Arguably one of the most iconic mega-cities in Asia, Tokyo, the capital of Japan, plays an important economic and cultural role. It has been featured in various media as a liveable city with a well-developed public transport system. Yet, what international media coverage often misses out are its unique neighbourhoods and districts. Known as kaiwai, they are scattered in a mosaic from downtown Tokyo to its suburbs, exemplifying a type of urbanism wholly unique to Asia and foreshadowing a future vision which suggests regional autonomy in a post-COVID-19 world.In this book, the authors thoroughly investigate the city's multi-layered spatial and sociocultural aspects, introducing a side of Tokyo little known to the world at large. Readers who are only familiar with Tokyo's depiction as an ultra-modern city will appreciate the book's insights into the kaiwai phenomenon, the pre-modern urban structure of Edo city, and contemporary Tokyo's Asian urbanism, including traditional community
