Page from Abandon the Old in Tokyo: but all it needs is a simple repair

Published by Drawn and Quarterly Books, 2006

Art and story by Yoshihiro Tatsumi - Approximately 200 pages; $19.95 USD Retail - Amazon.com

Here's the dilemma of Abandon the Old in Tokyo, the metaphor of the busted washing machine. A co-worker ridicules and resigns himself, and his co-workers, to what he defines as the modern way of life. But it begs the question of why the co-workers travel in step with a sense of life they obviously do not care for, and which only feeds the pointless power of people who want to define life in this pointless manner? The oppression of this ideal is held close by Tatsumi's characters who suffer for it, but why do they embrace it? The statement and question of "all it needs is simple repir" could be Tatsumi's sub-title for this book collection.