Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Japan (Country Guide)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

One thing you find about being in Japan for awhile is that no guide book can read your mind - you have to discover your favorite places for yourself. However, a book like this can be very helpful no matter how familiar you are with the country, and for newcomers it's indispensable. Here's why:

Lonely Planet does a good job of packing as much detail as possible into each section. Beyond the typical hotel and restaurant listings, they mention a wealth of transportation options in even the most remote areas of the country, they include cultural anecdotes about each region, and -most importantly- include plenty of Japanese script to help you find your way around, especially on rural rail lines.

They have a good sense of humor without being haughty (as many other travel guides on Japan do - such as Frommer's), although one of their best quotes - the suggestion that the resort area of Hakone can seem like 'a conveyor belt designed to strip you of your cash' is nowhere to be found.

There are plenty of listings for bargians both in eating and accomodation - Lonely Planet has never been the wealthy man's guide, although if you *are* swimming in cash, it will do you just fine.

Extensive maps with good detail. You might think this would be standard for all travel guides - but this is a detail that many of them overlook.

Lonely Planet is very good about warning you of potential tourist traps. This is especially important in Japan, where if you decide to sightsee in the same location as everyone else, you'll feel like you're heading to the bathroom during halftime of an NFL game. LP advises you of peak travel seasons to different areas of Japan that you may want to avoid to save money and beat the crowds. In Japan, fellow tourists in most cases will be other Japanese - lots of them.

LP has consistently produced the best guide to Japan out there and works hard to ensure its info is up-to-date. Other travel guides, for example, have STILL not noticed that a new shinkansen (bullet train) line was built from Kagoshima to Yatsushiro in Kyushu, shaving hours off the trip to Fukuoka, and that the name of Kagoshima's central train station changed as a result. LP is the only book I have seen that noticed this major transportation development - in place for almost two years now.

Big sections on Japan's most visited cities (Tokyo and Kyoto), with good suggestions for side trips for those on a tight schedule.

So why only three stars? First, there isn't THAT much new material in this guide. If you are familiar with Japan and keep up with the news in the country, you can probably rely on older editions of this guide - there isn't anything crucial meriting a purchase, unless you want a few more restaurant suggestions. If Japan is new to you, you need this most up-to-date edition, which will be your best friend - especially outside of Tokyo.

Second, LP's editors sometimes seem to have a hard time making up their mind as to what parts of Japan are interesting and worth a look: in the last edition, the small northern city of Aizu-Wakamatsu was mentioned only in brief as a drab industrial city, but here it is covered in pretty extensive detail. Who suddenly decided to put Aizu on the 'cool' list? As I said above, only you can decide in the long run what things in Japan are best for you, but I think Aizu's worth a visit (just don't go in the fall unless you want to see the entire population of northern Honshu there with you).

Third, although I enjoy LP's sense of humor, any guide that uses "frisky" and "volcanoes" in the same sentence is automatically disqualified from a five-star rating. Also, I can do without the left-wing rah-rahing that pops up in some places (though many 'progressive' world travelers enjoy that sort of thing, so it shouldn't hurt sales). Finally, I would prefer that LP limit its use of the word 'vibrant' to 50 instances per edition. On a positive note, the horrible Sailor Moon inspired 'anime' drawing in the 'Culture' section, so obviously wrought by someone not Japanese, is gone.

All that aside, any visitor to or resident of Japan ought to have a copy of this guide. It's a valuable resource and one of the few travel guides that -if not perfect- does everything right that it needs to and beats out the competition. If you're considering a visit to Japan, this book should be your first reference.

For years, Lonely Planet's Japan guide has been the benchmark among the many books available on the trendiest country in East Asia. The latest edition of their Japan guide continues to provide the high quality their readers have come to expect.

High points of this edition include:

- LP's authors seem to have found something to do in nearly every corner of Japan. While I still believe that to enjoy Japan best you must find your own places to enjoy - not just the ones within walking distance of a Starbucks - LP will help keep you from getting lost as you make your way from the train station to the twice-daily bus on the way to the Onsen In The Middle Of Nowhere (and if there is a Starbucks nearby that onsen, they'll tell you about that, too).

It's especially helpful that they list smaller diversions like the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum right along side of more famous attractions such as Yokohama's Chinatown - these are very helpful for people with a couple of hours to burn while they wait for their train.

- Restaurant suggestions. I don't use LP's restaurant choices religiously, but they are extremely helpful if you're unused to Japanese food (or with someone new to it); LP lists everything from high-end kaiseki restaurants to railway-station ramen stands to chain izakaya (pubs) with English menus - the last are an excellent way to try out different types of Japanese food without the guesswork.

-Lodging. LP shines here in their recommendations of ryokan (Japanese style-inns) and minshuku (pensions), most of which don't appear on Expedia or even Japanese-language websites. These are great places to enjoy real Japanese hospitality, and LP knows which ones are welcoming to foreigners, which have the best food, and which have the best onsen (hot springs).

-Japanese text. I can't emphasize this enough - it's absolutely critical to have Japanese translations of city names, train stations, attractions, and other important locations (hospitals, anyone?) written in Japanese as well as English. If you speak little or no Japanese, the text not only helps you read most signs outside of the major metro areas, it helps you to ask for directions, navigate restaurant menus, and maybe even learn some kanji.

Here are a few things I took issue with in this edition:

-Inaccurate transportation information. Don't worry, LP is generally reliable throughout the book and won't steer you wrong. The problem is what gets left out, particularly in the airport transportation category. For example, nobody bothers to tell you that Keikyu Railways provides service to Haneda Airport from Shinagawa for less money and in a shorter time than the Tokyo Monorail, which is silly because the last edition of the guide didn't make this mistake.

LP also heartily recommends taking the Keisei tokkyu limited express service from Narita Airport instead of the all-reserved Skyliner. Don't even *think* about this if you have heavy baggage or are unused to crowds in Japan. The tokkyu is a commuter train and you'll be riding with several hundred close (literally) Japanese friends by the time you reach Ueno.

-Toyoko Inn. LP directs budget travelers to this chain of cookie-cutter business hotels several times in this edition. Although Toyoko Inn is very popular among foreign travelers in Japan because of their English website and free rice-ball breakfasts, the chain is often more expensive than hotels with better service. Toyoko Inn's "Flintstones-tech" beds (my term) are my archenemy after repeatedly messing up my back. Do yourself a favor and make reservations at Toyoko's rival, Route Inn. Route Inn hotels have a free full breakfast for those who book online, often include a free onsen in the hotel, have more comfortable beds than Toyoko, and have rates that are often lower.

In addition, Tokyu Hotels, Sunroute Hotels, Solare Hotels, Washington Hotels, and other business hotel chains have English websites that deserve your attention before Toyoko.

-The "Safety" section lists what to do in case of fire and earthquake, but doesn't mention typhoons. Although most modern Japanese buildings are safe refuges in a typhoon, LP ought to devote at least a paragraph to safety precautions to take if you get stuck in a city in a typhoon's path - and several hit Japan every summer and fall.

-LP's traditional wittiness is lessened somewhat as their writers turn over. Last edition's clever description of active volcano Sakurajima was: "Looming over Kagoshima is the brooding cone of this decidedly hyperactive volcano." The new authors call it "frisky." Say it with a knowing smile, folks: "Frisky" does not go in the same sentence as "volcano."

Although again there isn't a overwhelming amount of new information in this book, LP's guide fits into the travel plans of just about anyone: Hardcore backpackers, exchange students, couples and even business travelers will all find the something useful in the guide for them.

As always, the LP guide remains your best bet for exploring Japan.

I highly recommend checking out the Amazon reviews written about the previous edition of this guidebook. Most of the negative reviews still apply to this version, which I recently used on a 3 week trip in Japan. While the book did manage to help me find many of Japan's main sights, that is hardly a major accomplishment for a book like this. I expected it to provide me some in-depth "off the beaten path" knowledge about the places I was visiting, and on this mark it fails.

The book places a heavy emphasis on listing Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines as sights. However, the book only provides a one page, very uninformative description of what Buddhism and Shinto are. The only way I eventually learned enough about these religions in order to better appreciate the shrines and temples the book sent me to, was to go to an Internet cafe and read some Wikipedia articles about the subject. All it would have taken was a well researched 1 page essay on the subject. The fact that Lonely Planet was unable to even provide that minimal content speaks volumes about the failings of this book.

The book is even more useless when it comes to providing insight into modern Japan. Pachinko parlors, for example, are so ubiquitous that they are obviously a major part of Japan's culture. However, the book doesn't spend even one sentence talking about the activity.

Such omissions are quite a big deal for this country, for even at the biggest temples and shrines, English language descriptions are generally very unclear. In many cases, the guidebook was the only source of English information I had available. It became frustrating that the heavy book I was carrying around was such a poor source of answers to my questions.

On a practical note, the book's lodging listings are too often very small bed and breakfast style places. While these are certainly nice if you get a reservation, they unfortunately fill up very quickly. More than once we ran into problems, because every single reasonable (<$125/night) lodging listed in the book was fully booked. What would have been more helpful were a few phone numbers for some generic business hotels. Throw in the fact that the maps are abysmally vague and that the wordy writing style makes the book about 25% bigger than it needs to be, and it becomes very difficult to recommend this guidebook.

My preference is the Eyewitness Travel DK - Japan - which has excellent graphics but is just 400 pages long. But now I have to reconsider because of this new guide from Lonely Planet. This book is just a tremendous effort 800 pages long, very well balanced with photos, maps, history, etc. It is clearly a 5 star guide.

I would rate it (and DK Eyewitness Travel) head and shoulders ahead of Frommers, or Rough Guide or similar books that are less well balanced.

Japan is a place one does not visit every day and it is expensive. Also I like to go well armed with maps and books because unlike the USA or Canada some areas have no English signs so the more information the better. It is unnerving to be on trains and subways where there is just Japanese signs. I would recommend this book, and at least one book on Japan's society - see Amazon.com plus a good map book.

This book is well balanced and like the DK guide is that it pulls a lot of things together such as history and culture and urban areas. The book brings it all to life with just magnificent photos and maps.

Personally I would buy more than one guide and definitely a guide on just Tokyo, so I would buy this book or the lighter 400 page DK guide and one book on Tokyo.

Either case this is an excellent buy. 5 stars.

Clearly as the 'Lonely Planet' has metamorphosed from Backpackers Ltd. into BigBusiness PLC the underlying philosophies that prompted the original Lonely Planet to be born and take shape have gone out the window with the shabby furniture and the Commodore 64. En vogue instead we have designer cocktails and chic bars, lots of shopping, not-so-cheap-hotels, not-so-reliable-information (oh! and the ever present blind cartographer - who draws those ridiculous maps?). That is a charge I levy at the India, Thailand and Japan editions (thankfully I haven't bought any others).

I know it's hard to travel anywhere without the comfort blanket of a guidebook - but I really feel that in this day and age you'd be better off searching the internet printing out some web-pages sticking them in an A4 file and bringing them along to your chosen destination. Not only would the information be relevant to the individual, it would be a lot lighter than the LP, be a LOT more up-to-date and a LOT cheaper too. That said however, when I first arrived in Japan there weren't so many good web-sites in English and so I opted for a LP Japan; I had a 6th edition copy. The points that frustrated me are too numerous to mention, they mostly revolve around shoddy information or complete lack thereof, half-truths sold as the real thing and a mentality toward the world and travelling that I find repugnant. To keep it brief I shall pick up three things form the Japanese edition.

Firstly the eternal lazy 'refer to TIC' instead of providing the information! I paid 16 pounds English for a 'guide' book and you instruct me to refer to the local tourist office for information.... ? am I missing something here...? isn't that what a guidebook is 'supposed' to offer me... so I DON'T have to 'refer to TIC'?? I actually mailed the LP offices on that point, but obviously they were all too busy on their yachts having cocktails to get back to me...

The second point is the sheer subjectivity of the writing. When I originally read the review on Osaka castle I was provided with a mental picture so horrible I felt it best not to go. When however a Japanese friend suggest we go, to which my response was to regurgitated the LP writer, my friend was somewhat bemused, anyway reluctantly I was persuaded and went to see the carbuncle, please allow me to quote directly "Osaka's foremost attraction is unfortunately a 1931 concrete reproduction... the inside looks like a barn with lifts"... hardly an attractive write-up, and yet however what I saw was NOTHING like what had been described in the book! Osaka castle certainly ranks alongside Himeji, Okazaki and Nagoya, is well worth seeing and has a great interior with lots of exhibits; really no sign of a barn anywhere... I was really quite taken aback by the blatant falsehoods in the book and the huge disparity between the writers OPINION (keyword) and the REALITY - I even wonder if they ever actually visited the place. I assumed they were on a whirlwind tour of Asia and flew overhead on their way to their beach-hut in Kho Phangan or Koh Samui. That was until I met people who know some of the the 'contributors' and they supposedly actually have extensive experience of Japan and Japanese life; which makes the banal comments (of which there are too may to list) all the more surprising.

The third point is the very sketchy information about VERY famous places. I'll use the example of Japanese pottery to illustrate my contention. Not only is Japanese pottery one of the most respected and admired in the ceramic world, with one of the longest histories. But Japan can lay claim to more active pottery districts than either of their close rivals (China and Korea) can. Take Bizen (Okayama) and Shigaraki (Shiga) at two prime examples, two regions that are still VERY alive and very active, very interesting and wholly worth a visit by anyone interested in the Arts or a day in the countryside. Bizen is treated to a whole 5cm x 13cm block of text, whilst Shigaraki gets a 5x6cm block to set out its 700 year history. And neither of the write-ups convey what I KNOW from experience the place is like or what it has to offer... impressed?

As LP Japan is a long-seller I think it wise that they clear out the old Japanophile clique and install an new editorial staff (including Japanese writers) who can overhaul the book and give it a new breath of life.

To be quite honest too, as a long-term resident of Japan I HATE this book even more now than I did at first. It would take me too long to explain and probably damage my karma so badly in the process that it wouldn't be worth it. However, what prompted me to write the review was that I was planning a few day-trips recently around Kansai (including to the above pottery regions) and found this LP, when I re-read sections my toes just curled up with horror - and then I checked the internet for up-to-date information and was pretty disgusted by the gulf that exists between a book like this and the reality of things here. Not only that, but the prevailing attitude that seeps from the pores of this book would I wonder taint the visitor in a way that they would then miss the beauty of real Japan, I hope not.

If you are planning a trip here, then my advice is to get on a computer and keyword where you want to go and what interests you, please look beyond Kyoto and the temples and you will find a wonderland awaits you. Seek and ye shall find.
Thank you.

I find the other reviews of this book interesting. Maybe it's b/c going to Japan was the first trip out of the country on our own (so we don't have any other LP guides to compare to), but my boyfriend and I found this book invaluable for our trip. A day didn't go by when we didn't pull this book out and look at its maps or information about where we were at in Japan. In fact, one day we left the book in our hotel room--and we regretted every minute of it.

I found this book well-informed and well-organized. The chapter on Kyoto could have been organized better (should match the same city sections as the magical map they give you when you buy a bus pass at the tourist information center) and the maps can be a little tricky to read when you have to keep flipping from one side of the map with the listing of landmarks to the other side to refer to the map. But overall, the book is worth the $$ when planning your trip and as reference during your trip. If it were not for this book we would have never found the Kyoto Handicraft Center or the best yaki-udon in Nikko!

while sifting through the various travel books before my trip to japan, i found lonely planet japan to be the most well written and organized, had the best maps and was the most intuitive.. over let's go (comparable for overall info, but not as good in other parts) and frommer's (which sucked completely).

japan is very confusing to get around. so i was looking for some good maps. i thought lonely planet featured the best ones. clear, not too overcrowded. easy to read.

That is until.... i noticed that one of the very first maps in the itinerary suggestions sections is inaccurate. the island is labeled hokkaido instead of honshu (its a map depicting a trip from tokyo to kyoto and nara, which are not on the island of hokkaido).

just be warned: even with some of the better travel books, make sure you double check things. this major discrepancy definitely took away from the credibility of the book. i know errors happen, but this one was so glaringly obvious, that i was surprised and disappointed to find it in this book, just after i had thought i'd found a winner. now i will feel like i'm just looking for more errors.

I usually trust Lonely Planet to give good recommendations, but this time it let me down. They may have done a good job in some other travel countries but not Japan. After a year of living in Japan, I have explored many of the main tourist places. I get the feeling that the writers may have been in a big hurry when they wrote the Japan guide. Sometimes I wonder if they visited many of the places they suggest at all. Their visit recommendations are no better than you could easily find on a basic internet search, the maps are vague, the restaurants are often disappointing. It's also longer overdue for an update. Maybe they'll do better next time.

THe book has a lot of information, it covers everything you will need to do in Japan. I stayed at the Washington hotel in Sujuku, Tokyo, a great location and a nice quiet, clean and efficient room.

I DID NOT like the layout of the book. It was difficult to find things to refer back as a reference. THey are not listed in a logical order, some under activities, some under sights and not much of anything listed under the index. So, if I am trying to find a sight that I remember was mentioned in the book, chances are, it would not be in the index and I would have to sift through the pages and guess where the location was or, use a lot of bookmarks for easy refererence.

Also, the location of the sight is not clearly marked. This can be a problem since Tokyo's train stations are so large, without specifics, you may get off at the site and wander around until you can find someone who speaks English and is willing to help, not always easy.

I generally like the Lonely Planet Guides and have used them in many countries. This particular guide became a running joke. It is difficult to get a bad meal in Japan, but the worst meals we had were at places recommended in the Guide. If the Guide recommends a restaurant, I would stay away. Just use the maps to wander around a neighborhood, look at the food in the windows, find something that looks good and you will enjoy your trip much more than if you depended on this book for culinary recommendations.