This book had been recommanded to me while I was discussing how much my love for Tokyo trivia had derailed a discussion with an ex-colleague who just arrived in the city. It also comes at a time when I going more and more into urban planning and related data analysis. My current job plays a role in that but I chose that job because I loved what I was seeing the field. Anyway.

Get this book.

The author builds a classification of the different types of urban environments one can find and Tokyo and how they differ from what could be expected upon arrival or when looked at with a american or european eye. He then goes into greater details for 5 of these environments, how they came to be and evolve during the past 100 years or so (Tokyo having been destroyed twice early over that period helped identifying this starting point). More importantly, the main point is that, as the title of the book implies, these environment mostly emerged. In part from the government (either local or central) but mostly from extremely local decisions: setting up bench to avoid bicyles parking, interpreting the law to preserve floor space… Everytime, how the area that are the most livable in Tokyo seems to have emerged from countless individual decisions, often in opposition to corporate borg-like assimilation.

That’s also something that transpires in the book, and which I subscribe to: how the main developpers are destroying what makes Tokyo livable. Be it to create another bland, windowless, chain-store oriented mall or widening a road “for safety” when it actually means destroying the neighbourhood houses, commerces and everything that makes it different from a model village. And usually with data to support it.

Finally, I have to mention the composition of the book. Its design, maps and vizualizations are extremely well made and consistent. Having wanted to make similar analyses on my own, I love how the author dug into old maps to explain in details how an area evolved from the early 1900 onward. They might not be the most visually striking one (the split views of local bars and restaurants from the different yokochos analysed in the book are more impressive on that front), but I really appreciate how much research and overall work have been invested in those.

Final word

My final word is already listed on the second paragraph: get this book.

I loved reading it and will come back to it regularly, either as a reference to check various points or find research ideas or just to enjoy the book and its visuals for themselves.