Why am I passionate about this?

My four novels and three sets of writings are all about Tokyo. I rely not only on my daily observations, personal experiences, and reactions to the city, but on the responses of others to the city. I’ve used all these books to better understand the place where I’ve lived and worked for over two decades. I’ve written about various aspects of Japan for numerous publications, editorials for The Japan Times, art and architecture reviews for Artscape Japan, personal columns on Tokyo life for Newsweek Japan, and reviews and interviews on the vibrant jazz scene for my Jazz in Japan website. I continue to find Tokyo a mesmerizing place to spend my working and writing—and wandering—life. Living here is like traveling every day.


I wrote

Tokyo Traffic

By Michael Pronko,

Book cover of Tokyo Traffic

What is my book about?

Lost in Tokyo, Sukanya, a young Thai girl, is running from a life she didn’t choose, in a city she…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Empire of Signs

Michael Pronko Why did I love this book?

This book is probably the reason I’ve lived in Tokyo for two decades and counting. It analyzes the symbolic structures that underlie the experience of the city. Without any grounding in the Japanese language, French literary theorist Barthes descended on Japan and started contemplating the meanings of the “signs” he encountered. Instead of academic blather, though, he spun out short, intense, and reflective writings, each a couple of pages long. It’s the diary-like reflections of a literary scholar meeting a meaning-laden city. I find his symbolic reading of bits and pieces of Japanese culture a fresh, fascinating approach to finding meaning and seeing the city.

By Roland Barthes, Richard Howard (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Empire of Signs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now it happens that in this country (Japan),' wrote Barthes, 'the empire of signifiers is so immense, so in excess of speech, that the exchange of signs remains of a fascinating richness mobility and subtlety.' It is not the voice that communicates, but the whole body - eyes, smiles, hair, gestures. The body is savoured, received and displays its own narrative, its own text. Barthes discusses bowing, the courtesy in which two bodies inscribe but do not prostrate themselves, and why in the West politeness is regarded with suspicion - why informal relations are though more desired than coded ones.…


Book cover of Low City, High City: Tokyo from Edo to the Earthquake, 1867-1923

Michael Pronko Why did I love this book?

This marvelous history of Tokyo focuses on the transformative 50 years from the end of the Tokugawa (Edo) period in 1867 to the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Translator and Japanologist Seidensticker tells the history like the grand journey it was. His narrative is fascinating, with more insights than facts, and it flows with the skill of someone who translated the great Japanese novelists Junichiro Tanizaki, Kafu Nagai, and Yasunari Kawabata, among others. Seidensticker includes thoughtfully chosen details as Tokyo emerges from a feudal society into a modern, industrial state. Seidensticker’s follow-up Tokyo Rising is also recommended.

By Edward G. Seidensticker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Low City, High City as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Presents a cultural history of Toyko, tracing transformations and preservations and East-West collisions, from the Meiji Restoration of 1867 to the Earthquake of 1923


Book cover of Tokyo: A Biography: Disasters, Destruction and Renewal: The Story of an Indomitable City

Michael Pronko Why did I love this book?

This biography by writer and photographer Mansfield is probably the best guide into Tokyo’s vibrantly organic nature. To get a thorough line on the largest city in the world isn’t easy, but Mansfield carefully selects the most relevant, and interesting details. Inevitably, it’s a work of exclusion as much as inclusion, but is magnificent for that. Seeing and understanding Tokyo requires getting past the cascade of small details that keep you from seeing the whole forest. Mansfield keeps his biography flowing with the right balance of telling details and insightful summary. His companion volume, Tokyo, a Cultural History is also excellent, as are his beautifully photographed books on Japanese gardens.

By Stephen Mansfield,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tokyo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The history of Tokyo is as eventful as it is long. A concise yet detailed overview of this fascinating, centuries-old city, Tokyo: A Biography is a perfect companion volume for history buffs or Tokyo-bound travelers looking to learn more about their destination.

In a whirlwind journey through Tokyo's past from its earliest beginnings up to the present day, this Japanese history book demonstrates how the city's response to everything from natural disasters to regime change has been to reinvent itself time and again. A calamitous fire results in a massive expansion of the city's territory. A debate over the Samurai…


Book cover of Tokyo Megacity

Michael Pronko Why did I love this book?

If you have to buy only one book on Tokyo, you’d be missing out on a lot, but this might be a contender. Organized by areas of Tokyo, the short essays are written by Donald Richie, Tokyo’s pre-eminent foreign resident, film historian, essayist, novelist, and translator. Having lived most of his life in Tokyo, he understood the city as well as anyone, Japanese writers included. He packs in fantastic quotes from Japanese writers, western theorists, and early foreign chroniclers amid his own quietly elegant prose. Picture books tend to make me roll my eyes, but Ben Simmons’ photographs are a lesson in how to look at and understand the essentials of Tokyo. Unlike many books, the photo captions are precise and informative. Simmons has numerous other photography collections on Japan, so he’s chosen some of his best work to include here.

By Donald Richie, Ben Simmons (photographer),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tokyo Megacity as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This photographic Tokyo travel guide explores the dynamic Japanese culture, art and architecture that make Tokyo a unique, world-class city.

It has been said that "every city has its high points, but Tokyo is all exclamation points!" The largest and most populous city in the world, Tokyo is best experienced in-person. The next best way? Through Tokyo Megacity-a visual and descriptive exploration of a city that combines old with new and traditional with trendy, like no other city in the world.

This extraordinary book explores Tokyo through more than 250 revealing photographs by well-known photographer Ben Simmons and over 30…


Book cover of Tokyo Totem - A Guide To Tokyo

Michael Pronko Why did I love this book?

Tokyo can be a quirky place, which of course requires a quirky guidebook. This collection of essays, illustrations, photos, and photo essays are a good way to delve into the unique elements of Tokyo. The chaotic approach of the book ranges from photos to personal musings to sketches to abstract concepts about everything from sidewalk markings, bathhouses, urban building design, aerial views, nature, fashion, family homes—the entire range of Tokyo’s interiors and exteriors. In short, the book doesn’t really cohere, but then, neither does Tokyo. That’s what makes the city so fascinating, and so confusing. This is less a guide in the traditional sense than an intriguing series of suggestions about the overwhelming experience of Tokyo.

By Christiaan Fruneaux (editor), Edwin Gardner (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tokyo Totem - A Guide To Tokyo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This publication is the result of a collaboration between international and Japanese authors and makers from various disciplines. What they have in common is their interest and fascination with cities, and in particular Tokyos urban culture. Everybodys efforts resulted in the essays, maps, photo essays, collages, poems, mangas, and observations that have been collected in this book that is hard to categorize. It is called a guide, not because it helps you to find places to see, eat or drink, but because it helps you to read and see the city differently. Each contribution lets you experience a different city.…


Explore my book 😀

Tokyo Traffic

By Michael Pronko,

Book cover of Tokyo Traffic

What is my book about?

Lost in Tokyo, Sukanya, a young Thai girl, is running from a life she didn’t choose, in a city she doesn’t know. With her Bangkok street smarts, and some stolen money, she stays ahead of her former captors willing to do anything to recover the computer she took. After befriending Chiho, a Japanese girl living in an internet café, Sukanya tries to rid herself of her pursuers, and her past, forever, while negotiating Tokyo’s labyrinths.

Detective Hiroshi Shimizu leaves the safe confines of his office to investigate a porn studio where a brutal triple murder took place. The studio’s accounts point him in multiple directions at once, one of them after a missing computer and missing girl. Together with ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi and old-school Takamatsu, Hiroshi tracks the killers through Tokyo’s teen hangouts, crowded squares, and bayside docks, straight into the underbelly of the global economy.

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After Me

By J. Shep,

Book cover of After Me

J. Shep Author Of The December Issue

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

J.'s 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

"an intense narrative of family and intangible inheritance. . .this novel unfolds like a fragrant, steeped tea." -Chanticleer Book Reviews, 5 Stars

"like a glorious sunrise, we are gifted the 'après,' the hope and goodness of 'after me.'" -Maria Giuseppa, author of R&R:  A Feast of Words

A man in France receives a package from America containing an autobiographical manuscript relating the events of a summer long ago. 

When Ellande and Madeleine-Grace visit the family summer house on the Alabaster Coast of Normandy for the first time without their parents, they find themselves growing aware of the importance of their…

After Me

By J. Shep,

What is this book about?

A man in France receives a package from America containing an autobiographical manuscript relating the events of a summer long ago.

When Ellande and Madeleine-Grace visit the family summer house on the Alabaster Coast of Normandy for the first time without their parents, they find themselves growing aware of the importance of their parents' choices in raising them. Under the care of their beloved Aunt Adèle, they explore their heritage and what their parents stood for while determining the value of customs and traditions of both family and France's stunning Pays de Caux. In the face of cruelty, carelessness, and…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Tokyo, Japan, and feudalism?

Tokyo 92 books
Japan 516 books
Feudalism 20 books