ABANDON THE OLD IN TOKYO

"Abandon the Old in Tokyo "continues to delve into the urban underbelly of 1960s
Tokyo, exposing not only the seedy dealings of the Japanese everyman but Yoshih
iro Tatsumi's maturation as a storyteller. Many of the stories deal with the eco
nomic hardships of the time and the strained relationships between men and women
, but do so by means of dark allegorical twists and turns. A young sewer cleaner
's girlfriend has a miscarriage and leaves him when he proves incapable of findi
ng higher-paying work. When a factory worker loses his hand on the job, the para
llels between him and his pet monkey prove startling and significant.