"A delightful memoir of the author's five-decade love affair with a city that "hypnotized" him and never let go."
-Kirkus Starred Review
"In the world’s most provisional city, memories are perishable. Whiting has saved some of his best ones for us."
—Kyoto Journal
"In his readable anecdotal style, Whiting waxes lyrical about the city he’s called home for much of the past six decades. From his military and student days to his transition to a salaryman and sportswriter, the book is a warts-and-all account that serves up a colorful menagerie of characters, from politicians to professional wrestlers."
—The Japan Times
"With a patter that lands like readers have pulled up a barstool to hear a traveler’s yarns... Whiting’s love for his adopted city remains constant and contagious in this collage-style survey."
—Publishers Weekly
"A rich and beautifully written book that will never let you down as you read through to the end; a splendid account of a remarkable life in a fabulous city."
—The Asia Times
"Whiting's memoir is packed with insights and extremely funny in places. Historians of the postwar period will learn much about the nexus of politics, money, media and organized crime that helped fuel Japan's phoenix-like rise from the ashes of defeat. [Robert Whiting] is probably the only person on the planet capable of telling us what it was like to be there at that particular moment in time."
—Nikkei Asia
"Robert Whiting’s personal narrative of life in Tokyo offers a compelling study of the society in with which he has thrown his lot."
—South China Morning Post
"Tokyo Junkie is a tale of an American transplant in a booming Asian metropolis. Insightful and humorous, its assorted essays recount the people and events that have shaped Japan’s capital and the author over six decades."
—Nippon.com
"Tokyo Junkie is the hugely engaging and occasionally very funny memoir of a Tokyo insider who has grabbed all the excitement the city has to offer. He tells his story through various lenses - baseball, yakuza, and the amazing ongoing development of Tokyo."
—The Times Literary Supplement
"A complex, captivating portrait of a city that is both insular and welcoming, and is now one of the world’s top tourist destinations."
—Foreword Reviews
"Both humorous and incisive, Tokyo Junkie is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand modern Japan. It is underpinned by a deep love for this city and its endless nightclubs, bars, sushi restaurants, noodle shops, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and gleaming skyscrapers. Whiting changed along with his adopted home."
—The Literary Times
"Robert Whiting is well placed to reflect on [Tokyo's] urban evolution, having borne firsthand witness to nearly all of it. His long acquaintance with Tokyo — or love affair with it, or (as his title implies) addiction to it — grants him an appreciation both for what has been gained and what lost in the process."
—Collin Marshall, The Los Angeles Review of Books
“An introspective look at [Robert Whiting's] life, providing a mesmerizing collection of anecdotes about the people he encountered, with abundant recollections of friends and acquaintances, notorious underworld figures and prominent politicians, and vivid descriptions of his ad
