Tokyo: A Biography: Disasters, Destruction and Renewal: The Story of an Indomitable City

by Stephen Mansfield

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Book cover for Tokyo: A Biography

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The history of Tokyo is as eventful as it is long. A concise yet detailed overview of this fascinating, centuries-old city, Tokyo: A Biography is a perfect companion volume for history buffs or Tokyo-bound travelers looking to learn more about their destination.

In a whirlwind journey through Tokyo's past from its earliest beginnings up to the present day, this Japanese history book demonstrates how the city's response to everything from natural disasters to regime change has been to reinvent itself time and again. A calamitous fire results in a massive expansion of the city's territory. A debate over the Samurai code creates far-reaching social change. A malleable boy becomes the figurehead for powerful forces which change an ancient feudal society into a modern industrialized power within a generation. Utter destruction wipes the slate clean again so Tokyoites may start all over. And so it goes.

Tokyo's story is riveting, and by the end of Tokyo: A Biography, readers see a city almost unrivaled in its uniqueness, a place that-despite its often tragic history-still shimmers as it prepares to face the future.
  • ISBN10 0804853045
  • ISBN13 9780804853040
  • Publish Date 12 May 2020 (first published 25 October 2016)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Tuttle Publishing
  • Format Paperback
  • Pages 224
  • Language English