I picked up three great books whilst in Tokyo – unfortunately they are hard to come by outside of Japan, but amazon.co.jp works, and has recently introduced a lot more English help (make sure to click Display in English in the right hand navigation).
I bought this Tokyo Sightseeing mook on the last day in Tokyo – it’s head and shoulders better than all the English guidebooks. Brutus is an incredibly cool magazine, traditionally in Japanese only; in one issue last year, they did a 50 page special on Tokyo sightseeing in English and Japanese – this is an expanded edition, turned into a mook.
While you’re at it, get a proper map (the one I bought was graphically easier than this one, but it’s better than nothing). Once you get your head around the Japanese addressing system, maps make a lot of sense.
Finally, a bit of culture. There’s a modern renaissance in tanka poetry, and the self-proclaimed “second most popular contemporary tanka poet” has published a bilingual book. Mindblowingly crazy in places, both in text and imagery, Masuno Koichi deals with contemporary issues: “See ya / was what I was going to say when the call was cut so I called again / Sorry / See ya”; “When girls’ favourite band / Gives a concert / The men’s room gets empty / Comfortable”...
Yes, missing Japan.
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