Review of The Old Bells of Tokyo by Anna Sherman

*The Bells of Old Tokyo* by Anna Sherman (2019). Published by Picador.

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you’re probably going to know that I spend a lot of time at my local library. Before I was working on my thesis, I used to go there almost every single week in search of some new books to read. I like being on top of what’s both old and new alike in the publishing world.

That said, while I do love my library, it’s history sections are a tad bit lacking. I find that there could be so many more interesting books out in the world, and they even got rid of the section where they placed all of the new history books. I think they just straight up stopped investing in this section.

So I was wandering the minuscule part where they put their Asian history books when I found The Old Bells of Tokyo. I had never heard of it, but when I cracked open the front cover and read what the book was about, I was immediately interested in what it had to say.

I find books that fuse together genres to be so interesting, and this one fuses together history along with memoir. That’s right up my alley! So I checked this book out and read it over the course of a week.

Here’s my review.

The story of Anna Sherman’s time in Japan, but mixed together with the history of the city and its people.

This is a nonfiction book that’s split up into different sections, with each one focusing on a specific bell that’s survived throughout the wars and famines of Japanese history. Some of these bells were made in the 1600s, and date back when the shoguns used to run Japan.

We also get some context of Japan’s isolationist policies until the tail end of the 19th century, which is how we get the country many are enamored with today. Or not, depending if you come from the area in which Japan brutally colonized its people and tried to wipe out the local cultures.

Anyways, regardless of that, Sherman lived in Japan for quite a bit. They mix together experiences with the city of Tokyo and Japan as a whole with this broader history, making connections between time and place.

Some of the pockets of the book that really shone for me were about the coffee shop owner she befriended throughout her time in Asia, as well as what happened when the earthquake hit Japan.

I thought that was a really compelling section, as Sherman, like so many other people who were able to get out with their foreign passports, came back to stigma.

For example, people would treat others different if they discovered they left during the earthquake and its cleanup. They would consider you to be someone who wasn’t truly Japanese in a sense, as you didn’t stick around to see how people helped each other and tried to survive in some difficult circumstances.

Another section I thought was really interesting was on the older woman recalling what it was like to escape the bombs in the middle of World War II. Tokyo was heavily bombed during the war, and a lot of the older structures and buildings did not survive the war. So many people, as you could imagine, also did not survive.

And above all else, Sherman reminds us about how the bells survived and are still there, iconic testaments to the strength of a culture and its people despite all of these things happening in recent—and some not so recent—history.

Overall Thoughts

As I mentioned before, this was right up my alley. I love when people interact with history and spaces throughout their nonfiction work, especially when they attach their own personal memories to the work.

I could see how some people might find this unnerving, and demand the writer choose a genre and stick to it, but I personally thought this was a really good book.

It’s also a quiet one, which makes sense. Lots of compilation of memories, but not just Sherman’s. Sometimes the simple things are the ones that stick out the most in the story of someone’s life, and I appreciate these finer details.

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