the population healthy, happy, and prosperous—if lacking in individuals. For skeptics it's worth noting that the state of Japan is analogous to a hypothetical situation where half the population of the United States would be squeezed into Southern California. All those American individuals would probably end up killing each other off within the week. You pay one way or the other.
The bad parts of the city are the most blatantly obvious, while the good parts are often found in the easily overlooked small things—the careful wrapping of the most humble purchase, the hot oshibori towel before a meal, the safety, the back streets swept spotlessly clean by the local residents—all of which are just day-to-day manifestations of the general Japanese attitude toward life. It may sound simplistic, but for us, the good parts of the city are a more than equal trade-off for the bad.
We both came to the city as temporary residents. Mayumi arrived as a college student in 1977 from Sapporo, a city in northern Japan. Her reactions were at first similar to those of any tourist and she often thought of leaving. But after spending a year in London, she returned with a new interest in things Japanese and an objective appreciation for Tokyo.
I came from Seattle, a provincial city on the West Coast of America. Tokyo was to be the first stop on a trip around the world. I stayed and learned the language. Curiosity kept me here as three months turned into four years, and I'm still curious.
We both have a great time in Tokyo. We like the technopolitan city that's built on an unshakably Japanese foundation. Tokyo lacks the glamour and sophistication of New York and Paris, but the combination of new and old, the ceaseless input of new cultural variables from around the world, the friction between what gets accepted and what doesn't, give the city an energy-the excitement of a contemporary urban culture constantly in the process of creation.
The Tokyo City Guide has been out of print since about 1990 and the question of updating or not updating has cast its shadow over our lives for about that much time. We were not really sure we wanted to take it on again, and more-or-Iess hoped that someone who had the spirit we had in 1984 would come out with something new and better. Every time we went to a party and were asked when the new edition was coming out-we cringed. After years of cringing and a few false starts, it finally happened.
In some ways, the revision has resulted in a more conservative book than its predecessors. This has been a hard thing to accept, but aside from the fact that we are no longer the wild and free young women we were in 1984, experience has taught us that too many of the new places go under and that no one wants to search out a place that maybe was interesting three years ago, but no longer even exists.
For better or for worse, this new version is perhaps more personal than our first edition. With so many new and good clubs, restaurants, and shops-we have had to make our selections based on personal choice. And, predictably, we have included a section on children which was missing from our earlier book and our art and architecture sections have grown.
Tokyo has changed since the first edition of the Tokyo City Guide was released in 1984, and so have our lives. With two children each, we no longer find ourselves at bars, discos, and restaurants after midnight. In our mid- to late thirties, we no longer shop on the back streets of Harajuku. For better or for worse, we experience the city in a different way.
When people hear I've been in Tokyo for more than a decade, the almost inevitable response is "So, you must love it!" I never quite know what to say. In some ways Yes, in others No. Mayumi feels the same. But I suspect that someday, when we both live in some other city, in some other part of the world, we'll both remember Tokyo as the city where we spent the most interesting and exciting years of our lives.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Cross-referencing
The book is divided into three main sections. The beginning covers the history of the city, its districts, and neighborhoods. The middle section is divided into guide chapters covering specific topics: accommodation, restaurants, shopping, arts, etc. The book ends with the map sections. There are fifty maps charting most of the listings found in the guide sections and covering the districts described in the first chapter. Next to each map is a list of its contents with the text-page reference number for each entry.
Our intention was to provide a complete cross-referencing system. Ideally, you should browse through the entire book. But if you're in a hurry and are looking for something specific, e.g., a sushi restaurant, then you can look one up in the restaurant chapter under sushi. If you want to spend a day in a particular district, read about the history and description of the district in the first chapter, then turn to the map to see what the area has to offer in terms of shops, restaurants, etc.
How We Selected
Even with a book this size, only a fraction of what the city has to offer can be included. But then, we didn't intend to compile a phone directory. We have selected and included things we know, things we like, and things we would like others to know about. Our selection covers a broad range of prices, and a huge range of possibilities. Convenience figured to some extent. Some places we couldn't include because their Japanese owners didn't want to be made public.
While the decisions were basically our own, we consulted various local "experts" to discover new places, and to reconfirm that our decisions were not made purely on the basis of sentimental association. Our "experts" included born and bred Tokyoites aged sixty-plus, foreign residents of all ages and nationalities, journalists, artists, shop owners, etc. Many of the older shops and restaurants are famous Japanese institutions; the newer places are often those less known among both Japanese and the international community.
How You Can Select
There is a great deal of information in this book. For a future resident or long-term visitor this may be useful, but for a short-term tourist possibly confusing. For short-term visitors, our suggestion is to pick one new and one historical district to explore—for example the Aoyama-Harajuku area or Shinjuku for contemporary Tokyo and Asakusa for old Tokyo. Spend the evening in Roppongi. From our listings for restaurants (or accommodation), you can choose according to price range. All offer excellent quality, if not quantity, for the price.
Listings
The shops, restaurants, hotels, etc., listed in this book, with few exceptions, correspond to a number on one of the maps in the map section. The map reference number is marked after each entry as, for example, [M-3], meaning "Map Number Three." The exceptions are not located on any of our maps and are marked [off Map]. Sometimes we have included instructions for how to get to these "mapless" entries, other times we have just listed the nearest station.
The prices and addresses are valid as of publication, but Tokyo changes very quickly. Some of our favorite places closed down while we were writing the book, and more will doubtless close within the next year. In most cases it won't be necessary, but if you are planning to go out of your way to visit a particular shop or restaurant, we suggest that you call ahead just to make certain that it is still in business and in the same location.
Most addresses have been written in English, but for some of the more difficult-to-locate entries we have included the names and addresses written in Japanese so you can show the book to someone if and when you get lost.
When an entry appears more than once in the text, the address, hours, etc., have been noted with the main entry.
Proper Names
Japanese proper names have been written in the Japanese manner with the family name first.
Place Names
Place names have been written in the Japanese form. For example Yoyogi Koen means Yoyogi Park, but if you ask a Japanese person where Yoyogi Park is, few people will understand you. The same goes for museums, gardens, temples, etc. Sometimes we have listed an entry as, for examples, "Senso-ji temple." The "ji " means temple, so the entry literally translates as Senso Temple temple. There is no practical way around this.
Italics
In all but a few isolated cases, all words in italics—that are not personal or place names—are Japanese terms.
Pronunciation