Tokyo Bay: A Novel of Japan

by Anthony Grey

A fleet of ships billowing black smoke steam past Japan's tributary islands in July 1853, setting off panic among a people who have been sealed off from the rest of the world for over two hundred years. Commodore Matthew Perry has arrived, sent by the US president to open Japan to American ships and trade - by force, if necessary.

Navy lieutenant Robert Eden, an idealistic New Englander, immediately recognizes that the colonial intentions of his countrymen will ignite a violent conflict with the feudal, sword-wielding samurai. Inspired to pursue peace, he jumps ship and finds himself plunged into a world of frightful and noble warriors, artfully exotic geishas, and a distraught populace who view the Americans as monsters.

Eden tries to bridge the divide between two proud, unyielding cultures in the name of morality, but he may not survive to see the lasting harmony he hopes to create.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Japan, Historical, Asia

530 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 1996

About the author

Anthony Grey OBE is a British journalist and author. As a journalist for Reuters he was detained for 27 months in China from 1967 to 1969. He has written a series of novels and non-fiction books, including several relating to his detention.

Reviews

[Free_dreamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Saigon, the other book I read by Anthony Grey, so I had really high expectations of this novel as well. Unfortunately, I found myself disappointed.

I had a hard time forming a connection to Eden. I just couldn't understand why he was so set on climbing Mount Fuji and thus not only risking his own life and that of his shipwrecked companion, but also a full blown war between America and Japan. His backstory might have been tragic but I found it baffling how he didn't seem to have a flicker of emotion toward the only son his beloved wife gave birth to before she died. Even years later, he's absolutely distraught over his wife's death but his son doesn't get more than a few sentences in the whole book.

I couldn't relate to any of the MCs, really. The samurai warriors seemed to be absolutely cold and had no feelings other than pure and simple hatred. And the Americans weren't any easier to relate to.

Tokiwa was a useless character. She didn't do anything for the plot. And anyway, GEISHAS ARE NOT PROSTITUTES, thus Tokiwa is no geisha, but a courtesan. That's something that kept bothering me a lot, especially since the rest of the novel is very well researched. She promised to be my favourite character, but ultimately her chapters were short and few between. The only reason for her existence would be a sequel to this book. And don't tell me she felt she was pregnant not a week after the deed was done and she could also tell with absolute certainty who the father was.

I also had a hard time with the setting of the American steamships. I really don't know anything about ships or the marine or the navy, so I had a hard time connecting to the events.

Of course there's more than a few exciting moments and I learned a lot about Japanese history.

To sum it up, Tokyo Bay was a bit of a let-down, especially compared to the author's ingenious "Saigon". I've always been interested in Japan and its history and I know a thing or two about it, so I had very high expectations. While the novel definitely was very well researched (as long as you ignore that Anthony Grey turned geishas into prostitutes...), I just couldn't really relate to the setting or the characters. I would've loved to read more about the Japanese side of this conflict. I would've given this 3.5 stars, but had to downrate it for GR.

[Ming Wei · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion a mix of reality and fantasy in the story line, during a time when Japans exclusion from the rest of the world was coming to an end, gradually opening up to trade with other countries. The story line is interesting, and highlights the beginning of the process that opend Japan up to the world, the story line is well thought out and engaging for the reader. The author gives the main character some depth into their personality. Well written, very nice book cover, I did really enjoy reading this. For some reason, as I read this book, I kept thinking about the movie "The last samurai" with Tom Cruise, the stories between this book and this moive are different, but the fall into the same period within Japanese history. Well worth reading.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

ILLUMINATING AND ENGAGING.

”As evidence of our friendly intentions we have brought but four smaller ships, designing, should it become necessary, to return to Yedo in the spring with a much larger force. But it is expected that the government of Your Imperial Majesty will render such a return unnecessary, by acceding at once to the very reasonable and pacific overtures contained in the President’s later …”—Location 7589

Perhaps it was a mistake to read several goodreads reviews, before reading my second Anthony Grey novel: TOKYO BAY: A NOVEL OF JAPAN. The consensus of those reviews seemed to be that this novel fell somewhat short of his stellar storytelling in SAIGON.

Less than or not, Tokyo Bay is an interesting, informative, and entertaining read. Now I’m looking forward to reading Gray’s other novel, Peking.

Recommendation: Good background on the forced opening of the nation of Japan (for good or ill) to the larger world.


“Why couldn’t we leave them to choose for themselves whether they wished to join the rest of the world — and when.”—Location 1718

Kindle edition, 8,147 Locations (whatever that may be)

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

In July 1853, four US warships - the infamous black ships under the command of Commodore Matthew C. Perry - steam into Edo Bay (the book uses the spelling "Yedo", which I hate and therefore refuse to use), striking fear into the population of a country that has spent the last several centuries in virtual self-imposed isolation from the rest of the world and sending government officials into a panicked frenzy. Their aim: To deliver a letter from the president and demand - if necessary by use of force - the opening of the country to trade with America. Among Perry's crew is Lieutenant Robert Eden, an idealistic young officer who feels strangely drawn to the distant sight of Mount Fuji and rashly chooses to defy orders to undertake a secret reconnaisance mission to Japan's forbidden shores, believing that knowing and understanding the country and its people is vital in preserving peace in this volatile situation. When his presence becomes known to various parties among the Japanese, however, his impulsive actions threaten to become the very thing that might derail the already fraught negotiations and spark a war.

Well-researched and expertly bringing its setting and the historical events it describes to life through the eyes of a number of interesting characters on both the American and the Japanese side - an excellent read all around. I just wish there weren't so many things left open in the end, like Eden's and Tokiwa's fates in the aftermath of these events.

[Hidekisohma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not normally an avid reader of historical fiction, but when i saw this book was a fictitious recollection of Perry's first arrival to Japan in 1853, I decided to give it a try. And not only was it a historical fiction, it was a double whammy as it was also a "Doorstop" (aka 670 pages, which i consider pretty long) and while i've read a few, i'm not normally a reader of books that long with some exceptions such as Stephen King.

But, i love the subject matter and the writing style was very easy to read. However, Sorry to say, this book got worse and worse as it went on.

To start, this book is about the arrival of Commodore perry to Japan in 1853 and opening trade with Japan. The main characters are An american dude named Eden and a Prince named Tanaka. As the background situation of the Japanese not wanting foreigners around and perry trying to deliver the letter of trading intent, Eden is off wanting to do his own thing.

Normally, i like to keep my reviews spoiler free, but i find it impossible with this one in order to fully explain my displeasure.

So Eden gets a dream on the ship which basically says "hey, you should go climb mt fuji" to which his japanese buddy (a fisherman who got shipwrecked in america) tells him "no, that's a stupid idea. it's a very delicate political situation and fuji is sacred. if you're caught you will be killed." he's like "naw it'll be fine." and sneaks off the ship after his superior tells him not to go.

So yes. our main character is endangering the entirety of relations with Japan because a dream told him to go climb a mountain. wonderful.

Meanwhile, a geisha girl decides she wants to go on an adventure and not just sit around all day listening to stories of what's going on with the Americans. She escapes, she meets Eden, they bang, she gets recaptured and after that, we see her one more time stating she's pregnant and that's it. that's all we ever see of her again. No character arc, no growth, no nothing. She shows up, gets pregnant, and that's it.

I was EXTREMELY disappointed with the handling of this character. they set her up in a way you thought that there would be this adventure with Eden and her, learning about each other, slowly falling in love, overcoming prejudices, etc. Nope. They just meet, bang, and she's essentially written out of the story. Awesome. This guy can't write women. there's only 2 in the entire novel of 670 pages and one's a maid. He essentially uses the Geisha as a walking womb as well as every time she's on screen he dis-proportionally talks about her body. Look, i don't mind some fanservice in my books, but at least give her some agency other than "gets captured and is pregnant" like hot damn.

Eden also is kind of a lame character. His whole character is "i need to climb this mountain because a dream told me to." no matter the danger he puts anyone in. It's his desire to go climb that mountain. It even gets his best buddy killed. And he never says "i shouldn't have left" he justifies it to the end. His motivations make no sense and is hardheaded and frustrating.

The other character, the prince, definitely has more development than either the Geisha (Tokiwa) or Eden. in the end he ends up HELPING Eden several times and works to prevent fighting from the two sides. not for all true altruistic ends mind you, but he still tries to prevent violence.

The rest of the book is just historical politics about the Japanese saying "we don't want your letter leave" and Perry going "no take our letter to the emperor!"

Like rinse and repeat that 20 more times and that's your novel.

It started out with an interesting premise. I was looking forward to a story about a guy and geisha going on an adventure of peace together, but sadly that's not what it boiled down to. It became very schloggy and boring towards the end. Eden was unconscious, Tokiwa was out of the story, so in the final 1/4 of the book, it was either Tanaka or random people we didn't really care about.

I was super excited in the first 15% of this book and was all ready to give it a 4.5-5/5 but MAN did it go downhill.

That being said, i can't justify more than a 3. And that's sad. Because i really wanted to like it more than i did.

Even 3 out of 5.

[YH · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating for this book is 3.7.

Anthony Grey's book Tokyo Bay is a captivating work of historical fiction. It takes us on a journey through the lives of individuals from Japan and the US, all against the backdrop of the monumental arrival of the Black Ships in 1953.

Initially, I found the story of Lieutenant Eden, who clandestinely entered Japan and scaled Mt.Fuji a bit far-fetched. His encounter with a Japanese geisha lady seemed artificial.

On the other hand, even though those characters may be fictional, I can imagine that there must have been people like the lieutenant and the American translator, as well as Prince Tanaka, a senior samurai who made tremendous efforts and used their talent to avoid all-out war between the two nations.

I especially liked the story of Armstrong, a Christian missionary and translator who used his wit to find common ground during tense negotiations and found a solution to settle the difference, even though he had limited capacity as a translator. His mental struggle between his Christian faith and mission reminded me of Silence by Shusaku Endo. In the novel, the protagonist, a Portuguese missionary, struggles deeply between his Christian faith and apostatizing to save Japanese Christians from execution.

I love historical fiction, and it was a good book worth reading.

[Lynne Price, RN, MS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review

Having read Saigon I anticipated something similar of Tokyo Bay. Having lived in Japan in the late 1940s I looked forward to the book. I was disappointed in the storyline, interested as were others in the history but it was not until the end that I recognized more clearly a message about peace and ending war and hate. Having been to Hiroshima and hearing hibakusha talk about their survival of the atomic bomb, seeing in person the remains of the devastation, hearing about the mission for peace as a result of the bomb, I have since felt strongly that hate for other cultures runs strongly in our country and that there will never be peace until there is no more hate. In that way I truly appreciated the authors writing and the message i perceived in it

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I stayed up late to read it, I read it every chance I could get. I love historical fiction. The story of Perry's mission to open up Japan for trade with the United States was fantastic. I didn't realize how Japan had isolated itself from the world to keep their country and culture pure.
I liked the insertion of Eden and his personal tragedy into the book, but I found it was never resolved satisfactorily. He and the Geisha provided a hot one night stand but then never meet again.
I wish the book would have continued and developed this relationship? Any way, I couldn't put it down. I loved it and would highly recommend it.

[Isabel Raffeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed

I read both Saigon and Peking and loved them .In Tokyo Bay The characters in the first 2 books were well filled out and I found that I cared about them. I couldn't care about the characters in Tokyo Bay. In fact I found them very annoying. Their idealism really set me off.I did like the character of Commodore Perry because he had a goal and pushed on, sort of damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. I did like Grey's historical introduction to each section of the novel. I learned several things about Vietnam and China; the US involvement and the rise of Communism in both Saigon and Peking. As for Tokyo Bay, I was rather bored by it.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magnificent View

Beyond brief school book history (and, perhaps, a 1950s movie with a miscast John Wayne), the facts of Admiral Perry’s “opening of Japan” remain sketchy to most Americans. Brit author Grey gives us some astonishing new details about the tense days that led to the dramatic, and almost catastrophic final moments of this event. Some Japanese have said that those who have not climbed Mt Fuji are fools and those who climb it twice are twice a fool. Someone ought to have told our hero before he foolishly attempted the trek. So sorry, pal.

[BBJWEIHE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, close to superb

Educational and moving story built on the US’s 1853 arrival in Tokyo Bay in order to open up trade and diplomacy with Japan. The basic story was superb, but the forced love story and moral anguish of the primary character were too much the focus, instead of the unique clashing of two disparate cultures. Needed tighter editing and a more focused narrative

[Nick Woodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Anthony's third book about Asia. This book takes place over a few days, yet it is masterfully written, even though it takes 673 pages to tell the tale. It is about that period when US Naval battleships sailed/paddled up Tokyo Bay and forced Japan to open itself to the rest of the world. A fascinating read!

[Diego Palomino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book and initially it delivers then the author goes from historical fiction towards fantasy. The reasoning for the actions of the main character of Eden are just pure fantasy. Nothing of the sort could have happened under the circumstances. I’m ok with fantasy, just give it to me straight.

[Sekhar N Banerjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so Good Read

The novel, a little boring, is based on a single historic event - Commodore Perry’s visit to Japan in 1853. I am sure, the author has good reasons, but tome as a reader, the storyline is very weak and in many instances melodramatic to the point that some may even doubt validity of the historic event.

[Brian Byrne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe my expectations were too high. This author was recommended for the Booker prize on one of his other novels. The historical references to Commodore Perry, and that part of the story line, was interesting. The rest falls flat.

[Michel Guirguis]

It was interesting , but the least of his books . Saigon is an epic masterpiece as well as Peking . Tokyo is a page of history and also a romanticized fiction

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of historical fiction and slight fantasy

Not knowing much about the history of Japan I learned quite a bit from reading this book. It was an interesting read.

[Linda C. DiPasqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful historic read!

[Andrew Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

What attracted me to this book was more of the historical setting than the actual plot. The premise of a lone white guy traveling the Japanese countryside during the Bakumatsu/early Meiji is not something unheard of and seemed a lot like Shogun and Last Samurai. This time though, the setting was during the initial voyage of Commodore Matthew C. Perry when he first embarked on bringing this ships to open up trading between the United States and Japan. At least that's the way it was always phrased in one to two sentences in all my history books. The reality of the situation when you examine all of the circumstances and feelings of the players involved show a much more precarious and dangerous decision that I never gave enough thought to. The reality is this was America enforcing her will on a smaller weaker (at the time) through the (illusory) threat of force. Anyway this setting is a new for me and I found that much more intriguing than the actual plot.

The plot itself does focus on several people with the main character being a young navy lieutenant on board the Commodore's flagship. He's the lone wolf on his ship and feels guilty about the gunboat diplomacy that his mission demands. We also see the point of view from a Japanese nobleman and a geisha. The plot really takes a turn when our young lieutenant decides to jump ship during the negotiations and go exploring Japan on his own. He gets a bit of a romp through the Japanese countryside but I was disappointed at the lack of characters he encounters. Mainly just Samurai and Geisha (as opposed to probably the other 90% of the Japanese population at the time). Also I was a bit annoyed at the obvious white guy stereotypes used with him and the geisha. Not that she was attracted to him, that I found normal, but the fact that he was such a gentle and warm lover which is then directly juxtaposed with the Japanese nobleman who pretty much rapes. I'd like to give the author the benefit of the doubt of a sort of naïve racism but this the kind of stereotype I suspect many westerners love to believe is an advantage they have when chasing Asian women that seems completely baseless.

Eventually the characters all come together to prevent a plot by extremist samurai of sabotaging the negotiations and all ends well (enough.) All in all, a great detailed examination into an area of world history that hasn't been written about enough (in American books anyway). But a sub pare plot from an author I've learned has written some otherwise very noteworthy historical fiction such as Peking and Saigon. He's got a great resume of reporting from Asian (including being detained during the Cultural Revolution while working for Reuters) so I hope Tokyo Bay was just an unusual blip in and otherwise excellent career.

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting much better after reading another book by the author, Saigon. The "reopening" of Japan to Western trade is a fascinating and terrible chapter in international "relations" (imperial domination) with the potential for a lot of exploration of motives, interpretation, and context. I sort of get the connection to United States government policies towards and oppression of Native Americans but not enough to make it the central theme of the book. The story is interesting enough without going into so much magical realism. And really, enough with the sex! I get it, the geisha = the country. There are ways to present these ideas without beating the reader over the head with metaphor. The eye-rolling got so bad I almost gave up a couple of times and I'm not so sure it was worth pushing through to the end.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about the initial confrontation of American ships in Tokyo Bay and they try to establish trade and break down the barriers from a self-imposed walled off Japan. It follows Eden, an officer as he journeys through Japan at that time. On the positive side, I loved learning about the history, the detail of the communications and the perceived thoughts on both sides.

However, I had a hard time forming a connection to Eden. I just couldn't understand why he was so set on climbing Mount Fuji and thus not only risking his own life and that of his shipwrecked companion, but also a full blown war between America and Japan. The samurai warriors seemed a bit stereotypical and the love story/triangle was a bit too cliche-ish.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In 1853 American steamships entered Tokyo Bay in a move to open up trade between Japan and the United States. As Japan had been effectively sealed off from the rest of the world this was a daring move. Young lieutenant Robert Eden jumps ship in an attempt to understand the cultural clash and finds himself on his own in a strange country, filled with suspicious, powerful Japanese warriors. A desire to climb Mount Fuji, a most sacred trek for the Japanese people, makes this an exciting, historically-based novel. Recommended.

[Edward · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting historical novel. As I am about to travel to Japan, I was curious about this early engagement between the United States and feudal Japan in 1853. I had previously read this author's novel Saigon, and that was way more engaging than this historical novel. I am glad that I read it and now have a lot of Japanese history to read.

[Nae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read. Kind of wandered off into the metaphysical now and then, which is not exactly what I expected from the Asian story line. It was almost as if the author could not decide if he was writing about American Indians or Japanese folks ... made it a bit confusing at times to figure out where he was trying to go with the story.

[Tocci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating History and Intrigue

Using a variety of research, the author has created a novel both believable and interesting. A new understanding of this time in history is presented. I fully appreciate the views of humanity' s universal oneness that is abruptly expressed by several characters. This is well written and exciting. A great read!

[Krist 1966 · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice relaxing history

[Kadri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good with interesting sidelines in the plot

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

see comments for review

[BasziK · Rating 2 out of 5]

not finished