Today’s team review is from Terry. She blogs here https://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/
Terry has been reading Tokyo Mayday by Maison Urwin
4.5*
‘The human race. Migrating here and there for centuries, back and forth, whilst objecting to the influx of others. Like migrating birds. Like herded sheep.’
I love to read other authors’ view of the near future, and Tokyo Mayday is a clever and inventive slant on the subject. In the 2050s, climate change, political/civil unrest and technological advancement have turned the US and the European states into third world countries, with poverty and lack of jobs. The world’s greatest superpower is now Japan. Outside the cities, economic migrants are kept in holding camps, hoping for work, but now many of these migrants are white Europeans and Americans.
Jordan May and his family are offered the chance to live in Tokyo, which means a good job for Jordan at Matsucorp, the top car manufacturer in the world. When they arrive there from England, however, they discover that all is far from utopian. They are to live in a shared house, and both Jordan and his son, Alfie, immediately become aware of the opposing factions in the country – the far right who want to keep Japan for the Japanese, headed by the mysterious Yamada, and the movement for better treatment of migrants, more equal wages and fairer treatment for all, which grows in popularity amongst idealistic young people and the low-paid workers from the West. As a skilled worker, Jordan sits between the two.
Manipulating all players is the mysterious Stepson Struthwin, advisor to the owner of Matsucorp.
It’s clear that the author is well-versed in Japanese culture; the detail provided by his insight is an added point of interest while reading this highly original and probably plausible look at the future. His writing style is spare, which I liked very much, and the characterisation works well, throughout. The picky might complain about a certain amount of ‘telling not showing’, but my view is that if it works well, who cares – and in Tokyo Mayday, it does.
The book held my interest all the way through, with some good twists near the end that I hadn’t anticipated. No complaints; this is a definite ‘buy it’ recommendation, for anyone who loves this genre as much as I do.
This is Maison Urwin’s debut novel, which follows the ordeal of a family’s economic migration from the Federal Republic of England & Wales to Tokyo.
The power is in the East.
The Federal Republic of England & Wales is in crisis.
Western economic collapse has led to mass economic migration to China, Korea and especially Japan. Jordan May is offered a transfer with Matsucorp and takes wife, Shaylie, and son, Alfie, to a new and bewildering life in the Orient. The book is set in the 2050s when, following the end of capitalism in Europe, the Far East is now considered the developed world. Society in the West has fallen apart and the East Asia is the destination of choice for economic migrants who are prepared to take risks and endure prejudice in the search for a better life.
The May family emigrates from Harwich, England to Japan and husband, wife and son battle discrimination, are embroiled in political activism and forbidden romance, are targeted in racist attacks and are endangered by unwitting gangland involvement. As the climax approaches in a violent political demonstration on the streets of Tokyo, we begin to discover the extent to which a mysterious, wiry Englishman has manipulated each of them.
This work of speculative fiction sees the Mays thrust into industrial politics, illegal unionisation and hostessing. Teenage love and the organisation of a mass demonstration take place against a backdrop of racial tension and the rise of the far right.
Could Shaylie’s life be in danger? Is the mafia involved?
And just who is the Machaivellian Stepson Struthwin who sits on Matsucorp’s board and has such a hold over the lives of those around him?
Rosie Amber 
Thanks, Terry. It sounds excellent.
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