Shifting between Kon Wajiro’s own work and that of central literary figures around him, and between Kon’s time and our own, this book does much to redress the lack of English-language scholarship on Kon and his idiosyncratic but broadly influential writings. Thouny provides an incisive reading of Kon’s approach, and also puts it into action. Along the way he carries us through some of the central threads of Kon’s work, from a re-reading of the idea of dwelling as a liberating condition, to an insistence on the ongoing importance of urban form as the only real site within which to find real potential for openness and change—including today. This is a deeply thoughtful and thought-provoking work.