A Strange Tale From East Of The River Analysis

Assignment 2A (Choosing a passage from A Strange Tale from East of the River)

Written by Nagai Kafū, A Strange Tale from East of the River is a masterpiece that has succeeded in portraying Tokyo in the past. Kafū is known for his detailed depictions of life and landscapes in premodern Tokyo with extraordinary observations of the nearby scenery. In this book, he successfully presented Tamanoi to readers, a pleasure quarter that a group of vulnerable non-registered geishas lived and deemed it as the last resort of Japanese premodern cultures in the Meiji modernization period. In my opinion, the walk after dinner in the second chapter of this book allows us to acquire an in-depth understanding of the image of Tokyo and the significance of urban
As the protagonist stopped, there are bicycles and taxies lined up on the both sides of a railroad track, waiting for a train to pass. These indicate that Tokyo has transformed into a city with multiple forms of transport, new changes had occurred to its transportation system in the early 20th century. With these new concepts and infrastructures, the transportation system of Tokyo became more sophisticated under modernization.

As the journey continued, the protagonist passed Akiba Shrine, provided the evidence that although Tokyo was transforming at that period, historic architecture was not affected in the modernization of Japanese context. The modernity of Tokyo did not necessarily require the demolishing of preexisting urban structures.

Clusters of children playing in the shabby streets in the next scene written by Kafū, as he described the streets to be "shabby", they were looking old and of poor condition because of being used for a long time. Side streets were depicted as "too narrow for bicycles to pass if the riders happened to have bundles under their arms." These suggested that despite railways and wild roads were built in the Meiji modernization, old and narrow streets can still be found on the far side of the city which was not outlined in the modernization policy of the
The "occasion weed-grown lot" provided the fact that there are empty houses in that area, Kafū also depicted there were houses for rent in nearby in the next paragraph. These suggested that despite old buildings exist in rural the countryside, and these Japanese architectures were no longer popular among Japanese in the early 20th century. Kafū was heartbreaking that fewer and fewer people would appreciate these Japanese style houses which are representing the premodern culture of Japan. Overall we can know more about Tokyo's urban planning at that time through the detailed depictions by Kafū.

As the protagonist kept walking, he entered a narrow side street. There were turns in every five or six steps, showing the street is winding. Houses for rent lined on both sides of the street suggests that fewer people prefer this kind of old district as. Although he discovered a couple lives around there, they were “in foreign dress”, and their “dogs had tags and collars” which are products from the west. These were evidence that Japanese people's life was influenced by western cultures and individuals have adapted to