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Tokyo Totem: A Subjective Guide to Tokyo
Tokyo offers a lot of spectacle and confusion. This is just a façade. Behind the neon glare lies a steady, rhythmic and miraculous everyday world that can be yours if you want it to be. Tokyo Totem can guide you through this realm, made as much of souls as of stones. A city that exists as much “out there” as it does “in here”. To help you navigate this slippery slope, stretched between imagination and reality, you will occasionally find your path marked by a “totem”. It may be the recognizable chime of your train-stop, waking you from your morning slumber. Or the taste of your favorite food, lingering in your mouth, evoking pleasant childhood memories. Or perhaps it will be the faces that you can’t help seeing in the façades of this city. These totems signify the effort of your imagination to reach out into the world and connect to it.
Throughout this guidebook, flaneurs, artists, designers, anthropologists, architects, bathhouse connoisseurs and many, many other seasoned urban explorers will invite you to look, read, experience and connect to Tokyo differently. Together they offer insights, angles and imaginations that will hopefully assist you to make this seemingly never-ending metropolis your own.
This guide will be of little use if you want to know where to eat or what to see. Instead this publication aims to help you to make sense of the man-made world around you and to find your bearings in a physical and social labyrinth that is constantly changing.
Throughout this guidebook, flaneurs, artists, designers, anthropologists, architects, bathhouse connoisseurs and many, many other seasoned urban explorers will invite you to look, read, experience and connect to Tokyo differently. Together they offer insights, angles and imaginations that will hopefully assist you to make this seemingly never-ending metropolis your own.
This guide will be of little use if you want to know where to eat or what to see. Instead this publication aims to help you to make sense of the man-made world around you and to find your bearings in a physical and social labyrinth that is constantly changing.
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2015
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129 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 26, 2023
It'd be remiss of me not to start this review with its most pervasive fact.
"The average age of a building in Tokyo is 26 years old."
I came across that single fact in no less than 6 of the different pieces that make up this book. The first time I was probably as astounded as you are right now. The book can further add to your disbelief with.
"The average age of a person living in Tokyo is 44 years old."
Yep the average person is nearly double the age of the average building in Tokyo.
On a recent trip to Japan I was struck by the vast concrete jungle of Tokyo, how homogeneous and lacking in distinctive features it was. In lieu of distinctive architecture Tokyo Totem attempts to find and define the various totems that people use to anchor themselves to life in Tokyo. These totems bring meaning and can be anything from the bird call sounds of a pedestrian crossing alarm to the steam rising from the exhaust of a local bath house. Tokyo Totem attempts to show that Tokyo's history has not been preserved through its buildings, the way a Western city would be. Rather the fabric of social mores and traditions, the way of life, and the people, are what connects Tokyo to its past.
Though the built environment has gone through so many iterations there's still a legacy from ancient times in the structure of the city. For example nearly all of the feudal manors of the last millennia are gone but the land distribution and plot size remains the same and so the manors on the hills are now the site of giant towers, while the low land areas formerly of the peasantry and their smaller plots are filled with small residential apartments. Many of the gardens in between remain but have been transferred from private ownership to state ownership. The plot sizes of properties and buildings are largely as they were thousands of years ago it's just that their ownership got transferred through the Meiji period and the land repurposed. In some ways the shape of Tokyo maintains its old power distribution even if the buildings are not the same.
You may have heard of the famous shrine at Ise, that gets rebuilt every 20 years. It's instructive in the process of how people live in Tokyo "At Ise, we are in the presence not of a 'finite object', but of an 'infinite process'; and this is merely another way of saying that what constitutes the heritage here is as much the subject (the participants in the rite) as it is the object (the temple)."
A further example would be the Zojoji Temple which famously stands right next to Tokyo Tower. The temple was built in 1974, whereas Tokyo Tower was erected in 1958. Looking at the two buildings you could be mistaken for thinking the Temple predates the tower by at least a thousand years. But unlike the churches of Europe, the temple is not centuries old. Instead it is a reconstruction on the site of the previous temple, and the temple before that. Every fifty to a hundred years the Zojoji Temple has been rebuilt on the same spot (for at least the last 400 years), and before that the temple stood in the Hibiya neighbourhood for at a further thousand years. Tokyo is not the buildings themselves but the process of building and the connection to the site they are on.
There are many forces that have sent Tokyo down the path of constant renewal. To name a few, the same beliefs that drive the renewal of the shrine at Ise, the metabolist architectural movement, the Meiji transformation, the embracing of the western nuclear family as the central entity, the increase in single person dwellings, the tradition of inherited property being knocked down and rebuilt, the impact of earthquakes, World War II, and the list goes on.
Another thing to reflect on is the name Edo, essentially meaning estuary. That's what the small fishing town was before the Tokugawa decided to start its transformation into the Tokyo we know today. Such a huge amount of the land that Tokyo currently sits on is reclaimed. The Tokugawa set up vast systems of canals feeding off the numerous rivers on the plains that make up Tokyo. Most of the canals have long since been filled in and are now roads or train tracks. Equally many of the rivers no longer flow, or are now subterranean. But they also just reclaimed huge parts of land from the ocean.
This isn't a guide book in so much as a chance to see through the eyes of several dozen architects, artists, and intellectuals who have lived in Tokyo and attempted to understand the city beyond the surface level. Many of these don't succeed, some are glib, some are too bogged down in the artifice of academic language, and some are just wrong. But in amongst the chaff there's some good morsels. The team who set out to understand how the Japanese building code is shaping the city nailed their contribution. There was actually a short piece about a male host at a club for lonely women that stood out as well.
The single biggest problem with this book is the truly horrific editing. There's a typo on nearly every other page. The first few I was willing to excuse but it started to become a joke and annoy me more and more. I'm not sure whether it was because a lot of the book was originally written in other languages and then translated or it was written in English but checked by Dutch speakers. I can't put my finger on it but I really wish they'd got the editing right.
Despite the grammatical errors this book does bring something really fresh to the table. I loved finding a new way of looking at humanity's largest city and the Totems that have guided others in their relationship with it.
"The average age of a building in Tokyo is 26 years old."
I came across that single fact in no less than 6 of the different pieces that make up this book. The first time I was probably as astounded as you are right now. The book can further add to your disbelief with.
"The average age of a person living in Tokyo is 44 years old."
Yep the average person is nearly double the age of the average building in Tokyo.
On a recent trip to Japan I was struck by the vast concrete jungle of Tokyo, how homogeneous and lacking in distinctive features it was. In lieu of distinctive architecture Tokyo Totem attempts to find and define the various totems that people use to anchor themselves to life in Tokyo. These totems bring meaning and can be anything from the bird call sounds of a pedestrian crossing alarm to the steam rising from the exhaust of a local bath house. Tokyo Totem attempts to show that Tokyo's history has not been preserved through its buildings, the way a Western city would be. Rather the fabric of social mores and traditions, the way of life, and the people, are what connects Tokyo to its past.
Though the built environment has gone through so many iterations there's still a legacy from ancient times in the structure of the city. For example nearly all of the feudal manors of the last millennia are gone but the land distribution and plot size remains the same and so the manors on the hills are now the site of giant towers, while the low land areas formerly of the peasantry and their smaller plots are filled with small residential apartments. Many of the gardens in between remain but have been transferred from private ownership to state ownership. The plot sizes of properties and buildings are largely as they were thousands of years ago it's just that their ownership got transferred through the Meiji period and the land repurposed. In some ways the shape of Tokyo maintains its old power distribution even if the buildings are not the same.
You may have heard of the famous shrine at Ise, that gets rebuilt every 20 years. It's instructive in the process of how people live in Tokyo "At Ise, we are in the presence not of a 'finite object', but of an 'infinite process'; and this is merely another way of saying that what constitutes the heritage here is as much the subject (the participants in the rite) as it is the object (the temple)."
A further example would be the Zojoji Temple which famously stands right next to Tokyo Tower. The temple was built in 1974, whereas Tokyo Tower was erected in 1958. Looking at the two buildings you could be mistaken for thinking the Temple predates the tower by at least a thousand years. But unlike the churches of Europe, the temple is not centuries old. Instead it is a reconstruction on the site of the previous temple, and the temple before that. Every fifty to a hundred years the Zojoji Temple has been rebuilt on the same spot (for at least the last 400 years), and before that the temple stood in the Hibiya neighbourhood for at a further thousand years. Tokyo is not the buildings themselves but the process of building and the connection to the site they are on.
There are many forces that have sent Tokyo down the path of constant renewal. To name a few, the same beliefs that drive the renewal of the shrine at Ise, the metabolist architectural movement, the Meiji transformation, the embracing of the western nuclear family as the central entity, the increase in single person dwellings, the tradition of inherited property being knocked down and rebuilt, the impact of earthquakes, World War II, and the list goes on.
Another thing to reflect on is the name Edo, essentially meaning estuary. That's what the small fishing town was before the Tokugawa decided to start its transformation into the Tokyo we know today. Such a huge amount of the land that Tokyo currently sits on is reclaimed. The Tokugawa set up vast systems of canals feeding off the numerous rivers on the plains that make up Tokyo. Most of the canals have long since been filled in and are now roads or train tracks. Equally many of the rivers no longer flow, or are now subterranean. But they also just reclaimed huge parts of land from the ocean.
This isn't a guide book in so much as a chance to see through the eyes of several dozen architects, artists, and intellectuals who have lived in Tokyo and attempted to understand the city beyond the surface level. Many of these don't succeed, some are glib, some are too bogged down in the artifice of academic language, and some are just wrong. But in amongst the chaff there's some good morsels. The team who set out to understand how the Japanese building code is shaping the city nailed their contribution. There was actually a short piece about a male host at a club for lonely women that stood out as well.
The single biggest problem with this book is the truly horrific editing. There's a typo on nearly every other page. The first few I was willing to excuse but it started to become a joke and annoy me more and more. I'm not sure whether it was because a lot of the book was originally written in other languages and then translated or it was written in English but checked by Dutch speakers. I can't put my finger on it but I really wish they'd got the editing right.
Despite the grammatical errors this book does bring something really fresh to the table. I loved finding a new way of looking at humanity's largest city and the Totems that have guided others in their relationship with it.
August 9, 2017
I learned a few things about Tokyo's architecture and city planning from this book, but I also found it difficult to read. Some of the text is Wikipedia-style info dumping, and some of it is unnecessarily academic; some of the essays are utopian visions conveyed with chains of abstract words that don't really mean anything, like the product copy in a catalog. The underlying concern of the project seems to be answering the question of "what makes Tokyo Japanese," but I don't think that's an issue that really needs to be explored, especially in its emphasis on cultural generalizations at the expense of international exchange. The more specific and visually-oriented sections of Tokyo Totem are quite interesting (the "Super Legal Buildings" essay on zoning regulations was an eye-opener for me), but the more "artistic" and speculative portions of the book struck me as inane and more than a little pretentious.
April 6, 2016
Tokyo Totem is one of the most stimulating, creative, and thought-provoking books I've ever had the pleasure to read. This is not your typical guidebook. It’s a juxtaposition of fascinating contributions from talented writers, artists, mangaka, designers and various other makers from Japan and all over the world. These talented creatives have skilfully provided their own unique and captivating interpretation of Tokyo and what it means to live in this mind-blowing capital city.
As you turn each page, you not only feel like you’re walking with these writers and artists on the very streets of Tokyo, you also feel like you’re looking at this city from a completely new angle. Each essay, photo, story, comic, sign, and scribble will transcend your understanding of this marvellous city. One minute you’re in a bathhouse wondering whether a yakuza member will empathize with a gaijin (foreigner), the next minute you’re learning something new about Tokyo’s unique topography or you’re looking at Tokyo’s signs and symbols from a completely different perspective. When you turn another page, you suddenly realise the idea of Metabolism (a post-war architectural movement) is very much an integral and exciting part of Japan’s architectural formation, and towards the end the section on urban commons and shared communities provides a very optimistic ending on how Japan will cope with its ageing population problems in the future.
Every section of Tokyo Totem was wonderfully inviting and stimulating so I know I’ll be returning to reread different excerpts in the future even though I’ve already finished and thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. The reason for this is because Tokyo Totem will leave you feeling intellectually and emotionally inspired by its contents. So much so, I think every designer and Japanologist should have a copy of Tokyo Totem on their coffee table, if not only for the fact that this book is beautifully presented with lovely thick paper, the colour coding for each section on the fore-edge as well as the hinge of the book delights the eye, and the cover is very cleverly designed with the word Tokyo in the shape of a totem face, set above the Japanese Hinomaru circle of the sun.
As you turn each page, you not only feel like you’re walking with these writers and artists on the very streets of Tokyo, you also feel like you’re looking at this city from a completely new angle. Each essay, photo, story, comic, sign, and scribble will transcend your understanding of this marvellous city. One minute you’re in a bathhouse wondering whether a yakuza member will empathize with a gaijin (foreigner), the next minute you’re learning something new about Tokyo’s unique topography or you’re looking at Tokyo’s signs and symbols from a completely different perspective. When you turn another page, you suddenly realise the idea of Metabolism (a post-war architectural movement) is very much an integral and exciting part of Japan’s architectural formation, and towards the end the section on urban commons and shared communities provides a very optimistic ending on how Japan will cope with its ageing population problems in the future.
Every section of Tokyo Totem was wonderfully inviting and stimulating so I know I’ll be returning to reread different excerpts in the future even though I’ve already finished and thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. The reason for this is because Tokyo Totem will leave you feeling intellectually and emotionally inspired by its contents. So much so, I think every designer and Japanologist should have a copy of Tokyo Totem on their coffee table, if not only for the fact that this book is beautifully presented with lovely thick paper, the colour coding for each section on the fore-edge as well as the hinge of the book delights the eye, and the cover is very cleverly designed with the word Tokyo in the shape of a totem face, set above the Japanese Hinomaru circle of the sun.
June 6, 2017
I've bought this book in a library in Roppongi in Tokyo while looking for something a bit outside the normal standards for a touristic book about the city.
Tokyo is a difficult city to understand, very complex for an European travelling around. There are basically no points of references intended in the Western sense, that is squares, monuments and so on, including no real city centre, the city itself looks chaotic including the fact that streets have no names.
The book provides a great introduction to Tokyo from an urbanist and social point of view, with chapters written by artists, architects, designers, all living and working in Tokyo coming from different countries. You can find an explanation of the role of the Konbini (small supermarkets everywhere in Tokyo open 24/7), the reason why business men wear shoes three size bigger (yep, I've noticed this in the subway and I was wondering if they really had such huge feet ...) the new extended families etc... The book even if easily readable it lacks of continuity, and the level of the chapters can vary dramatically from really interesting and insightful to slightly boring and not well translated (most of the authors are not english speakers). Nevertheless I gave to it 4 stars because of the originality and the fact that being there while reading it, I can confirm the book provides real insider tips to Tokyo.
Tokyo is a difficult city to understand, very complex for an European travelling around. There are basically no points of references intended in the Western sense, that is squares, monuments and so on, including no real city centre, the city itself looks chaotic including the fact that streets have no names.
The book provides a great introduction to Tokyo from an urbanist and social point of view, with chapters written by artists, architects, designers, all living and working in Tokyo coming from different countries. You can find an explanation of the role of the Konbini (small supermarkets everywhere in Tokyo open 24/7), the reason why business men wear shoes three size bigger (yep, I've noticed this in the subway and I was wondering if they really had such huge feet ...) the new extended families etc... The book even if easily readable it lacks of continuity, and the level of the chapters can vary dramatically from really interesting and insightful to slightly boring and not well translated (most of the authors are not english speakers). Nevertheless I gave to it 4 stars because of the originality and the fact that being there while reading it, I can confirm the book provides real insider tips to Tokyo.
March 13, 2018
Sempena Tokyo Marathon, sy baca semula buku yg dibeli last year: Tokyo Totem, A guide to Tokyo. Ini bukan buku tourism halal food, tp adlh usaha kolektif, tulisan pendek para arkitek, designer, artist, pengembara urban & penulis. 8 hal menarik hati, 1.Tokyo dilihat kompleks&sukar difahami namun, melalui tanda kecil/"totem" yg terhijab dr tourist, wujud sebagai guide mmbantu pengembara sampai menemui matlamat. Totem ini sama ada secara undang2 binaan, topography sjrh, ank pnh kecil di kaki lima jln mahupun nama tempt memberi idea, dimana, & utk kemana. 2.Tanah Tokyo brbntk spt sebuah besen, zmn edo dulu, samurai ddk di lingkaran luar/ats bg melindungi tnh pertanian & org kampung. Hari ini, elit kaya, mall & bangunan public menguasai strata paling atas, krn villa feudal samurai dulu luas, compare saiz plot rumah org kampung yg kecil & sukar disatukan sbb ramai tuan tanah. 3.Oleh krn Jepun sering gempa bumi, bangunan ada slide gelongsor. Malah apartment, mempunyai lubang pd balkoni agar jiran boleh melompat dgn cepat dr tingkat ke tingkat. 4.Pusat mandi umum onsen tercipta krn dulu masa musim sejuk, kos utk panaskan air tinggi melalui kayu api, tidak effisien bg kelurga kecil, lalu wujud pusat mandi bersama secara bogel, memberi falsafah bahawa kita terima setiap org sama rata tdk kira gangster yakuza/seorang guru fizik. 5.Kombini/ kedai konvinien, bagaikan peti ais yg bsr utk semua org, akibat rumah yg terlalu kecil & sempit, ruang memasak sgt minimalis. 6.Nama tempat di Tokyo biasanya bersambung dgn nama alam spt gunung (-yama) eg. Fujiyama, sungai (-gawa), jambatan (-bashi) etc. 7.Jumlah single lady semakin meningkat sbb mereka tidak mahu kahwin krn tdk mahu kebebasan hilang & terpaksa berhenti kerja jaga anak. Maka house developer redesign condo utk fit golongan ini. 8. Size urban Tokyo telah mencapai limit maksimum. Kesannya menolak size yg lain, menjadi semakin kecil. Rumah semakin nipis, malah krn ruang di Tokyo, sgt mahal gila maka trend individu mula memilih utk memakai kasut lebih besar, biasanya 3x ganda saiz sebenar sebagai tanda "ada" personal growth dlm hidup. Boleh cari di http://www.tokyototem.jp
#sirimembacha #tokyototem #monnik #flickstudio
#sirimembacha #tokyototem #monnik #flickstudio
September 8, 2024
Fascinating publication exploring less visible and more dynamic part of Tokyo’s urban planning, history and current lifestyle trends. Compiled written and visual essays discuss many pressing issues of past and present faced by Tokyoites (and sometimes, by extension, Japanese) in the bustling capital of Japan. Overall, the book has accessible but refined writing, lots of visual elements to linger your eyes on, diverse coverage of topics surrounding different social and architectural elements of daily life in Tokyo. Personally, I’ve enjoyed that most essays were presented either as stories, interviews, or anecdotes about dwellers within the city - this anthropological approach including real people with real voices enriched general scope of the book.
One minus though: Despite loosely self-proclaiming as a “non-standard guidebook” which, on top of giving cross-section of different places and activities also offers new “insights, angles and imaginations”, authors sometimes oversimplify and underrepresent reasons behind certain phenomena. I can understand that as a guidebook, this piece provides only a glimpse into the city life of Tokyo, but implying that population of single women is single mostly due to their desire to live lavish lifestyle or being potentially tired of their mother-in-laws (patriarchy is mentioned only later, without even commenting on issues like pay gap and hostile workplaces) is pretty superficial perspective on current gender distribution of single people living alone.
Apart from one or two slip-ups like that, I can assure you that it’s a really good book that will help anyone explore Tokyo without it being necessarily driven solely by the senseless consumerism.
One minus though: Despite loosely self-proclaiming as a “non-standard guidebook” which, on top of giving cross-section of different places and activities also offers new “insights, angles and imaginations”, authors sometimes oversimplify and underrepresent reasons behind certain phenomena. I can understand that as a guidebook, this piece provides only a glimpse into the city life of Tokyo, but implying that population of single women is single mostly due to their desire to live lavish lifestyle or being potentially tired of their mother-in-laws (patriarchy is mentioned only later, without even commenting on issues like pay gap and hostile workplaces) is pretty superficial perspective on current gender distribution of single people living alone.
Apart from one or two slip-ups like that, I can assure you that it’s a really good book that will help anyone explore Tokyo without it being necessarily driven solely by the senseless consumerism.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2024
A surprisingly good book.
I didn't know what to expect when I started reading the book after purchasing it in Japan solely influenced by a vague recommendation from a bygone encounter on Youtube, the advice lingered in my mind: "It's an excellent book for understanding Tokyo in a different way." But what exactly does "a different way" entail?
Tokyo Totem emerges as a beacon of subjectivity amidst a sea of objective data. While it provides factual metrics, such as the longevity of structures and the demographics of its populace, the book primarily serves as a spiritual companion. What does "home" mean to the average Tokyo resident? How does one navigate such huge city in order to find yourself in it? Or why are hot springs so important to Tokyoites?
Thus, Tokyo Totem transcends typical guidebooks, becoming a compendium of anthropological musings. Its pages offer a glimpse into the cultural psyche of Japan, inviting scholars and enthusiasts to examine societal norms and customs. As an amateur anthropologist exploring Japanese culture, I believe this book is invaluable. It not only enriches our understanding of Tokyo but also serves as a microcosm of the broader complexities within Japanese society.
Reasons to Read Tokyo Totem:
Cultural Immersion: Dive into the rich cultural landscape of Tokyo and unravel its mysteries from an anthropological perspective.
Societal Exploration: Look beyond statistics to uncover the beliefs, values, and traditions that shape Tokyo's identity.
Intellectual Enlightenment: Gain insights into cultural anthropology by delving into the complexities of Japanese society.
I didn't know what to expect when I started reading the book after purchasing it in Japan solely influenced by a vague recommendation from a bygone encounter on Youtube, the advice lingered in my mind: "It's an excellent book for understanding Tokyo in a different way." But what exactly does "a different way" entail?
Tokyo Totem emerges as a beacon of subjectivity amidst a sea of objective data. While it provides factual metrics, such as the longevity of structures and the demographics of its populace, the book primarily serves as a spiritual companion. What does "home" mean to the average Tokyo resident? How does one navigate such huge city in order to find yourself in it? Or why are hot springs so important to Tokyoites?
Thus, Tokyo Totem transcends typical guidebooks, becoming a compendium of anthropological musings. Its pages offer a glimpse into the cultural psyche of Japan, inviting scholars and enthusiasts to examine societal norms and customs. As an amateur anthropologist exploring Japanese culture, I believe this book is invaluable. It not only enriches our understanding of Tokyo but also serves as a microcosm of the broader complexities within Japanese society.
Reasons to Read Tokyo Totem:
Cultural Immersion: Dive into the rich cultural landscape of Tokyo and unravel its mysteries from an anthropological perspective.
Societal Exploration: Look beyond statistics to uncover the beliefs, values, and traditions that shape Tokyo's identity.
Intellectual Enlightenment: Gain insights into cultural anthropology by delving into the complexities of Japanese society.
November 17, 2019
If you are looking for any sense in the mess that is Tokyo, understand the reasons and the structure behind the never ending ups and downs of towers and tiny houses, this is the book for you. Written as a collection of short essays it explains different aspects or rituals that are the parts that make the city, looking both on the everyday dance of its people as the stage that is the build fabric. For example how the landscape defined where the rich and the poor lived in old days, how this now defines where the larger developments happen. Or how functions stay the same but buildings change. Best read in a Tokyo book café.
April 13, 2023
I would describe this as a casual anthropological book, mostly written by foreigners who have visited or lived in Tokyo. It is a good perspective to have, but it also tells you what sentiments to expect. I think I enjoyed at least half of it, mostly the visual chapters and creative writing (fiction). The rest were, as others have written, pretentious and bland - pertaining to the essays which were hard to read and offer little to no striking insight. I felt something was missing - the intimacy of daily life - aspects of the society that I encountered having visited the country about 6 times thus far. It somehow fails to humanize the people as they should be.
April 30, 2018
Many of the essays are interesting and thought-provoking, especially for a person living in Tokyo.
I was very disappointed in the quality of the book and text. It is clear that many of the essays have not been proofread, as there are glaring spelling mistakes and inconsistencies throughout. Furthermore the book's visual design, which is appealing at first, turns out to be dysfunctional (illegible page numbers, for example).
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I was very disappointed in the quality of the book and text. It is clear that many of the essays have not been proofread, as there are glaring spelling mistakes and inconsistencies throughout. Furthermore the book's visual design, which is appealing at first, turns out to be dysfunctional (illegible page numbers, for example).
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
July 15, 2017
A sort of friend to offer sympathy, for the times you find yourself lost in the in-sensitivities of mass metropolis.
July 25, 2023
Modern immersion on Japan.
April 11, 2025
Vooral fijne foto’s. Essays een beetje geforceerd en niet echt stimulerend, aantal uitzondering daargelaten.
July 30, 2018
This is a very curious book. It aims at offering many subjective takes on how to feel at home in Tokyo and what living here is like. Sadly, the subjective and more artistic projects seem to be very superficial, often trading on platitudes about Tokyo (roughly at the level of websites by 20-something Americans and Japan Times advice columns, so, pretty bad).
But, on the brighter side, there are a few properly researched pieces and these are very useful for someone who wants to understand the city a bit better. The writings on how legislation, geography and history influence what gets built where are fantastic.
There is also a confusing section at the end of the book, where a few pieces sign the praise of the shared house form of living popping up in Tokyo. While I agree that this is an important phenomenon, and that it has the potential to solve some social issues caused by atomisation in society, the general 'hurray optimism' of these writings is absolutely unwarranted. We don't know yet how these projects will turn out. Also, non of the pieces mentions that the ridiculous situation in which people can't pay for their own flats is the result of predatory land and apartment ownership practices by the upper class in Japan and the enormous construction companies. This is supported by the parliament. Political change would be needed to build affordable housing, break up the conglomerates, and control the unrealistic rents. People might be able to find a home by moving into smaller and smaller spaces and trying to make that work, but this strategy has its limits.
But, on the brighter side, there are a few properly researched pieces and these are very useful for someone who wants to understand the city a bit better. The writings on how legislation, geography and history influence what gets built where are fantastic.
There is also a confusing section at the end of the book, where a few pieces sign the praise of the shared house form of living popping up in Tokyo. While I agree that this is an important phenomenon, and that it has the potential to solve some social issues caused by atomisation in society, the general 'hurray optimism' of these writings is absolutely unwarranted. We don't know yet how these projects will turn out. Also, non of the pieces mentions that the ridiculous situation in which people can't pay for their own flats is the result of predatory land and apartment ownership practices by the upper class in Japan and the enormous construction companies. This is supported by the parliament. Political change would be needed to build affordable housing, break up the conglomerates, and control the unrealistic rents. People might be able to find a home by moving into smaller and smaller spaces and trying to make that work, but this strategy has its limits.
February 2, 2017
Tokyo Totem is a collection of essays and photo-essays about the most interesting city I've been so far. Some are interesting, like the super legal houses and the way the city of Tokyo is shaped. Others, very pretentious and really difficult to read. Don't read this book in one read. Find essays you like, read those, skip the ones that don't grasp your attention in a couple of lines.
April 5, 2020
A beautifully written book that gave me a deeper understanding of what Tokyo is, what it was and the transformation path that it is currently facing. This book it has blurred line with poetry and sociology.
I enjoyed every single page, it’s great design make you feel in love with the wonderful city that Tokio is!
I enjoyed every single page, it’s great design make you feel in love with the wonderful city that Tokio is!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews