Visited Tokyo a few years ago and I'm desperate to go back - will check out some of these options. Would also add The Bells of Old Tokyo: Travels in Japanese Time by Anna Sherman.
You should do one for Kyoto if you have not already (for that one the temple of the golden pavilion is perfect for it)! I have many for Japan, but not as much for Tokyo specifically in that it takes place. One notable exception is the novel life for sale also by Yukio Mishima, which mostly takes place in the city. It is not one of his strongest novels, but it does capture the particular grind of modern Japanese work culture in the face of modernity that is particular to Tokyo.
Apart of the difficulty to come up with books for specifically Tokyo is because Tokyo only became an important city from the Tokugawa Shogunate after it into the center of government in the early seventeenth century. Before that it was only being a small fishing village known as Edo, with the name change coming during the Meiji restoration (when the emperor was returned to power) in 1868 as ‘eastern capital’ (To= east Kyo = capital).
That's a great point about Tokyo - it definitely makes it harder to find literature rooted there. I'm planning to cover Kyoto in a future article, and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion will definitely be included, along with a few others. I've actually been enjoying exploring Japanese literature so much that I might turn this into a literary journey around Japan.
Thanks so much for the recommendation of Life for Sale - I hadn't come across that one in my research. Spring Snow is actually next on my reading list, as it's the first book in Mishima's The Sea of Fertility series. From what I've read about him, he was such a fascinating and complex character!
He most certainly was a character indeed… I actually have not yet read the sea of fertility tetralogy despite being quite the fan of his which should be rectified. Life for sale is definitely worth a read but it is not as strong as his other works, it is just that it does almost entirely take place in Tokyo and in many ways represents the gruelling work culture there that most definitely continues to this day. Despite the dark subject matter of suicide it is also a comedic novel which is rare for Mishima.
Visited Tokyo a few years ago and I'm desperate to go back - will check out some of these options. Would also add The Bells of Old Tokyo: Travels in Japanese Time by Anna Sherman.
Oh what a great recommendation - thank you! That's going straight on the TBR list 😊
You should do one for Kyoto if you have not already (for that one the temple of the golden pavilion is perfect for it)! I have many for Japan, but not as much for Tokyo specifically in that it takes place. One notable exception is the novel life for sale also by Yukio Mishima, which mostly takes place in the city. It is not one of his strongest novels, but it does capture the particular grind of modern Japanese work culture in the face of modernity that is particular to Tokyo.
Apart of the difficulty to come up with books for specifically Tokyo is because Tokyo only became an important city from the Tokugawa Shogunate after it into the center of government in the early seventeenth century. Before that it was only being a small fishing village known as Edo, with the name change coming during the Meiji restoration (when the emperor was returned to power) in 1868 as ‘eastern capital’ (To= east Kyo = capital).
That's a great point about Tokyo - it definitely makes it harder to find literature rooted there. I'm planning to cover Kyoto in a future article, and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion will definitely be included, along with a few others. I've actually been enjoying exploring Japanese literature so much that I might turn this into a literary journey around Japan.
Thanks so much for the recommendation of Life for Sale - I hadn't come across that one in my research. Spring Snow is actually next on my reading list, as it's the first book in Mishima's The Sea of Fertility series. From what I've read about him, he was such a fascinating and complex character!
He most certainly was a character indeed… I actually have not yet read the sea of fertility tetralogy despite being quite the fan of his which should be rectified. Life for sale is definitely worth a read but it is not as strong as his other works, it is just that it does almost entirely take place in Tokyo and in many ways represents the gruelling work culture there that most definitely continues to this day. Despite the dark subject matter of suicide it is also a comedic novel which is rare for Mishima.