Sararimen relax after work at a pub under the train tracks in Yurakucho. PAGE 6 Graphically-illustrated coin lockers reflect the obsessive anime tastes prevalent in Akihabara.
An 1833 Hokusai print depicting the historic Nihonbashi Bridge and Mt. Fuji serves as a construction-site wall mural in the Nihonbashi district. PAGE 1 A window-washing team hangs suspended over the city at the St. Luke Tower in the Tsukiji district.
A young couple in traditional kimono relax at Sumida River Terrace in Asakusa, with a view of the distinctive skyline including Tokyo Skytree and the Asahi Breweries Headquarters on the east bank.
TOKYO
megacity
BY DONALD RICHIE PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN SIMMONS
“This text is dedicated to the memory of Edward G. Seidensticker (1921–2007), the finest of Tokyo’s chroniclers and the one who loved Tokyo best. He once said that the very shape of Tokyo ensured its many qualities. It is this shape that the text seeks to show, words in the shape of a city.”—Donald Richie.
“These photographs are dedicated with the greatest respect to Donald Richie, Tokyo’s esteemed ambassador of art and cultural authority for more than sixty years.”—Ben Simmons.
We wish to sincerely thank Eric Oey, June Chong, Chan Sow Yun, Katharine Markulin Hama, Julia Nolet, Tim Porter, Yuri and Takuji Yanagisawa, Kathryn Gremley, Reina Ogawa, Aya!, Keiko Odani, Rie, Rika, & Tsuneko Nishimura, Ayako Ito, Rieko Eto & “Nagai,” Shoi, Colleen & Oshin Sakurai, Deborah Collier, Rebecca Stockwell, Sarah Moon, Sarah Stuart Auman, Yoko Yamada, and Leza Lowitz for their kind support and invaluable encouragement.
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd
Copyright © 2019 by Donald Richie and Ben Simmons
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richie, Donald.
Tokyo: megacity/Donald Richie, text; Ben Simmons, photographs.
176 p.: col. ill.; 32 cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-4-8053-1556-9 (hardcover)
1. Tokyo (Japan)--Pictorial works. 2. Tokyo (Japan)--Civilization. I. Richie,
Donald, 1924- II. Title.
DS896.35.S58 2010
952’.135--dc22
2009047760
ISBN 978-1-4629-0847-9
(previously published under Isbn 978-4-8053-1288-9)
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CONTENTS
ASAKUSA
UENO
AKIHABARA
YANAKA
KANDA
FUKAGAWA
TSUKIJI AND TOYOSU
NIHONBASHI
MARUNOUCHI
GINZA
HIBIYA
SHIMBASHI
ODAIBA
SHINAGAWA
HAMARIKYU
RIKUGIEN
ROPPONGI
AOYAMA
AKASAKA
YOYOGI
OMOTESANDO
HARAJUKU
EBISU
SHIBUYA
SHINJUKU