| Note |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Contents |
The bells of time -- Hibiya -- Nihonbashi : the zero point -- Asakusa : the mythic Kanto Plain -- Akasaka : the invention of Edo -- Mejiro : a failed coup -- Nezu : Tokugawa timepieces -- Ueno : the last shogun -- The Rokumeikan : the Meiji restoration --Tsukiji : the Japanese empire -- Yokokawa-Honjo : east of the river -- Marunouchi : new origins -- Kitasuna : the firebombs of 1945 -- Shiba Kiridoshi : Tokyo tower -- Daylight savings time : the occupation -- Ichigaya : postwar prosperity -- Shinjuku :Tokyo tomorrow -- Hibiya : the imperial hotel. |
| Summary |
An exploration of Tokyo becomes a meditation not just on time, but on history, memory, and impermanence. Through Sherman’s journeys around the city and her friendship with the owner of a small, exquisite cafe, who elevates the making and drinking of coffee to an art-form, The Bells of Old Tokyo follows haunting voices through the labyrinth that is the Japanese capital: an old woman remembers escaping from the American firebombs of World War II. A scientist builds the most accurate clock in the world, a clock that will not lose a second in five billion years. The head of the Tokugawa shogunal house reflects on the destruction of his grandfathers’ city: “A lost thing is lost. To chase it leads to darkness |
| Subject |
Sherman, Anna (Anne Katherine), 1970- -- Homes and haunts -- Japan -- Tokyo.
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Tokyo (Japan) -- Social life and customs.
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Tokyo (Japan) -- History.
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Tokyo (Japan) -- Description and travel.
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Japan -- Civilization -- 1945-
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