Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating and contemporary
Review: If you are like me and like house porn, this book is a must flip-through. This book features contemporary Tokyo urbanites and suburbanites living in small spaces. It was inspirational to look at both the "messy", "organized", and in between spaces. It's a shame there aren't more books on this topic.
Rating: 
Summary: clutter in your pocket
Review: If you are like me, you find the things that people collect in their homes fascinating. Contrary to the general perception of Japanese style, this book documents a series of apartments so cluttered that, in general, there seems little space for the owners of all these belongings. It's a question of scale: these are tiny spaces, with little in the way of closet space, amenities, or obvious organization. But they *are* organized, with a fascinating eye for collections, repetitious imagery, and an innovative way of demarcating living zones where space hardly exists.I liked the format of this book. It's tiny, like the residences it documents, and groups the photographs as a series of miniature vignettes of life as it is being lived, and documented, through both everyday and special objects. Typically, many houses feature pop culture-inspired ornaments as well as miscellaneous personal collections, clothing, utensils, and sleeping arrangements, and most seem to have been shot as they are, not as an editor might wish them to be. Incredibly, an ascetic style is acheived in a few of these dwellings, not by a spare decor, but by muted and monochromatic arrangements. Cluttered spaces can, it seems, feel tranquil. There are some incredibly hectic rooms, of course, which seem almost nightmarishly cramped and technicoloured, but these fascinate through the sheer proliferation of objects. I found a real sense of fetishism in many of these dwellings: a love of the material that invests these spaces with value and nostalgia. A great collection.
Rating:
Summary: You thought YOUR apartment was small...
Review: In Tokyo rents are high and space is at a premium. This fun little book of photos documents how the average Tokyo citizen makes the most of his/her cramped (often one room, no private bath) apartment. Some methods of space saving/storage are ingenious, some apartments are an absuloute mess. Finally, a whole city that lives like me! This book is small and crammed with photos, a deliberate echo of squeezing as much stuff as possible into a tiny space? Fun to read and look through, but it won't cure the slob in your life--it will only encourage them!
Rating: 
Summary: A uncertain amount of stuff
Review: The point of the positive reviews -- that this book gives you a different view of "clean, tidy" Japanese -- hardly supports a reason to purchase this book. Look, the photography does the best job it can to show these rooms (often so small that only one or two angles are possible), but photo after photo of seeing people's piles of books, records, manga, dishes? Please -- this is not a book about style. It's a book about people who have no style -- the have STUFF. If you're looking for insight into the real homelife style of Japanese, in this book you're mostly going to be seeing only a blur.
Rating:
Summary: 6 Billion and Counting
Review: The simple statistic that the Tokyo metro area harbours 20 million souls doesn't, by itself, invoke much more in the imagination than a few old films and a sprawling, hazy skyline. But this book makes it real - the crushing impact of too many people cramped together in tiny spaces, with possessions forcing their way into all nooks and crannies The introduction likens the comfortable Tokyo apartment to a cockpit, with access to every vital need and comfort within easy reach. This is not a book for claustrophobics!
Rating: 
Summary: Living large
Review: The small cramped presentation of wonderful photographs of the way real folks live is frustrating but appropriate for the subject. The content evokes college dormroom life by grown ups. New Yorkers will appreciate Tokyo Style; Angelenos will not understand. In view of our growing population, it serves as a model for our future life styles. I may be headed for a studio apartment in the old folks home but I can still have my stuff.
Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse Inside Japanese Apartments
Review: This a wonderful little book. Little in size not in page count, over 400 pages. The book shows the small accomodations that many tokyoites live in. Not only are the rooms small, but it seems as alomost everyone in this book has enough stuff for a home five times as big. My favorite chapter is titled mono ni kurumatte, which translates into monomaniacs basically people who are obsessive collectors. The sheer amount of books and CDs some of these people own will make your eyes bug out of your skull.
Rating:
Summary: best bathroom book
Review: This book currently resides in our bathroom. It gets frequent viewing and is perfect to view in the time needed. The book gives you a fishbowl look into Japanese lives. I still can't believe that people live in such confined spaces in Tokyo. I live in a large urban city myself, Chicago in a nice 3 bedroom apartment with a backyard. Hard to believe people work and live in a couple or tatami matts. Buy this book and place it in the loo. You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: best bathroom book
Review: This book currently resides in our bathroom. It gets frequent viewing and is perfect to view in the time needed. The book gives you a fishbowl look into Japanese lives. I still can't believe that people live in such confined spaces in Tokyo. I live in a large urban city myself, Chicago in a nice 3 bedroom apartment with a backyard. Hard to believe people work and live in a couple or tatami matts. Buy this book and place it in the loo. You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: extreme visual stimulation
Review: this book is for those who find looking into the lives of others fascinating- each page is filled with excitement, energy, and ..... clutter. peek into the lives of the tokyo denizen, each colorful page a revealing study of how people in this large city live. though small in format, the book is always exciting to flip through, each page is a new tale, waiting to be told and explored.
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