historicity is a series of audio walking tours, which explores how cities got to be the way they are. Many tours detach the past from the present, stories from their contexts, buildings from the streets, or individual neighbourhoods from the city as a whole. historicity instead joins things up, weaving a city’s story with its connections to the world beyond, and so explaining why we see what we do.

Recorded on location and delivered as a podcast, each walk is designed to be followed in real time on the streets of Tokyo. But the podcast also serves those beyond the city. With maps and transcripts, historicity meets listeners wherever they are, letting them join our journeys in their own place, at their own pace.

The podcast is intended as a public resource, which improves access to the city and its stories. It has been developed with support from institutional partners, who share our commitments to representing a city accurately and to encouraging listeners to use the podcast as a springboard for learning more – in local museums, archives, and beyond.

Our second series, in Tokyo, with support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, launches on 12 May 2023. As with London, there are three walks, each broken down into three one-hour episodes.