Ronald & Tony

The letter to a missing city

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Warm new workshop evening. Red fish sign now hung outside door, family and team inside at low table. Printing blocks safely stored. No pagoda absurdly inside window. : Caption: That evening, at the new workshop. Father: A new shop. A new city name. What else have I missed?

Overhead from behind Jun, his right hand uses a brush to write an invented address on a flat sheet facing him, father beside him. : Jun: Tokyo. I’m still getting used to it.

Father warm smile looks at Jun, same moss-green costume and mature face. : Father: Then you’ll have to show me around.

Wide family and team around low table with bowls of food, Karen Harly professional friendly, elderly Ronald and Tony owl on shoulder. Fish sign visible outside. : Tony: Start with dinner. I can find that without a map.

Read the transcript

Warm new workshop evening. Red fish sign now hung outside door, family and team inside at low table. Printing blocks safely stored. No pagoda absurdly inside window.
Caption: That evening, at the new workshop. Father: A new shop. A new city name. What else have I missed?

Overhead from behind Jun, his right hand uses a brush to write an invented address on a flat sheet facing him, father beside him.
Jun: Tokyo. I’m still getting used to it.

Father warm smile looks at Jun, same moss-green costume and mature face.
Father: Then you’ll have to show me around.

Wide family and team around low table with bowls of food, Karen Harly professional friendly, elderly Ronald and Tony owl on shoulder. Fish sign visible outside.
Tony: Start with dinner. I can find that without a map.

Behind the adventure

Jun, Emi, Daichi, their printing workshop, letter, fish sign, neighbour and reunion are fictional. The recurring cast appear as imagined visitors to historical Asakusa; this story introduces no time-travel mechanism. Dialogue is presented in English. The small inlet, footbridge, landing and walking routes are invented and simplified, not a historical map or documented ferry service.

Edo was renamed Tokyo in 1868 during the Meiji transition. Tokyo means eastern capital. The government’s transfer in 1869 was a separate step. Sensō-ji is a real temple in Asakusa with deep connections to Edo. Its outer Kaminarimon gate burned in 1865 and is omitted from this reconstruction. The old temple hall and pagoda survived until 1945; the modern pagoda was rebuilt in a different position. Architecture is an interpreted historical illustration. Tokyo Metropolitan Government: history of Tokyo.