This anthology of translated short stories by Japanese writers captures the city of Tokyo throughout most of the 20th century - a period of war, bombing, urbanization and modernization, in short, constant change that has altered and continues to alter the very geography of the city. The 18 stories, varying from literary sketches to popular fiction, picture everyday life in different parts of the city - in its nightclubs, department stores, bars, homes and working-class neighbourhoods. For the tourist, armchair traveller or long-time resident, this book is a literary excursion into Tokyo illuminated by the evocative, and often ironic, words of its writers. These stories range from reflections on deaths in his family by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, written just before his own suicide; to a story of an all-too-brief affair in the old part of Tokyo by Hayashi Fumiko; to an unsettling tale of high politics and possible blackmail by Mishima Yukio. The volume also introduces the work of Ikeda Michiko and Inaba Mayumi. Lawrence Rogers's introduction leads us on a stroll through the city's various districts, from the marble and mahogany of the business district to the skid row of San'ya. As an introduction to Tokyo and to the literary imaginations it has inspired, this book should reveal something new about the nature of Japan's capital to those who wander through its pages.