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For any westerner living in Tokyo, this novel is incredibly interesting for the way it captures 1929-1930 Asakusa. It shows the (relatively) innocent underbelly of society through a cast of quirky and likable characters. You'll definitely see Asakusa, and Tokyo in general, in a new light. From a literary standpoint, it's interesting because it was Kawabata's attempt at modernism.

It was experimental, and for this reason, it can be a little hard to follow. The time line's a mess, there are a million characters and connections to keep track of, the narrator may or may not have been the author and/or the antagonist, it's not always immediately clear who's speaking, etc. It felt like looking through the eyes of a four-year-old, whose attention focuses on only what's the most intriguing at that moment and then quickly moves on to the next thing that catches his/her eye. But this is why I loved this novel. With the choppy narrative and quick pace, we can almost feel what life for these characters must have been like. I can't imagine a more conventional style capturing this in quite the same way.