tokyo on foot is a wonderful graphic diary of a 6-month stay in the world’s largest city. the author joined his girlfriend in japan, where she was interning, and spent his days discovering this one-of-a-kind metropolis.
the book is a very entertaining labour of love, an endearing insight into every day tokyoite life. you should not expect it to feature the attractions you will find in travel guides though. it is divided in chapters, each dedicated to a separate district. the readers are taken on a virtual private tour of his favourite everyday places. he introduces us to the bits of japan he’s come to know and love. we read about fruit prices, recurring police episodes, types of people, all the cute weird things that make the city what it is.
i identify with the feelings he has for tokyo. and i love reading his personal maps. knowing most of those places, it’s great fun to figure out the imperfect geography and see what he deems worthy to be drawn.
i’m so envious of him! he had 6 months to get to know the city. it may not be sufficient but it’s quite generous. he was taking his bike, crayons and fishing chair and he was drawing tokyo as if he was taking very personal pictures with very long exposure. i’m also envious of the bike day trip he took to kamakura. and i certainly know how he felt when he wrote: in a month, i won’t be in japan anymore. i’m not so keen about that…
read the book and i promise you: it’ll put a smile on your face, especially if you already like tokyo!
i plan to scan a few pages and blow them up. it’s been a couple of months since my mood board last changed, i think it’s time for a new one. in the meantime, i will follow florent on his blog: he’s currently biking around taiwan and okinawa!
courtesy of tuttle publishing – the very kind, biggest-in-the-world publisher of books about asia. thank you!
photo credits: little aesthete (i mean i took my own pictures of florent’s book)
8 comments
Tudor says:
Sep 17, 2014
It looks like it has a different take on the travel guide usual format. Looks very nice! :)
little aesthete says:
Sep 17, 2014
it is a personal introduction to tokyo :)
Cindy Claribel Kalim says:
Sep 22, 2014
Great photos, keep it up..
Check out my blog in return and don’t hesitate to post some comments!
http://www.hersatisfashion.com ♡
little aesthete says:
Sep 22, 2014
thank you!
i will :)
Maria says:
Oct 22, 2014
I’ve seen this book in the bookstore and it’s lovely. The illustrations are adorable and his grasp of Tokyo is great too. So many people in love with this incredible city!
Cheers xo
universotokyo.com
little aesthete says:
Oct 22, 2014
i recommend the book! tokyo has a spellbinding quality, doesn’t it? :)
Maria says:
Oct 22, 2014
It does indeed ♡
WHAT ELSE HAVE I BEEN READING - little aesthete's blog says:
Jan 7, 2015
[…] have i been reading is a short intro to the books i’ve read since this. it does not include tokyo on foot and houses and gardens in kyoto […]