooden city. The city layout precisely changed because of the increase of population and the fires instead of their military defenses or social ranking. The daimios had their escape houses on Theo outskirts of the city and the city folk spread out further into the north and east. The massive amount of movement and relocation created a mix of houses and shops and temples in the outskirts of the city. The prime example of this mix of culture is the Sensoji temple in Asakusa. The chapter went on a little too long on Kabuki theatre, which i didn't understand on what that had to do with Tokyo itself but I'm guessing it's somethi g along the lines of being a popular past time and bridge between social classes.

The next chapter takes place in 1853 during the Perry Expedition. This is when American warships came to Edo Bay in order to demand trade of coal with the shogunate. This chapter is largely about opening up as a society to the West and Europe. Perry and his ships were seen as a major threat to society but at the same time, there were some cultural shifts from the Chinese to Western science, especially in biology as some dutch diagrams of anatomy had opened a door to a whole new style of thought. The propaganda against Perry by the shogunate would eventually weaken them when Perry returned with a bigger fleat and forced the shogunate to trade. Japan would get an unfare deal which affected the economy and opened the door to other countries too. Some months after, a massive earth quake hit Edo, killing between 5 and 7 thousand people alongside the raging fires. The earthquake itself isn't the point of this chapter but the aftermath in succession is the Perry Expedition. There was a redistribution of power as carpenters and laborers and other craftsmen were extremely in demand after. There was a succession of events or catastrophes just after that, that illustrated the helplessness and ineffectiveness of the shogunate as the death toll mounted and inflation sky rocketed. Finally, the Meiji restoration happened in 1869 where the Emperor meiji ended the power of the Tokugawa shogunate and took back power. Despite edo being the last battle ground of the revolution, the emperor maintained Edo as the capital, but changing it's name too the eastern capital, Tokyo.

In 1872 the Shinbashi train station was opened with it's new steam locomotive. First from Shinbashi to Yokohama and then later from shinbashi to Kobe over the tokaido road. A quintessential feature of modern day Tokyo. At the time it was a symbol of technology, better transport for goods and people, nation cohesion and also a turn to European modernization. A smart political move by the emperor to establish his regime as one of modernization. Ginza was a perfect representation of a modernizing suburb in Tokyo with it's brick buildings and wide roads and paved sidewalks. It's the closest Tokyo gets to Europe. The ginza project was not cheap and stylistically not too welcome either so the Meiji government did not continue this model of houses anywhere else. It was a lesson that you couldn't just impose these extremely foreign architectural styles with the local communities. And Tokyo would never again do wholesale renovations of suburbs. From then on the efficiency of the build would be a bigger focus and an opinion on the owners. The chapter finishes with the construction of Tokyo station, a beautiful massive brick European looking building that was built in 1914. Finally a culmination of the arrival of a modern Japan.

The next chapter is on the first public space in Tokyo, Hibiya park. The chapter mainly talked about protests and the use and development of parks. Despite me being to ueno park, I fou d this chapter rather boring.

Next comes the earthquake of 1923. Another massive one that I've heard about before from Kurosawa and also from Miyazaki. It's not again an important event by itself once again but it was the opportunity by city planets to reconstruct the city after it's devastation and massive unemployment. More roads and bridges were established to not make it overcrowded, especially during fires. Public transport became a bigger focus on the roads and the center of Tokyo shifted further west to the suburbs of Shinjuku and Shibuya. It particularly focused on the focus and evolution of the department store. Something that wasn't unheard of in Tokyo but definitely increased during this time. Small things like products at the storefront window, shoes allowed inside the store. But also a massive increase of hiring women in the stores as attendants. Even for elevators. An element of prestige. Cafe culture also started to grow, especially in ginza, and even Ginza style became a trademark for other districts too. The waitress was also a key focus on their marketing. In a way, one of the major inventions or symbols of this time is the cosmopolitan Japanese girl. Modern, sexy and dating, changing the values of society and the role of women. So strong was this cosmopolitan view that jazz was banned at one point, for reasons tied to animosity during war times and it still persisted after.

The next chapter is finally about the war. Obviously a bad idea for Japan in hindsight. It describes life getting harder to some degree immediately. Mainly from the rationing and gathering of iron and metals for the war. Even famous statues like the dog in Shibuya. Once the war reached Japan itself, the fire bombing of Tokyo almost leveled the city as most of it was still wooden. Asakusa was especially hit. The bombing continues in urban cities throughout Japan so there were massive evacuations throughout the country,and Tokyo of children, then elderly and women into the country. That decreased the population obviously. As the war ended and the American occupation began, there were a lot of positive changes after so much devastation. The English language started to enter into Japanese vocabulary and even on streets or buildings. The us brought in several cultural things too like their sweets and coca cola. Families needing a home now and wanting to come back moved in together in a bigger house. This is where more western houses were made in Tokyo. But it wasn't all improvements for everyone. There were plenty of homeless people that were stuck together in stations or parks. Ueno station being the prime example for tokyo.



1964 is the next
Wedding of the hier to be and moving into an apartment
Chapter about the growing middle class
Revolves around the Olympics
Atomic boy
Massive funding towards public transport railways
Sewer system
Population growth to 1/4
Shinjuku and Shibuya, Akihabara
Small houses and aprtments
Pollution that comes with expansion

1981
No plot but only success and excess
A unipolar Japan and an Asian powerhouse
Center of baking
Foreign investment
Real estate rose400%
Rise in immigration even rom the Middle East
The golden age of construction with so much cheap labor
Shinjuku with the biggest growth
Night life districts
After the Bible crash, real estate betting cheaper, giant apartment buildings
Tokyo and Japan remained international
Hello kitty

The last chapter and last moment again revolved around the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Surprisingly, because I thought that it would have been the triple disaster of the massive earthquake,followed by the tsunami and then the nuclear powerplant disaster. But the reason it's not those is because they didn't happen in Tokyo and the city barely had any effects from it. This was pretty much about the universal influence Japanese pop culture. This is illustrated with prime minister Shinzo Abe announced that tokyo would be the next city to host in the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics. He rose on a platform in the center of the stadium with a red cap to the music of Mario. The chapter touches upon the universal impact of Nintendo, Jpop, Pokemon across multiple mediums, anime of Hayao mizaki and then later the even bigger blockbuster hit of Demon slayer. Together they sort of represent this vague concept of Japan cool. The then real Tokyo Olympics didn't have the shine that I t was meant to have as the pandemic was a big problem obviously. They also kind of half heartedly or falsely tried to take credit for the disasters that I Mentioned earlier and yet the games themselves are kind of ignoring the victims by investing elsewhere.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very pleasant, actual history book. Learned a lot. Calling it a page turner isn't quite right, but very easy to read.

[Wei Guang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and detailed book about the history of Tokyo from the Edo period to present day

[Ale Tapia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book