Tales of Old Tokyo

A breathtaking romp through the city’s Tokyo’s history from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century, using lots of images, writings and clippings to bring back to life those far-off days. A unique, kaleidoscopic and immensely reader-friendly approach to the history of one of the world’s great cities. This book belongs on every Japanophile’s shelf alongside Seidensticker’s High City, Low City.
Mark Schreiber, Japan Times
‘Tokyo’ - the name itself evokes the mysteries of the East. The bustling metropolis that grew out of the small city of Yedo has seen civil war, revolution, imperial grandeur, militarism, almost total destruction and a miraculous post-war resurrection. Van Fleet brilliantly brings this history back to life in the short, punch, amply illustrated style. Douglas Clark, author of Gunboat Justice Van Fleet’s Tales retrieves the city from its traces, jolting the reader with Tokyo as it is in the mind’s eye: an explosion of playbills, newspaper clippings, police blotters, big character posters, scandal photos, mementos, flags, propaganda, advertisement and scribbled, personal observations - the invisible feast that feeds the spirits of those who have made the city their own.
Michael Thomas Cucek, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Tokyo; Adjunct Fellow, Temple University Japan