Further Reading

These are books you may find informative. Some may be out of print; your public library can borrow books for you if the titles are not in the local collection. Some are available as e-books, making them handy to have on a tablet or smartphone for reference while you are in Tokyo.

History

Naitō, Akira. Edo: The City That Became Tokyo. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2003.

A well-illustrated history of Edo up to 1868. The illustrations in this book provide an excellent visual presentation of the changes that went into the creation of the city and the lives of those who lived and worked within it.

Seidensticker, Edward. A History of Tokyo 1867-1989. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2019.

Two of Seidensticker’s works, Low City, High City and Tokyo Rising in a single volume. This book covers the history of Tokyo from 1867 to 1989, with many details about the changes to many neighborhoods in this period. Tuttle repackaged the book as Tokyo: From Edo to Showa 1867–1989 in 2010, and then renamed it to the present title in 2019, so don’t be confused and buy it twice.

Waley, Paul. Tokyo: City of Stories. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1991.

——. Tokyo Now and Then: An Explorer’s Guide. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1984.

These two books cover much of the same material. Tokyo: City of Stories is a highly revised version of Tokyo Now and Then: An Explorer’s Guide. Each book has information not found in the other, so I own and read both.

Food

Hosking, Richard. A Dictionary of Japanese Food: Ingredients and Culture. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1996.

The only dictionary of Japanese food in English. Pretty much anything related to food or cooking that you will encounter in Tokyo is found here. The book can be useful if you are shopping or trying to identify an item on the menu.

Ono, Tadashi and Harris Salat. Japanese Soul Cooking: Ramen, Tonkatsu, Tempura, and More from the Streets and Kitchens of Tokyo and Beyond. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2013.

I find cookbooks for Japanese food generally lacking in that they rarely have what you commonly see in restaurants in Japan. This one is a major exception. This is the food you will find in Tokyo. Even if you don’t plan to cook the recipes, this book is an excellent reference that should be studied before your flight.

Culture

Chavez, Amy. Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2018.

The best book on Japanese etiquette for travelers I have seen. Chavez has put together a guide to daily interaction in Japan. Earlier guides tended to cover far less material or focus on etiquette for businesspeople and their families living in Japan. This one is far more practical for travelers.

Powles, Marcus. The Tokyo 33-Kannon Pilgrimage. N.p: Marcus Powles, 2014.

A self-published guide to the temples on the Tokyo Kannon pilgrimage. Many of the temples are in the areas covered in this book. If you wish to do the pilgrimage, offer a prayer, then purchase a goshuinchō (御朱印帳), “book of seals”, at the first temple. At each temple, pray, then head to the office to have the book inscribed and sealed. A small fee is charged for adding the seal at each temple. Powles has also published other guides to the Tokyo area: one on Christian churches, a general guide to Buddhist temples, and one on the Musashino 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.