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Speaker: Sumiko Enbutsu
Topic: Flower Walks
When: Starting at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, 7 October 2007
Admission: Buy a copy of A Flower Lover's Guide To Tokyo from Good Day Books Before the publication this year by Kodansha International of Tokyo: Exploring the City of the Shogun and A Flower Lover's Guide to Tokyo: 40 Walks for All Seasons, Sumiko Enbutsu was arguably best known to patrons of Good Day Books as a co-author of the unique guidebook Water Walks in the Suburbs of Tokyo (Tokyo On Foot, 2000) and the author of the long-running column Edo-Tokyo: Then & Now in The Japan Times. The introductory sentences penned by her Smith College classmate and Water Walks co-author, Mimi LeBourgeois, cannot be bettered as a succinct description of Enbutsu-san's skills as as a guide:
A walk with Sumiko Enbutsu is unlike one with ordinary folk. With her discerning eye and deep
familiarity with Japanese history, she knows how to find the narrower road and the unsung small
sights that intrigue before we come to the major destinations.
Enbutsu-san's first book, Discover Shitamachi: A Walking Guide to the Other Tokyo (Shitamachi Times, 1984), long out of print, established her reputation and introduced us to her distinctive writing style by combining fascinating historical facts, enlightening cultural insights, clear walking directions, and detailed maps that take readers to places unfamiliar to even native Tokyo-ites. Her second book, Chichibu: Japan's Hidden Treasure (Tuttle, 1990), and a revised, updated edition of her first, Old Tokyo: Walks in the City of the Shogun (Tuttle, 1993), both also out of print, enhanced her reputation and confirmed the efficacy and appeal of her writing.
Enbutsu-san has worked for several historical preservation groups and has acted as a consultant and coordinator for many cross-cultural exchange programs. She is currently a consultant for the New York Botanical Garden for "Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum," an exhibition that celebrates Japanese art, life, and culture and is scheduled to open in New York in October 2007. Your ticket for admission to Sumiko Enbutsu's presentation will be a copy of A Flower Lover's Guide to Tokyo: 40 Walks for All Seasons, bought from Good Day Books. Paperback copies of A Flower Lover's Guide to Tokyo may be purchased at Good Day Books for two thousand three hundred ten yen (¥2310) each, tax included.
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