Down with the Cities! — Story, Setting & Ideas

The City as a Biological Machine

Nakashima's central conceit is that cities function like organisms, with pollution as their inevitable waste. He writes that environmental destruction is "the unavoidable respiratory function, metabolic function, and bowel movements of the cities." This analogy is not merely descriptive but prescriptive: just as plugging a human's orifices would kill them, attempting to curb pollution without dismantling cities is futile. The metaphor recurs throughout the excerpts, giving the argument a visceral, almost medical urgency.

The author extends this biological frame to urban sprawl, describing cities as "spreading out like amoebae." This image suggests an uncontrolled, parasitic growth that will eventually cover the Earth. Nakashima's language is deliberately provocative, likening urban expansion to a disease rather than progress. He insists that no political or economic system is immune—urbanization proceeds everywhere, regardless of ideology.

Jet Civilization and the Destruction of Place

A significant portion of the excerpts attacks modern transportation, particularly jet travel. Nakashima dismisses the supposed benefits of international mobility, arguing that politicians use jets to "insure the progress and prosperity of their own countries," which he equates with environmental contamination. He scoffs at the idea that foreign travel broadens the mind, asking: "Are there no mountains in Japan? Is there no ocean?"

His critique extends to tourism and study abroad, which he labels as techniques for learning "idleness and gluttony" or preparing for "contamination and destruction." The tone is deliberately crude—he calls international traders "economic animals" and tourists "lecherous slobs." This rhetorical strategy underscores his rejection of urban values, which he sees as rootless and destructive. For Nakashima, the jet is not a tool of connection but a machine that enables environmental harm and cultural homogenization.

The Farmer's Perspective on Urban Dependency

Nakashima's background as a self-sufficient farmer informs his critique of urban dependency. He notes that cities rely on food shipments from rural areas, and he challenges the assumption that this arrangement is sustainable. The excerpts suggest that farmers and cooperatives have the power to disrupt urban life by halting supplies—a leverage he implies is underused.

His writing reflects a deep skepticism of urban claims to gratitude. He mocks the idea that people should be thankful for urban civilization, listing the harms it produces: "environmental contamination and the destruction of the Earth." The author's voice is that of an outsider who has chosen a different path—raising free-range chickens and studying Edo-period philosophy. This perspective gives his polemic a concrete, experiential basis, even as his conclusions are sweeping. The reader is left to consider whether his radical proposals are born of desperation or conviction.

Nakashima's manifesto is best approached as a document of its time and place—a 1990s Japanese critique of urbanization from a farmer-activist who draws on both biological science and Edo-period thought. Readers should note that the translation is based on an early serialized version and does not reflect later revisions. The text rewards attention to its rhetorical strategies: the use of bodily metaphors, the scorn for modern mobility, and the insistence that cities are not reformable. Whether one agrees or disagrees, the work offers a stark, uncompromising vision of environmental crisis.

Years at my desk have taught me that protest books age like good wine—sour at first, then softening. The city-condemning rage in Down with the Cities! reminds me, strangely, of an old New York study. Both trace how we spend ourselves, our energy, our coin. That guide to working girls’ budgets reads quieter, but shares the same ache: Making Both Ends Meet: The income and outlay of New York working girls — A Reader’s Guide. Two generations, one lonely math.