Shigeo Miyao

I was very excited about this book... Until I got home and realized it was printed in 1965, which means, well, the "present" of it's title is now "past".
The book compares Hiroshige's series of ukiyoe (stamps) representing various locations of Tokyo to 1965 pictures of the city. Each comparison is accompanied with a one-page description of the place depicted, or a fact concerning an action represented in the painting.
Some facts concern festivals or daily life activities and so are still interesting, but others might only be of interest for readers fascinated with Tokyo's historic development, and some specifics about the city in 1965.

I can't say the pictures are very well chosen either... Most of the time they are very small and somehow overexposed. In some cases the ukiyoe shows only animals, or an object, and (I guess this was the Japanese author's idea) it is still related to a specific place in Tokyo -- I wonder if that means I'll find dogs more easily in Shinagawa district?
Bad jokes aside, this is a so-so book that I would only recommend in some specific cases, but could maybe be fun to just flip through the pages if you stumble across.… (mehr)