Tokyo Totem - A Guide To Tokyo (English and Japanese Edition) Paperback – December 30, 2015

Fantastic book, full of images and cool stuff

Tokyo Totem is one of the most stimulating, creative, and thought-provoking books I've ever had the pleasure to read. This is not your typical guidebook. It’s a juxtaposition of fascinating contributions from talented writers, artists, mangaka, designers and various other makers from Japan and all over the world. These talented creatives have skilfully provided their own unique and captivating interpretation of Tokyo and what it means to live in this mind-blowing capital city.As you turn each page, you not only feel like you’re walking with these writers and artists on the very streets of Tokyo, you also feel like you’re looking at this city from a completely new angle. Each essay, photo, story, comic, sign, and scribble will transcend your understanding of this marvellous city. One minute you’re in a bathhouse wondering whether a yakuza member will empathize with a gaijin (foreigner), the next minute you’re learning something new about Tokyo’s unique topography or you’re looking at Tokyo’s signs and symbols from a completely different perspective. When you turn another page, you suddenly realise the idea of Metabolism (a post-war architectural movement) is very much an integral and exciting part of Japan’s architectural formation, and towards the end the section on urban commons and shared communities provides a very optimistic ending on how Japan will cope with its ageing population problems in the future.Every section of Tokyo Totem was wonderfully inviting and stimulating so I know I’ll be returning to reread different excerpts in the future even though I’ve already finished and thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. The reason for this is because Tokyo Totem cannot help but leave you feeling intellectually and emotionally inspired by its contents. So much so, I think every designer and Japanologist should have a copy of Tokyo Totem on their coffee table, if not only for the fact that this book is beautifully presented with lovely thick paper, the colour coding for each section on the fore-edge as well as the hinge of the book delights the eye, and the cover is very cleverly designed with the word Tokyo in the shape of a totem face, set above the Japanese Hinomaru circle of the sun.