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Tokyo: A Certain Style
Ah, think of the serene gardens, tatami mats, Zen-inspired decor, sliding doors, and shoji screens of the typical Japanese home. Think again. Tokyo: A Certain Style, the mini-sized decor book with a difference, shows how, for those living in one of the worlds most expensive and densely packed metropolises, closet-sized apartments stacked to the ceiling with gadgetry and CDs are the norm. Photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki rode his scooter all over Tokyo snapping shots of how urban Japanese really live. Hundreds of photographs reveal the real Tokyo style: microapartments, mini and modular everything, rooms filled to the rafters with electronics, piles of books and clothes, clans of remote controls, collections of sundry objects all crammed into a space where every inch counts. Tsuzuki introduces each tiny crash pad with a brief text about who lives there, from artists and students to professionals and couples with children. His captions to the hundreds of photographs capture the spirit and ingenuity required to live in such small quarters. This fascinating, voyeuristic look at modern life comes in a chunky, pocket-sized format-the perfect coffee table book for people with really small apartments.
440 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
October 13, 2022
Sometimes you open a book looking for one thing and find quite another. That was the case for me with Tokyo: A Certain Style. I had read about Japanese audiophiles who live in small living spaces with large, high efficiency loudspeakers powered by low powered amplifiers. I'd wondered what large speakers in a relatively small space would look like. Suffice it to say, I didn't find that here. What I did find was something interesting in its own right. The author and photographer of Tokyo: A Certain Style set out to show the world lifestyles outside the cliché/dream idea of Japanese living as minimalism and extreme neatness. That may exist somewhere in Japan, but not within the pages of this book.
Many of the apartments profiled here are lived in by younger creative/artistic/bohemian folks who have more stuff than I do and much less space to store it in. So what's here is, in many cases, mess. But within that mess, there are many books. records, CDs, knickknacks, clothing, musical instruments, and just plain well loved personal pleasures. And most of us feel a need for those things, no matter how large a space we live in.
Two mentions - Even though many of the living spaces look messy to various degrees, I saw a certain style - as the book's title suggests- and an a kind of elegance in some of them.
And (I hope this doesn't sound sexist), many (though not all) of the apartments with women tenants are neater and less cluttered than the apartments lived in by men. In my experience, guys tend to collect more stuff and can overlook messiness much more easily than women can. I know that's true in my case, and my wife will strongly attest to it.
A side story - I'd never heard of this book, but I saw a review by my GR friend, 7jane (Thanks, Jane!) and my interest was piqued. The book is out of print and our local library system didn't have a copy. I made an intra-library request and, since I live in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley, I assumed that i might receive a copy from somewhere close, the New York City Public Library System seemed likely. Two weeks later, when I received the book, I was surprised to see that it had come from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. My surprise came not only from the distance it had traveled, but also because I never expected that a military academy would have this book on its shelves. Thinking about the latter, my best guess is that there are Air Force personnel stationed in Japan and someone thought that it would be a good thing for them to have a sense of all walks of Japanese life.
Many of the apartments profiled here are lived in by younger creative/artistic/bohemian folks who have more stuff than I do and much less space to store it in. So what's here is, in many cases, mess. But within that mess, there are many books. records, CDs, knickknacks, clothing, musical instruments, and just plain well loved personal pleasures. And most of us feel a need for those things, no matter how large a space we live in.
Two mentions - Even though many of the living spaces look messy to various degrees, I saw a certain style - as the book's title suggests- and an a kind of elegance in some of them.
And (I hope this doesn't sound sexist), many (though not all) of the apartments with women tenants are neater and less cluttered than the apartments lived in by men. In my experience, guys tend to collect more stuff and can overlook messiness much more easily than women can. I know that's true in my case, and my wife will strongly attest to it.
A side story - I'd never heard of this book, but I saw a review by my GR friend, 7jane (Thanks, Jane!) and my interest was piqued. The book is out of print and our local library system didn't have a copy. I made an intra-library request and, since I live in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley, I assumed that i might receive a copy from somewhere close, the New York City Public Library System seemed likely. Two weeks later, when I received the book, I was surprised to see that it had come from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. My surprise came not only from the distance it had traveled, but also because I never expected that a military academy would have this book on its shelves. Thinking about the latter, my best guess is that there are Air Force personnel stationed in Japan and someone thought that it would be a good thing for them to have a sense of all walks of Japanese life.
November 12, 2020
Moved to gwern.net.
June 9, 2016
This little book is packed with living spaces, mostly small, some even just one room with kitchen corner. All feel well-lived and often quite full, so I can relate *lol* Order *with* chaos. There is one exception towards the end: a rare pre-WWII building of dark wood, very beautiful.
The often-seen bathroom slippers were funny. And you can see the people's hobbies, passions and sometimes even work things within (things like surfing, theatre, music, collecting cute stuff, making hats, etc.). There is much detail. Because the book is small I had to make some effort to keep the spine line-free, but it felt worth it. This is a wonderful book, with much inspiration, and well worth the buy :)
The often-seen bathroom slippers were funny. And you can see the people's hobbies, passions and sometimes even work things within (things like surfing, theatre, music, collecting cute stuff, making hats, etc.). There is much detail. Because the book is small I had to make some effort to keep the spine line-free, but it felt worth it. This is a wonderful book, with much inspiration, and well worth the buy :)
February 10, 2016
This book has been on my TBR list for a while and a dear friend gave me a copy as a gift. We are both passionate about Japan. This was interesting, informative and fun. It's amazing how much the population of Tokyo can cram into their small apartments. I love it! I'd fit right in because my own home is a magnet for clutter. I loved seeing all their collections and clever ways of getting the most into the space that they have. Surprisingly, many people even use their bathrooms for storage and go to public baths which I can't see myself doing. I collect books, cds, albums, dvds, candles, clothes, shoes, jewelry, purses, Japanese/Asian knick knacks, paintings, posters, artwork just to name some of the clutter in my home. If I run out of space, this little book has given me some ideas in creating more storage space and some organizational things. Anyone who wants to see how average people in Tokyo live can look to this book as showing a big variety of the common man. Thank you so much for gifting me this book, Lisa......I loved it and it's a fine addition to my Japanese book collection!!!!
February 3, 2010
As someone who has lived most of my life in very small furnished rooms, I cherish this book. Something about the apartments in this book evokes casual acceptance of a world overflowing with pop culture junk, but at the same time some of them casually keeping aloof from that world... denying their interest in decor, just letting things stay as they are in themselves. What is amazing about the book is the way it invites you to compare the photos to your own apartment, and how even though your junk aggravates you to no end, possibly, other people's junk fascinates you.
October 2, 2016
I have the original Japanese edition of this book, so I wasn't able to read all of the small paragraphs describing some of the photos, but they largely speak for themselves. I'm unreservedly obsessed with Japan and Japanese culture, and their famous tiny living spaces have always been high on my list of wonders. I have much experience from my 20's living in a rented room where I had everything that is needed there for living except the bathroom, which was an adjacent room. I can make a meal without a kitchen, have my bed double as a sofa, and turn a single bedroom into a home cinema, an arts and crafts studio, a gym, a meditation room, and even throw Christmas and birthday parties (fully decorated, of course).
A lot of the spaces in this book are so cluttered that they could pass for junk heaps, but that is also inspiring in its own way, to make me clear out my own!
A lot of the spaces in this book are so cluttered that they could pass for junk heaps, but that is also inspiring in its own way, to make me clear out my own!
August 7, 2015
3.5 stars This book is primarily a collection of photographs, supported by minimal text, that shows the Tokyo living spaces of about 100 people around 1997. It makes the point that living spaces are quite small and require creative management of belongings. The book is done well and was an eye opener for these Western eyes.
March 22, 2022
truly inspiring to my maximalist/organized hoarder self❗️ and ohhh what a feeling of nostalgia when almost every photograph featured an ashtray & cigarettes, haha 🥲
December 14, 2019
Was quite surprised by this one! Did not think I'd like it as much as I did, but it turns out that seeing how various strata of Japanese society lived in the 1990's. (Spoiler: they all live in comparably sized spaces.)
Charming, heartwarming—they all put a lot of effort and love into setting up and the overall feel of their dwellings—and a fascinating way to gain insight into the lives of many who live in an exciting city where space is in short supply and apparently sold at a huge premium.
Charming, heartwarming—they all put a lot of effort and love into setting up and the overall feel of their dwellings—and a fascinating way to gain insight into the lives of many who live in an exciting city where space is in short supply and apparently sold at a huge premium.
September 1, 2014
My husband and I had so much fun reading this little book when I brought it home. Since then, I've read it so many times that the binding finally fell apart and I needed to order another copy! The pictures are wonderful and the text is really fun and interesting. I always love to get an intimate peek at how people really live in other parts of the world, especially the beautiful and fascinating country of Japan. This book is really something special. I've never come across anything like it before or since, and I've been on the lookout! Highly recommended to anyone who'd love a look at life in Japan.
June 25, 2016
Almost intimate insights into cramped, cluttered, partly messy, partly well-organized homes including toilets with the typical fluffy toilet-only slippers in front, enriched by short written introductions to who lives there and what is his or her occupation. I love it. It is like being invited to visit and explore.
Why don't you do the next project set in the county-side, Mr. Tsuzuki? When I pass those village-dwellings in Japan, my knuckles itch from refraining to knock and look.
My only complaint is about the binding of the book. It falls apart after the first leafing-through.
Why don't you do the next project set in the county-side, Mr. Tsuzuki? When I pass those village-dwellings in Japan, my knuckles itch from refraining to knock and look.
My only complaint is about the binding of the book. It falls apart after the first leafing-through.
January 27, 2008
This little book is like an adult's version of children's "I Spy" books. Every time I look at it, I'll see a new, interesting, and inventive approach to living and organizing your stuff amidst serious space constraints.
January 23, 2021
I love this book. Got it at a store in Portland, OR..and I always have a great time thumbing through it.. very small and very jam packed with images of apartments in Tokyo.. One gets inspired..
very creative..and inspirational.
very creative..and inspirational.
June 9, 2015
Loved it! Makes me want to downsize in every way - smaller living space AND less stuff.
February 1, 2023
love this mini coffee table book.
love honest glimpses into real homes and real people's lives.
would love a 2020s version - how much has changed? just the thickness of the TVs?
love honest glimpses into real homes and real people's lives.
would love a 2020s version - how much has changed? just the thickness of the TVs?
August 18, 2017
It is a truly enjoyable, interesting and easily engaging book. Weirdly I also enjoyed the pocket size element of it – I carried it around and poured over it when I could grab a few minutes here and there.
There are broadly themed sections – apartments with kids, for example, or excessive collectors, or old-fashioned architecture. Typically, the apartments are very, very small with tiny kitchenettes, maybe a bath or sink. Some don’t have that and instead visit the local bathhouse and shared kitchen areas. Some people ate out for all their meals, some were avid amateur chefs in a box-sized kitchen. Closets were converted into sleeping space and windows converted into closets. Washing machines took up space on balconies or in the street. Some were immaculately organised and well maintained, some make you queasy with the squalor and chaos.
Each page had little notes from the photographer telling you about the occupier and pointing out interesting or amusing elements of rooms. It is a great feed for your imagination – I pictured the people and what their lives might be like. I definitely appreciate my space more, but I also question how much stuff I have that I don’t need.
It is not only a look into an alien culture and way of living, but also a time capsule as these photos were taken early to mid nineties. It was great to spy Sega Mega Drives, Mackintosh computers, CDs and VHS tapes. I can’t help but wonder, with the digital advancement and the change in the way we consume media, what these apartments might look like today?
There are broadly themed sections – apartments with kids, for example, or excessive collectors, or old-fashioned architecture. Typically, the apartments are very, very small with tiny kitchenettes, maybe a bath or sink. Some don’t have that and instead visit the local bathhouse and shared kitchen areas. Some people ate out for all their meals, some were avid amateur chefs in a box-sized kitchen. Closets were converted into sleeping space and windows converted into closets. Washing machines took up space on balconies or in the street. Some were immaculately organised and well maintained, some make you queasy with the squalor and chaos.
Each page had little notes from the photographer telling you about the occupier and pointing out interesting or amusing elements of rooms. It is a great feed for your imagination – I pictured the people and what their lives might be like. I definitely appreciate my space more, but I also question how much stuff I have that I don’t need.
It is not only a look into an alien culture and way of living, but also a time capsule as these photos were taken early to mid nineties. It was great to spy Sega Mega Drives, Mackintosh computers, CDs and VHS tapes. I can’t help but wonder, with the digital advancement and the change in the way we consume media, what these apartments might look like today?
January 31, 2018
Photographs of (often tiny) Tokyo living spaces around the mid 90's. The occupants we're asked not to tidy up and to keep their living spaces lived-in. Occasionally, you'll see ingenious use of space, but usually just clutter as people struggle to fit their lives into the tiny rooms - not the Japanese aesthetic you might expect.
Each photograph is accompanied by a small piece of text which, with a sprinkling of dry wit, gives just enough information to make you wonder about the occupants and their lives. The occupants themselves are never shown, you only get to imagine them though their living spaces and possessions.
I left this book lying around the house, and would just pick it up to flick through a few pages whenever I felt like it. The small paperback is very handy (and considerably cheaper than trying to source a hardback copy!) - however the spine makes it difficult to see the inside section of the photos, and double-page spreads are interrupted by a large crease down the middle that you can't lay flat.
Anyway, a really enjoyable read. It's interesting to see what people do with tiny spaces. It's interesting to see how people live in Japan. And, for me, it's interesting to do some mid 90's Japanese Hi-Fi spotting too.
Each photograph is accompanied by a small piece of text which, with a sprinkling of dry wit, gives just enough information to make you wonder about the occupants and their lives. The occupants themselves are never shown, you only get to imagine them though their living spaces and possessions.
I left this book lying around the house, and would just pick it up to flick through a few pages whenever I felt like it. The small paperback is very handy (and considerably cheaper than trying to source a hardback copy!) - however the spine makes it difficult to see the inside section of the photos, and double-page spreads are interrupted by a large crease down the middle that you can't lay flat.
Anyway, a really enjoyable read. It's interesting to see what people do with tiny spaces. It's interesting to see how people live in Japan. And, for me, it's interesting to do some mid 90's Japanese Hi-Fi spotting too.
November 4, 2019
This book is so small. I remember it being a larger book. Maybe I thought wrong. This is a literal pocket size.
This book featured living spaces from the early nineties. It wasn't at all up-to-date. I didn't spend too much time on it. It felt more like looking at a bygone era from my youth.
I think I'd rather just look online instead of buy such a book again.
This book featured living spaces from the early nineties. It wasn't at all up-to-date. I didn't spend too much time on it. It felt more like looking at a bygone era from my youth.
I think I'd rather just look online instead of buy such a book again.
March 17, 2019
This book reveals that the average denizen of Tokyo is in dire need of Marie Kondo's magical advice. Jokes aside, Tsuzuki offers us a highly unique photographic journey to everyday home life in a fascinating city.
December 29, 2018
WOW
Apartments of artists and creatives in Tokio. Only 20 years ago, but seems like distant history. Digital technology transformed the way we (and esp. these people) live.
Apartments of artists and creatives in Tokio. Only 20 years ago, but seems like distant history. Digital technology transformed the way we (and esp. these people) live.
September 19, 2020
《东京风格》（日）都筑响一。
February 3, 2024
Oh, absolutely fantastic !
February 14, 2024
It's not actually a book for those who don't know.
For those interested in feng shui, or to find your comfortable environment.
It's a nice book to add to your collection.
For those interested in feng shui, or to find your comfortable environment.
It's a nice book to add to your collection.
July 24, 2024
ma daronne core
October 8, 2024
One of my favorites of all time, so humble and quirky i love it
November 20, 2018
Small spaces. Candid pictures. Tokyo culture. A lovely book.
September 29, 2016
I have written more reviews in my head this year than have made it onto Goodreads, so I'm trying to shape up.
I adored this. When the Kondo Marie book came out, people who knew I'd lived in Japan were constantly discussing it with me - so this is how Japanese people keep those lovely Zen little living spaces! My own mother goes on and on about Japanese design and how clean and tidy everything is.
This book tells it like it is. Japan is a small island country, Tokyo is a packed city of over ten million people, most people live in apartments or older houses. The people who live in these spaces have stuff, sometimes LOTS of stuff. I remember my first homestay family's house, the sheer clutter of four adults and two children living in a house 100 years old. The books, the toys, the papers, the bedding, the teetering piles everywhere. As the foreword puts it, these pictures are more representative than the glossy magazine pictures that make it overseas.
What I really loved it for was the pictures and the descriptions. 1) The superpower I most want is to be able to fly, but a close runner up is being able to walk into any home in the world and just look at the layout and furnishings and 2) so many times I've seen books like these with no captions. The captions in this book tell you who lives here, about the stuff and furniture you can see in the photo, and other details of the person's life as relates to their living situation.
Two caveats - the book is divided into sections and the first section is the "hoarder" group. The first few pictures I enjoyed, but then I started feeling stressed out by the sheer amount of stuff visible - book collections so extensive doorways were blocked, piles of papers and records making the floor impassable, etc. Beware. The second is that the sample size is a tad biased. Obviously the author had to find people who were willing to have their homes photographed as is, in a country where foreigners are told not to worry if they aren't invited to friends' homes - nobody is. So the subjects are pretty heavy on the art student/rock musician/bartender/translator/NGO worker side.
I adored this. When the Kondo Marie book came out, people who knew I'd lived in Japan were constantly discussing it with me - so this is how Japanese people keep those lovely Zen little living spaces! My own mother goes on and on about Japanese design and how clean and tidy everything is.
This book tells it like it is. Japan is a small island country, Tokyo is a packed city of over ten million people, most people live in apartments or older houses. The people who live in these spaces have stuff, sometimes LOTS of stuff. I remember my first homestay family's house, the sheer clutter of four adults and two children living in a house 100 years old. The books, the toys, the papers, the bedding, the teetering piles everywhere. As the foreword puts it, these pictures are more representative than the glossy magazine pictures that make it overseas.
What I really loved it for was the pictures and the descriptions. 1) The superpower I most want is to be able to fly, but a close runner up is being able to walk into any home in the world and just look at the layout and furnishings and 2) so many times I've seen books like these with no captions. The captions in this book tell you who lives here, about the stuff and furniture you can see in the photo, and other details of the person's life as relates to their living situation.
Two caveats - the book is divided into sections and the first section is the "hoarder" group. The first few pictures I enjoyed, but then I started feeling stressed out by the sheer amount of stuff visible - book collections so extensive doorways were blocked, piles of papers and records making the floor impassable, etc. Beware. The second is that the sample size is a tad biased. Obviously the author had to find people who were willing to have their homes photographed as is, in a country where foreigners are told not to worry if they aren't invited to friends' homes - nobody is. So the subjects are pretty heavy on the art student/rock musician/bartender/translator/NGO worker side.
February 23, 2016
I was intrigued by a passing reference to Tokyo: A Certain Style in one of the essays in
Distrust That Particular Flavor
by William Gibson. This interesting little photo book debunks the popular perception (promulgated by other photo books and design magazine profiles) that tiny Tokyo apartments are all tasteful, tranquil Zen Bonsai garden meditation retreats. Tsuzuki shows that the Japanese are just as awash in the tsunami of modern consumer kipple as the rest of us. The apartment with the collection of boxed plastic models that so impressed William Gibson that he mentioned it in Pattern Recognition was a letdown for me, though. My model collection is bigger than that guy's. Gibson should come downstairs and have a look in my closet.
January 12, 2014
Most guides to style are, well, highly stylized. If one were showing off the Japanese approach to home design, it would be a collaboration of the best designers and the most tasteful homeowners that are shown off.
That's not the case with this little photo essay from the 1990s.
Tokyo: A Certain Style shows off the tine one and two room aparments in Tokyo and how the owners make them work for the way they live. Some are cluttered near disaster areas. Others are a PhD course in organization.Though a little dates (the TVs are all large and their large flat tops are often used as storage tables) the lessons and lifestyles, I am sure, still apply.
A fun read - and who knows you may get an idea or two for your own adobe - whether large or small.
That's not the case with this little photo essay from the 1990s.
Tokyo: A Certain Style shows off the tine one and two room aparments in Tokyo and how the owners make them work for the way they live. Some are cluttered near disaster areas. Others are a PhD course in organization.Though a little dates (the TVs are all large and their large flat tops are often used as storage tables) the lessons and lifestyles, I am sure, still apply.
A fun read - and who knows you may get an idea or two for your own adobe - whether large or small.
March 25, 2013
This is really a great little book for getting an inside view of how some people live in Tokyo. These are small apartments, and there is a lot of making do going on here. There's no styling going on in these photos, this is just as people are living. It was particularly interesting to learn about many of these older style apartments and how they have shared bathrooms and sometimes no bathrooms at all when located near a public bathhouse. Other apartments have incredibly small kitchenettes or kitchens. A look through this book made me feel like our little American house is a mansion, as our kitchen alone is as big as some of the one-bedroom homes showcased in the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews