Tokyo Surprises
Title: Tokyo Style Guide
Author: Jane Lawson
Publisher: Murdoch Books
What’s it all about? How to eat, sleep and shop in Tokyo.
When you visit Tokyo one thing is for sure – you will inevitably get lost, according to author, Jane Lawson.
A frequent visitor to Japan for more than 30 years, she now runs independent tours to the country.
Jane describes Tokyo as a city built for discovery and aims to provide a sense of place and style for certain pockets of Tokyo that she likes to wander.
Home to a rather daunting 37-plus million people, the Tokyo metropolis is the most densely populated ‘urban area’ in the world.
She describes it as a city built for discovery with surprises, from the dizzying to the delightful, around every corner, every day.
It is impossible to go hungry or suffer design, art, coffee or shopping withdrawal in any part of Tokyo.
“The key to staying sane in a town of this magnitude is to go with the flow,” she says.
“The Japanese are the masters at it – watch them move in the streets in what could be a mosh –pit crush elsewhere, or wait patiently at an overcrowded station stuck to their neighbours on all sides like glutinous rice – it is as though they stand peacefully alone with their thoughts.”
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics looming, the city has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, ever-changing and growing at an incredible, untrackable pace. Tokyo Style Guide introduces travellers to a selection of the most exhilarating and stylish Tokyo neighbourhoods, places where locals live, wander, shop, eat, drink and are entertained. There are many sides of Japan from the youthful vigour and neon dreams to the slower, more relaxed pace of a beautiful garden stroll, a lingering cuppa or sitting quietly in a lesser-known museum space.
Full of ideas and helpful information, author Jane Lawson highlights ten loosely planned neighbourhood walks, featuring the best of what each one has to offer.
Jane is previously a chef and moved into publishing by combining her love of travel, cooking and books.
Her previous titles include Spice Market, Yoshoku, A little Taste of Japan and Zenbu Zen.
