Walking through the Shitamachi with Ryo-san

「両さんと歩く下町」
Ryo-san to aruku Shitamachi
AKIMOTO, Osamu (秋本治); Shueisha, Tokyo, 2004
ISBN 4-08-720265-8

I'm not particularly in to manga, but one I enjoy is Kochikame (short for Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo) by Osamu AKIMOTO (the lower of the two images). Partly for the irreverent humour, and partly for Akimoto's depiction of everyday scenes in Tokyo, mainly around the story's main setting in Katsushika-ku in Tokyo's Shitamachi. It was first published in 1977, meaning it has visually captured many of the changes to everyday life in Tokyo (though I feel the later strips are lacking the energy of earlier versions). Wikipedia has more details.

In 2004 Akimoto published "Ryo-san to aruku Shitamachi" - literally "Walking through the Shitamachi with Ryo-san" - Ryo-san (short for Kankichi Ryotsu) being the main character of Kochikame. In it he reminisces about scenes from earlier Kochikame strips - mostly reflecting the area as it was - and how it has become now. It's a fascinating trip down the author's own personal memory lane, constrasting the much-changed (and often very sterilised) present with the (much more authentic) past. Reading it makes you realise just how much character Tokyo has lost in the intervening years.