Sometimes it takes the eye of an outsider to capture what is unique about a place. Pronko, an American literature professor at Meiji Gakuin University, has lived in Tokyo for decades and has written extensively about its many faces. \u201cWords pointing at Tokyo are not Tokyo, granted,\u201d writes Pronko in his preface. \u201cBut words can\u2026reveal life\u2019s delightful and intriguing parts. Words are a way to see inside Tokyo.\u201d With these essays, he touches on common associations with the massive city: its labyrinthian train system, its culture of photography, the views of Mount Fuji (which Pronko has from his apartment, even if he has \u201cto lean over the edge of the balcony or hoist myself up on my rickety cinderblock garden wall\u201d). He also explores less familiar territory, like the delicacy of deep-fried fish bones served in sake, the cathartic process of having his tatami mats collected for refurbishing, and the toads that appear everywhere in the city in the spring alongside the cherry blossoms. Pronko ponders the growing popularity of the Christmas tree among Tokyoites and offers several essays about his work at the university, where his students have helped shape his understanding of love, death, and language in Japan. Pronko approaches his topics with humility and loving curiosity, less an expert than simply one of the millions cycling like blood cells through the city\u2019s veins. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone could claim to know Tokyo completely,\u201d he writes. \u201cIt\u2019s not that I saw Tokyo completely,\u201d he clarifies of his ongoing attempts to capture the city\u2019s rhythms. \u201cIt\u2019s that I tried to experience it fully.\u201d Pronko succeeds in imbuing Tokyo with serene magic, and readers may feel compelled to book plane tickets upon completing this volume. They may also simply feel inspired to take a walk in their own city and take in details they\u2019ve never noticed before.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes it takes the eye of an outsider to capture what is unique about a place. Pronko, an American literature professor at Meiji Gakuin University, has lived in Tokyo for decades and has written extensively about its many faces. \u201cWords pointing at Tokyo are not Tokyo, granted,\u201d writes Pronko in his preface. \u201cBut words can\u2026reveal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}