TOKYO TEMPOS

With this latest memoir, Pronko muses on life in Japan’s singular capital city.

Sometimes it takes the eye of an outsider to capture what is unique about a place. Pronko, an American literature professor at Meiji Gakuin University, has lived in Tokyo for decades and has written extensively about its many faces. “Words pointing at Tokyo are not Tokyo, granted,” writes Pronko in his preface. “But words can…reveal life’s delightful and intriguing parts. Words are a way to see inside Tokyo.” With these essays, he touches on common associations with the massive city: its labyrinthian train system, its culture of photography, the views of Mount Fuji (which Pronko has from his apartment, even if he has “to lean over the edge of the balcony or hoist myself up on my rickety cinderblock garden wall”). He also explores less familiar territory, like the delicacy of deep-fried fish bones served in sake, the cathartic process of having his tatami mats collected for refurbishing, and the toads that appear everywhere in the city in the spring alongside the cherry blossoms. Pronko ponders the growing popularity of the Christmas tree among Tokyoites and offers several essays about his work at the university, where his students have helped shape his understanding of love, death, and language in Japan. Pronko approaches his topics with humility and loving curiosity, less an expert than simply one of the millions cycling like blood cells through the city’s veins. “I don’t think anyone could claim to know Tokyo completely,” he writes. “It’s not that I saw Tokyo completely,” he clarifies of his ongoing attempts to capture the city’s rhythms. “It’s that I tried to experience it fully.” Pronko succeeds in imbuing Tokyo with serene magic, and readers may feel compelled to book plane tickets upon completing this volume. They may also simply feel inspired to take a walk in their own city and take in details they’ve never noticed before.

An immigrant’s keen reflection on life in a vast metropolis.