Do Android Crows Fly Over the Skies of an Electronic Tokyo?: The Interactive Urban Landscape of Japan

by Akira Suzuki

'It is difficult to describe Tokyo in terms of traditional urbanism. Its population is extremely fluid and capricious. It has no tradition of architectural culture, its infrastructure is quite haphazard, and its local communities -- recently even the family unit -- have begun to disintegrate.' The impact on Japanese cities of social and technological change is the focus of this collection of essays by Akira Suzuki, editor of Telescope magazine and Professor of Design at Kobe University. Entertaining, but equally thought-provoking, the essays describe urban rituals and catastrophes, and suggest lessons that might be learnt from them. Progressing in scale from the minimal dwelling space for the single urbanite to the dispersed urban infrastructure, they put forward a new conception of urbanism that takes account of the changes in information technology that have begun to render national boundaries meaningless.

Genres: Architecture

72 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2004

About the author

Akira Suzuki (Japanese: 鈴木明) was the pen name of Japanese non-fiction writer and journalist Akio Imai. Born in Tokyo, he graduated from Rikkyo University's Department of Humanities and began his career as a reporter for Shūkan Taimuzu magazine. He later joined TBS, where he worked in program scheduling and served as chief editor of the magazine Chōsa Jōhō. While at TBS, he authored The Illusion of the Nanjing Massacre, a controversial book that questioned the veracity of widely accepted narratives about the Nanjing Massacre. The book, which argued that journalist Harold Timperley acted as a covert propaganda agent for the Chinese Nationalist government, won the 4th Soichi Oya Nonfiction Award in 1973 and sold over 200,000 copies. Suzuki denied events such as the hundred-man killing contest and claimed accurate victim counts were impossible. Though often labeled a moderate, he was criticized by historians for denialist positions and questionable research practices.

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 3 out of 5]

QTWTAIN, but some interesting stuff on among other things the relation between extremely minimal private space standards and the to-an-outsider unusually generous public space, and the present of ubiquitous phones and email in your pocket!!! described when it was still on the horizon and exotic rather than a tedious daily grind for everyone.