This is a very personalized tour of Tokyo where Anna Sherman seeks out the bells of Tokyo. She investigates the geography and history of every place she goes. T's like an unfolding flower. Tokyo was not the original capital of Japan. The 1923 earthquake and World War II" were hugely destructive. She meets local guides and informants everywhere and you get a more conversational description in each locality. ( )

It was very disjointed and didn’t make a lot of sense. ( )

'The Myriad Year Clock has six faces. It shows not just the twenty-four hour day of modern time, and the twelve-hour day of Edo time, but the phases of the moon, the twenty-four Japanese seasons and the days of the week. Another dial shows the ancient Chinese system, which combined the Zodiac animals and the elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.'

This is not a guidebook. This is not a history book. This is not story of a journey from A to B. What it is is a meditation on the nature of time and history that uses Anna Sherman's quest to seek out the old Bells of Time that were used in the past, in time before clocks and watches were commonplace, to mark the passing of the hours in the various districts of old Tokyo. It is purposefully meandering, shamelessly relishing, for example, the small details of her friend Daibo taking time to make the perfect cup of coffee. Indeed, Daibo's coffee shop becomes a focal point, the calm centre point to which Sherman can return to make sense of what she discovers.

The book explores the sweeping history of the city and the nation, but Sherman is not afraid to remind us that she, as a Westerner living in Tokyo for a brief time, is an outsider, someone who tries to learn the language and customs but will never understand it all. It is from this perspective that she writes, and from which we should read. There is a poetic lyricism to her writing that is fitting for the subject, the subtlety of silence or small moments of colour, of birdsong, give us an impression of a truth beyond us, a glimpse of something profoundly beautiful.

This is a book that will frustrate some (I note some of the low-star reviews and can understand their feelings). It is also a book that should be read at least twice; once, just to go with the flow, avoiding the temptation to dip into the notes at the back. A second reading will allow the reader to explore the more than 100 pages of notes and bibliography at the back of the book, to seek out the source material. For there is a huge amount of depth to this; the author has done a massive amount of research and the bibliography itself will see me happily exploring more and more of the resources for years to come.

A wonderful treasure trove, a beautiful meditation on time and identity, and at one and the same time an elegy for a lost city and a hymn to the modern. Let it wash over you, take joy in the quiet observations. This is a wonder of a book and is already a welcome addition to my bookshelf, to be visited again and again. 5 stars. ( )

See the review by David Peace. ( )