SEEING TOKYO does just that. It takes the reader on a visual journey into both well-known and hard-to-find sights; it illuminates traditional Tokyo and modern Tokyo-with exhilarating visuals, a vibrant text by third-generation Tokyoite Kaori Shoji, and a thoughtful foreword by the British Ambassador to Japan, Graham Fry.

District by district, the secrets of the Japanese capital are unlocked. There are the hip boroughs where the young gather, the Imperial palace standing with quiet dignity at the city center, the old-town haunts peppered with bonsai and grandmotherly shopkeepers, and the "electric town" where shop after shop displays and endless array of electronic goods for today and tomorrow.

Six essays cap off this visual feast, exploring Tokyo's unique history (it was home to the last shogunate government), worldclass transportation system (which moves tens of millions of people daily), food and dining scene, inimitable pop culture, and more. All of which make SEEING TOKYO the perfect guide to the city that inspired such popular entertainments as BLADE RUNNER and LOST IN TRANSLATION-and that has lent so much to the world.