Read your way through Tokyo
Hiromi Kawakami, one of Japan’s most popular contemporary novelists, travels with books that help her immerse herself in her destination. Now, Kawakami has suggestions for visitors to Tokyo, her own hometown. |
She suggests a 17th-century travelogue, “the record of a five-month, 1,500-mile journey on foot.” Historical detective fiction takes readers through the city’s 19th-century isolationist past. Works of psychological complexity probe the oppression women have faced, or the tensions between traditional Confucianism and European spirituality. And there’s even some short fiction in case of stubborn jet lag. |
“I start reading as soon as I know my departure date,” she writes, “and keep reading throughout my stay, remaining immersed in those novels even after I’ve returned home.” |
Here’s her book list for a visitor to Tokyo.
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