Tokyo Junkie cover art

Tokyo Junkie

60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys... and Baseball

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Tokyo Junkie

By: Robert Whiting
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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About this listen

Tokyo Junkie is a memoir that plays out over the dramatic 60-year growth of the megacity Tokyo, once a dark, fetid backwater and now the most populous, sophisticated, and safe urban capital in the world.

Follow author Robert Whiting (The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, You Gotta Have Wa, Tokyo Underworld) as he watches Tokyo transform during the 1964 Olympics, rubs shoulders with the Yakuza and comes face to face with the city’s dark underbelly, interviews Japan’s baseball elite after publishing his first best-selling book on the subject, and learns how politics and sports collide to produce a cultural landscape unlike any other, even as a new Olympics is postponed and the COVID virus ravages the nation.

A colorful social history of what Anthony Bourdain dubbed, “the greatest city in the world”, Tokyo Junkie is a revealing account by an accomplished journalist who witnessed it all firsthand and, in the process, had his own dramatic personal transformation.

©2021 Robert Whiting (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media Asia Baseball & Softball Japan Sports Olympics
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what a fantastic adventure life story in Tokyo, would recommend this to anyone Interested in Japan!

fantastic listen

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Tokyo Junkie was filled with interesting stories that portray the inner workings of Japan from the 20th century onwards. His tales with the Yakuza, baseball and his early political days were particularly captivating and flowed well. It was interesting to hear about the transformation Japan went from being US occupied post WWII to a global economic superpower through the eyes of a gaijin (alien). His treatment as a gaijin throughout this period was entertaining and provided key insights into the Japanese way of life.

An interesting tale of a Gaijin's time in Japan

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Fantastic book as always from Robert Whiting.

Unfortunately the audiobook is read by someone with no knowledge of Japanese pronunciation, which detracts greatly from the listening experience.

Probably not a big deal for most listeners, but for anyone that lives or has lived in Japan it is grating.

Amazing book. Spoilt somewhat by the poor pronunciation of Japanese words and places.

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Robert Whiting well brings to life Japan, from a foreigner's perspective. Many tidbits about Japanese life, culture and evolution over decades. Having lived in Japan in the mid-2000s, I felt nostalgic, while learning more about this wonderful country and its people. I'm keen to check out his other books and return to Japan!

Enjoyable read

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The story is an engaging one, mirroring and at times contrasting Tokyo’s modern development with the author’s own life history. It makes no pretence about its subject - an American’s perspective on the city, but does so largely without the presumptive arrogance that often accompanies personal histories of this sort.

An interesting personal history of Tokyo

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An American perspective of post war Japan. unfortunately misogynistic and lacking in cultural and social sensitivity.

interesting, but

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