Tokyo: The City at the End of the World

This was one of the first books to really explain to the Western reader the hidden, frenzied beauty of Tokyo as a whole, it's arhitecture as a whole, and in single units as well, and the functions of the various towns/villages. If you can get hold of this book, do so. The read will be enjoyable, and witty as well. The prose is light, if a little journalistic, but in one volume, Popham has painted an amazingly accurate (for it's time) portrait of Tokyo, and it's people. Good for students of urban architecture and town planning. Dig around for it.