Tokyo

July 18, 2016
In this informative and succinct urban history, Mansfield (Tokyo: A Cultural and Literary History) examines Tokyo’s evolution over five centuries, from the arrival in 1590 of warrior-clan head Tokugawa Ieyasu, who first visualized the city’s infrastructure, to the present under the regime of Emperor Akihito. Mansfield focuses on the outsized personalities of two emperors: 19th century Meiji, who embraced Western culture after the arrival of Admiral Perry and renamed the city Tokyo; and his 20th-century descendant Showa (aka Hirohito), who led the country during its financial rise in the 1930s through WWII until his death in 1989. Following textbook format, each chapter opens with a list of bullet points enumerating the information that immediately follows. Mansfield reveals the split dynamic of a city with a history permeated in samurai culture that is nevertheless “thoroughly fixated on the present.” Presented here as an “indestructible organism”—indestructible perhaps because of “the violence inflicted upon it” (bombs, earthquakes, and radiation)—Tokyo continues to thrive. The mesmerizing recap of the 1964 Olympics leaves the reader pondering what lies ahead as Tokyo prepares for the 2020 games. This tidy, optimistic history provides an easy introduction to the city for anyone planning to visit.

October 1, 2016
As Mansfield (Japan's Master Gardens, 2012) traces Tokyo's story from the 1450s to modern times, he captures the evolving personality of Tokyo, fulfilling the promise of the designation, biography. Over time the city faced the Meireki Fire of 1657, the Mount Fuji eruption of 1707, the tidal wave of 1854, and the air raids of 1945; and all along there have been earthquakes big and small. Each time, Tokyo has rebuilt itself with a staggering commitment to modernity. We learn as much about the artists and the denizens of the pleasure quarters, who defined the temperament of the city, as we do about the strict feudal structures authorities used as tools of control. From the days of the shogunate and the samurai to the high-tech, corporate powers of today as the city undergoes substantial expansion, Tokyo's transformation is mind-boggling. Mansfield takes us on this expansive journey with a rapid-fire volley of information that can leave readers catching their breath, evoking a feeling of awe as well as concern for what lies ahead for this wondrous city.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)