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Summary: Tokyo's Packrats
Review: Tokyo is an exciting city filled with amazing sights, a broad range of culture, the fast pace of business, the slow relaxed state of nature... and packrats. For a tiny sized book that can fit in your pocket, it packs a great deal of pictures and information on the different types of people who live within the city and showcases all of their stuff. Stuff. LOT'S OF STUFF! Most people in Tokyo live in the tiniest spaces (some the size of small bedrooms!) and yet hold on to a ton of items they don't necessarily need. Books, CD's, albums, papers, toys, collectibles, electronics... all stacked and piled right up to the ceiling. If you're interested in finding just how different, yet how similar our American living conditions compare to those of Tokyo, check out this book! I was glad I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: It's just like home!
Review: Well, it's just like MY home, which is crammed to the brim with books, CDs and other junk I just can't part with!My own living conditions aside, the main reason I love this book is that it is a look into REAL homes. Not those models you see in magazines or on TV. This is how real people live and that's what makes it all the more appealing. When faced with astronomical land prices, people are forced to live in a smaller space, while trying to keep their own "style," which is what this book is about. As one reviewer wrote, the photos are circa 1992, but over 10 years later, things haven't changed--my friend's apartment (she lives in Fukushima, though) looks just like some of these places--an organized mess. Even when I was living there a few years ago, my place had that "less is more" feel, with no furniture and piles of books and CDs lining the walls. The photos are bright and the overall atmosphere created is one of comfort--even when faced with mountains of "mono"--and that is the idea. One man's trash is another man's treasure and while some may cringe when seeing some of these places, one must always remember that these are/were people's homes and that, to them, this is comfort! The photos are not glamorous (the author is not a professional photographer and clearly states as much), but they are not meant to be, nor do they need to be. This is book is a great piece of nostalgia for people who lived in Japan (like myself), and a wonderful insight into the way real people live in one of the largest, most expensive cities in the world.
Rating: 
Summary: incredibly disappointing
Review: What this book is: endless photographs of the insides of japanese apartments, showing stacks of books/cds/stuff/junk and all the different ways that a multitude of stuff can be crammed into a tiny room. Similar to college dorms. Why it's disappointing: In the beginning while flipping the pages, you ask questions like , "hmmm...i wonder what type of person lives in this place," but there are no insets of people. no copy. no insight as to who the owner is, a little blurb on the things they like, organizing tips, or maybe a few gems of wisdom on why they live there. This book is a prime example of bad photojournalism. And after a while, all the rooms start to look the same. What this book could have been: A photo-essay into not only documenting the rooms, but the PEOPLE who actually live there and a little bit about them. Looking at crammed dorm-style rooms page after page gets very morose indeed. heck, at least FRUITS gives you a little bio on the people! And if this book is so interesting because it defies the stereotype of "clean, tidy japanese", then you really need to wake up and smell the coffee. Japanese zen and their clean minimalistic ways does not always find its way into normal urban living. Tokyo is small and crowded like New York City. It is far, far, far from being a "bonsai garden". You can get more "zen" in the 'burbs, countryside, mount fuji or small havens tucked into corners or certain restaurants--but this is a tightly crowded urban metropolis, come on! If you are "shocked" at how "un-Japanese" this book feels, then take a trip to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei or any other large Asian city and you'll see that it's not so different after all.
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