Tokyo Junkie
60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys... and Baseball
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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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Robert Whiting
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.
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Welcome to New York’s legendary hotel for women, the Barbizon. Liberated after WWI from home and hearth, women flocked to New York City during the Roaring Twenties. But even as women’s residential hotels became the fashion, the Barbizon stood out; it was designed for young women with artistic aspirations, and included soaring art studios and soundproofed practice rooms. More importantly still, with no men allowed beyond the lobby, the Barbizon signaled respectability, a place where a young woman of a certain class could feel at home.
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A Very Enjoyable Non Fiction, Mostly Easy Listening
- By Frank Donnelly on 03-23-21
By: Paulina Bren
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Stonewall
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- By: Martin Duberman
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided by police. But instead of responding with the typical compliance the NYPD expected, patrons and a growing crowd decided to fight back. The five days of rioting that ensued changed forever the face of gay and lesbian life. In Stonewall, renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history.
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Not the Stonewall book I was looking for
- By T. Mommy on 10-05-24
By: Martin Duberman
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The Buried
- An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Hessler
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawn by a fascination with Egypt's rich history and culture, Peter Hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to Cairo in 2011. He wanted to learn Arabic, explore Cairo's neighborhoods, and visit the legendary archaeological digs of Upper Egypt. After his years of covering China for The New Yorker, friends warned him Egypt would be a much quieter place. But not long before he arrived, the Egyptian Arab Spring had begun, and now the country was in chaos.
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A Fascinating, Funny, and Moving Account of Egypt
- By Jefferson on 07-23-19
By: Peter Hessler
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The Great Successor
- The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un
- By: Anna Fifield
- Narrated by: Olivia Mackenzie-Smith
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Anna Fifield reconstructs Kim's past and present with exclusive access to sources near him and brings her unique understanding to explain the dynastic mission of the Kim family in North Korea. The archaic notion of despotic family rule matches the almost medieval hardship the country has suffered under the Kims. Few people thought that a young, untested, unhealthy, Swiss-educated basketball fanatic could hold together a country that should have fallen apart years ago. But Kim Jong Un has not just survived, he has thrived.
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Great book
- By WPD on 06-26-19
By: Anna Fifield
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The Address Book
- What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
- By: Deirdre Mask
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An exuberant and insightful work of popular history of how streets got their names, houses their numbers, and what it reveals about class, race, power, and identity. When most people think about street addresses, if they think of them at all, it is in their capacity to ensure that the postman can deliver mail or a traveler won’t get lost. But street addresses were not invented to help you find your way; they were created to find you. In many parts of the world, your address can reveal your race and class.
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Simply OK
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The Plaza
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The Plaza is the account of one vaunted New York City address that has become synonymous with wealth and scandal, opportunity and tragedy. With glamour on the surface and strife behind the scenes, it is the story of how one hotel became a mirror reflecting New York's place at the center of the country's cultural narrative for over a century.
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Don't need your politics, Julie
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By: Julie Satow
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New York, New York, New York
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Dangerous, filthy, and falling apart, garbage piled on its streets and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble; New York’s terrifying, if liberating, state of nature in 1978 also made it the capital of American culture. Over the next thirty-plus years, though, it became a different place - kinder and meaner, richer and poorer, more like America and less like what it had always been.
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OMG...right on 👍👍👍👍👍
- By howie wine on 04-04-21
By: Thomas Dyja
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The Cubans
- Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times
- By: Anthony DePalma
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Anthony DePalma
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- Unabridged
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Cubans today, most of whom have lived their entire lives under the Castro regime, are hesitantly embracing the future. In his new book, Anthony DePalma, a veteran reporter with years of experience in Cuba, focuses on a neighborhood across the harbor from Old Havana to dramatize the optimism as well as the enormous challenges that Cubans face: a moving snapshot of Cuba with all its contradictions as the new regime opens the gate to the capitalism that Fidel railed against for so long.
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The real Cuba
- By Tinkerbell on 10-11-20
By: Anthony DePalma
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Age of Ambition
- Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
- By: Evan Osnos
- Narrated by: Evan Osnos, George Backman
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control.
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Come back when you have a warrant!
- By Neuron on 11-06-15
By: Evan Osnos
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The Glossy Years
- Magazines, Museums and Selective Memoirs
- By: Nicholas Coleridge
- Narrated by: Nicholas Coleridge
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Over his 30-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague.
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A superfun inside look @ world of magazine editors
- By AminaRuhle on 10-05-20
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St. Marks Is Dead
- The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street
- By: Ada Calhoun
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
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St. Marks Place in New York City has spawned countless artistic and political movements. Here Frank O'Hara caroused, Emma Goldman plotted, and the Velvet Underground wailed. But every generation of miscreant denizens believes that their era, and no other, marked the street's apex.
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Wonderful history of a wonderful place.
- By Liza B. on 11-07-15
By: Ada Calhoun
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What listeners say about Tokyo Junkie
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-22-21
Great Content
It was a great recollection of a life lived in Japan. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the country.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Hiroshi Sato
- 07-09-23
Nice walk down memory lane!
Note: Almost every Japanese word was pronounced incorrectly and takes away from the overall story telling.
I arrived in Tokyo in March of 1990 and am still here today. I left for a few years and lived in Europe for a few years and could only think about going back to Tokyo. I am American and also did a brief stint in the US in 2000. I came back to Tokyo in 2001 and never looked back.
I never experienced the Happy Valley days but certainly heard about them from long timers but know the bubble time and can resonate with many of the places and types of places that Robert talks about. Kabukicho, Roppongi, Ueno, Ginza, Yurakucho and so on. I also went to Maggies Revenge (a name that brought back many memories when I read it), Julianas and many many local yakitori places that I went that are no longer there. There were also many nights that I was at Nicolas Pizza place after a night of drinking in Roppongi and I met the man several times myself but did not know any of his history. I have also had my share of interactions with the yakuza but nowhere near the scale that Robert talks about but do understand the emotions.
Things have changed so much and so many of the old places are gone but Tokyo still endures and endears to those who can even unearth a few of this magnificent cities secrets. There is always be secrets to unearth in Tokyo. I will be here for the rest of my life.
Lovely book with lots of great memories for me.
(Please redo with someone who knows how to pronounce Japanese words.)
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- robert
- 07-17-22
Great Narrator
This is a very entertaining book. I've visited Tokyo and roamed the streets. I'm no expert and don't speak the language. This Narrator is great. Whole he may not pronounce words correctly, he makes up for it with his tone and style. I believe he narrated another book called Dancing bears, which is equally entertaining. It's funny how those who are familiar with Japanese culture and the language would complain about a great Narrator who mispronounced a couple words. We would expect as much. I give the story and narrator 5 stars!
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1 person found this helpful
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- KJ
- 07-17-21
Now I must visit Tokyo
Excellent book all around. Please release some more of Mr. Whitings book on your site!!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 08-19-23
Insightful!
The story is candid and interesting. But should hire a narrator who are familiar with Japanese language.
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- AlchemistGeorge
- 07-08-22
It is a shame the narrator’s pronunciation is so bad
The odd Japanese pronunciations are the only weakness in this excellent book. A wonderful look into the last fifty years of Tokyo.
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- Kindle Customer
- 12-21-22
One of the best books I have ever read
Mr Whiting wrote an incredible book, I loved it. Definitely one of my favourites. The narrator was fantastic. I wish his other books were available as they seem to be excluded and only available in the USA.
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- Carl Salbacka
- 02-07-24
Never a dull moment!
An excellent and engaging memoir that traces the people, places, and politics of Tokyo over the course of over half a century. Narration was excellent, handling the dialects of various persons with aplomb; my only complaint would be the frequent mispronunciation of Japanese words and place names (none, thankfully too egregious---it's likely only to bother native speakers and pedantic students of the Japanese language).
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- M.L.
- 12-16-21
Narration horrible
Excellent book but I cannot excuse the horrendous butchering in the pronunciation of Japanese words and phrases.
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- JK
- 09-20-22
INFORMATIVE
Interesting book, fast moving with a lot of information. Different sites in Tokyo, which you can look up in Google Earth.
Japan post WWII is also mentioned. It is a fast moving story and it made me want to pack my bags and head for Tokyo.
I totally enjoyed the book.
The narrator, mr. Stephan Rudnicki, as usual, is a joy to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.
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