27 The Bells of Old Tokyo (Anna Sherman)

On this episode of the Japan Station podcast we're talking about the city of Tokyo and its "bells of time."

About Minami Sakai

Anna Sherman is an editor and writer living in Oxford, England. Sherman spent many years living in Tokyo and used many of her experiences there to write her first book: The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditation on Time and a City. Published earlier this year by Picador, The Bells of Old Tokyo is a unique and thoroughly captivating book that uses Tokyo's "bells of time" as jumping off point to explore both the history of the city and the very nature of time itself.

Topics Discussed

• Studying Greek and Latin
• How Anna ended up in Japan
• What led Anna to write The Bells of Old Tokyo
• What Tokyo's "bells of time" (toki no kane) are and what their function was
• The Kokucho bell of time in Nihonbashi
• The Tenmacho prison (Tenmachō Yashiki) and efforts to preserve it.
• The missing bell of Mejiro
• The constantly changing nature of Tokyo
• How Japan reacted to Einstein's general theory of relativity
• Anna's relationship with a mysterious woman named Shoko Takahashi
• The nature of time and what working on The Bells of Old Tokyo taught Anna
• And much more!

For full show notes visit https://www.japanstationpodcast.com

Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/japankyonews

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/japankyonews