by Yu Miri: A poignant novel that follows the life of a homeless man, Kazu, who was born in 1933 and worked as a laborer for the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. The book also captures the seething rage felt by some at the announcement of the 2020 Olympics seven years ago, despite the country still being in trauma from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Emperor, Kazu’s life is tied by a series of coincidences to Japan’s Imperial family and to one particular spot in Tokyo; the park near Ueno Station – the same place his unquiet spirit now haunts in death. It is here that Kazu’s life in Tokyo began, as a labourer in the run up to the 1964 Olympics, and later where he ended his days, living in the park’s vast homeless ‘villages’, traumatised by the destruction of the 2011 tsunami and enraged by the announcement of the 2020 Olympics.

Akutagawa-award-winning author Yū Miri uses her outsider’s perspective as a Zainichi (Korean-Japanese) writer to craft a novel of utmost importance to this moment, a powerful rebuke to the Imperial system and a sensitive, deeply felt depiction of the lives of Japan’s most vulnerable people.

Source: https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/things-to-do/the-best-books-about-tokyo.