Tokyo by Tokyo

No point beating around the bush: this is the book we wish we’d made ourselves. When the folks at hip Meguro hotel Claska decided to produce a guide to Tokyo, they asked nearly 70 of the city’s top creative types for their own recommendations.

The results are enlightening and totally idiosyncratic, whether it’s filmmaker Nami Iguchi on “Places in Tokyo where you can see trains from movies,” fashion guru Eichi Izumi’s “Three ideas for the perfect urban picnic” or designer Yuri Suzuki hailing some “Tokyo clichés viewed from overseas (the “Blade Runner” district).”

The whole thing’s bilingual, and each entry includes geographic coordinates that can be pumped straight into Google Maps. (Metropolis)

Tokyo by Tokyo, 1,260 yen. Available from Amazon Japan (www.amazon.co.jp) and at www.claska.com

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9 Comments

JeffLee at 08:02 AM JST - 24th May

"The “Blade Runner” district"? Wrong again. Ridley Scott's inspiration was Osaka, not Tokyo, for the Blade Runner setting.
fatfrenchfool at 08:18 AM JST - 24th May

is the cliche, how can cliche be wrong?
seesaw at 10:47 AM JST - 24th May

Wow! how impressive! I guess hotels wont be needing a Concierge anymore!
bobobolinski at 11:29 AM JST - 24th May

"The “Blade Runner” district"? Wrong again. Ridley Scott's inspiration was Osaka, not Tokyo, for the Blade Runner setting.

Er, no. Scott was inspired by the industrial landscape of the north-east of England. With bits of Hong Kong thrown in.
Hummy at 06:11 PM JST - 24th May

Actually I think you'll find that he was inspired by Milton Keynes!
JeffLee at 08:40 AM JST - 25th May

Bobo, I lived in Osaka in 1986. I recall at the time reading an interview with Ridley Scott in which he said he was inspired by Hartlepool's urban decay but that Blade Runner's the cityscape and look was inspired after a trip to Osaka.
MokiDugway at 08:58 AM JST - 25th May

Not Osaka, not Hong Kong, the inspiration for the movie's scenery was indeed Kubukicho...
Altria at 10:38 AM JST - 25th May

This article is filed under 'book review'.

So, is it any good?

How about listing a few of the places it suggests?
bobobolinski at 12:21 PM JST - 25th May

Jeff, in a long interview with Wired in 2007, Scott says it was Hong Kong and Hartlepool. http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-10/ffbladerunnerfull?currentPage=all

Doesn't mention Milton Keynes, strangely enough.