Better known for his later books on Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, Peter Popham’s first book was actually focusing on Tokyo. More precisely, it takes the city, with its buildings and streets as the main element of his stories.

And, it was published in 1985.

That might be a detail but it actually became a huge selling point for me. I started digging into older urbanism and architecture publications for a recent article on my main blog and I was stricken how much what we take for granted, for inherently, purely, definingly japanese didn’t exist 30-50 years ago.

In that sense, the book clearly delivers. Imagine Tokyo before Tocho, when Shinjuku was still on the edge. When Ochanomizu was still the stronghold of the Mori conglomerate whereas Roppongi was considered hard to access due to being not on any of the main train or metro lines.

Imagine Tokyo before the Bubble Crash.

What is impressive is to compare how much has changed and not changed in the almost 40 years since the book was written. I mentioned Tocho early, the siege of the Tokyo government built by Tange Kenzo. It being in Nishi Shinjuku is an evidence today. Not at the time. The Yodobashi water treatment plant had already been decommisionned and a lot of Shinjuku skyscrapers had already been built but a lot of area remained void of anything. The then Tokyo governor was fighting to have all city services centralised there but was facing resistance because that would mean moving the traditional Tokyo city and power center from Kasumigaseki and overall the East of the Imperial Palace to the what was then basically still uncharted territory.

That said, the book also gives voice to the personalities shaping these architectural and urbanism choices and that adds a lot of depth to the story.

There is also a small dose of cynism or hard realism in all different stories. No Cool Japan nor overall defeatism in presenting the city and that is extremely refreshing.

So in the end, I highly recommend this book if you are even remotely interested in Japan and Tokyo. You’ll definitely learn something from it.