Tokyo: A Certain Style | 
 enlarge | Author: Kyoichi Tsuzuki
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $5.17
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Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 473622
Media: Paperback
Pages: 440
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 4.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0811824233
Dewey Decimal Number: 747.2952135
EAN: 9780811824231
ASIN: 0811824233
Publication Date: September 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: New - Has remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.
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Amazon.com Review
It's common for Americans to stereotype the Japanese as conformist, rigidly organized, and immaculately tidy, but with Tokyo: A Certain Style Kyoichi Tsuzuki makes remarkable progress toward broadening those impressions. Tsuzuki photographed the very lived-in interiors of numerous Tokyo houses and apartments, and then jammed his piles of pictures into the format of a short-of-stature book. The result is an engrossing look at the many ways people have adapted to Tokyo's notoriously cramped living spaces. There are several common threads--indoor clotheslines are used to supplement or replace closet space in almost every home--but each dwelling brings out its owner's personality. Some are breathtakingly cluttered, with bric-a-brac piled on electronic equipment and papers stacked on every flat surface, while others show so little evidence of the debris of daily living that one feels certain sorcery must be involved. Most charming are the "design" elements that show off the owners' little quirks: ingeniously improvised hooks and shelves, major appliances banished to the outdoors, and the extensive stuffed animal collection of a grown adult. Many photos simply boggle the mind with the sheer amount of stuff that can be crammed into incredibly small spaces, while others highlight the strange beauty that is often achieved in compressed living. Highly recommended for dorm-bound college students or anyone who has ever groused about a lack of space. --Ali Davis
Product Description
Ah, think of the serene gardens, tatami mats, Zen-inspired decor, sliding doors, and shoji screens of the typical Japanese home. Think again. Tokyo: A Certain Style, the mini-sized decor book with a difference, shows how, for those living in one of the world s most expensive and densely packed metropolises, closet-sized apartments stacked to the ceiling with gadgetry and CDs are the norm. Photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki rode his scooter all over Tokyo snapping shots of how urban Japanese really live. Hundreds of photographs reveal the real Tokyo style: microapartments, mini and modular everything, rooms filled to the rafters with electronics, piles of books and clothes, clans of remote controls, collections of sundry objets all crammed into a space where every inch counts. Tsuzuki introduces each tiny crash pad with a brief text about who lives there, from artists and students to professionals and couples with children. His entertaining captions to the hundreds of photographs capture the spirit and ingenuity required to live in such small quarters. This fascinating, voyeuristic look at modern life comes in a chunky, pocket-sized format-the perfect coffee table book for people with really small apartments.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
REAL Japanese living December 11, 2007
Beverly Reynolds (New Mexico)
This book is a visually compelling, interesting, and insightful look into Japanese urban living. While the book is physically small (something that surprised me, despite having read the many reviews saying as much) it is jam-packed--much like Japanese apartments, come to think of it. The photography is not beautiful, but it is captivating and it serves its purpose. Besides, given the subject matter, one could hardly ask for "beautiful" photography. You will be disappointed if you're looking for a book on Japanese design, because this is certainly not it. We're not looking at luxurious, spacious apartments by hip Tokyo designers, nor are we looking at serene, "zen" houses. We're looking at the real homes of real people, and thus your expectations should be adjusted accordingly.
I know that some people have complained that there is a lack of information about the people living in the apartments, and it's true that the writing is sparse. However, I felt that the pictures adequately told the story without having to be further cluttered with text. That's what makes this book so interesting--it allows us to draw a comparison between the way ordinary Japanese people live and the way that we ourselves live without the distraction of too much explanation.
The text that the book does have sheds some light on cultural differences without being overbearing--the fact that many Japanese apartments do not have their own bathroom, for example--and is a welcome look into normal people's lives without being intrusive. Because of the author's unobtrusiveness, we are offered a truly objective look into the lives of Tokyo's citizens through their homes--sometimes messy, cluttered, and cramped though those homes (and lives) might be.
Another great coffeetable book. June 8, 2007
Renato Murakami (Foz do Iguacu, Brasil)
It's a small book filled with pictures of real people's apartments.
Also, all of them are small apartments (probably located on japanese cities like Tokyo), in everyday situations (read very messy).
For the japanese culture curious/entusiast. The book adds nothing in knowledge, but it's interesting to see how real people live in real japan today.
 Tiny book, broken spine January 14, 2007
Design Fan (Chicago)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If this book were in larger format, I would love it. It is an afront to the western understanding of Tokyo design, showing how real people live, not high design. An interesting subject matter, but it is difficult to look at the photos since the book is so small (just like the apartments, I suppose). At first opening, the binding cracked and the cover partially separated from the spine. The format has done the subject a disservice!
 How the others live November 6, 2006
Akuinnen (Australia)
Its good to see how other cultures live, the style of types of living spaces that the Japanese have as a posed to that of America and Australia etc. Certainly an eye opener.
The photography is nice the light is pretty much all natural. There were a few photos where I have been able to make out some titles of manga that the people have and found some that I own.
If you are interested to see how other people live day to day and thing your house is small (and its rather large) get this and see how it compares.
Niice September 5, 2006
C. Hurtado (United States)
The photographs are so well taken, I have never been a fan of small packed rooms, but these rooms in the book are gorgeously messy. However I would give it 10 stars if the apartment owners were photographed too.
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