Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Japan Fourth Edition (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been dissapointed with Lonely Planet over the last few years.

So I again bought both Lonely Planet and Rough Guide. This is my last time, from now on Rough Guide it is.

The best thing about the guide is that it organizes information in a way that makes planning very easy. Overview of country, overview of region, overview of town. I planned my two week trip in a matter of hours.

Lonely Planet, in contrast, essentially lists places, one after the other. Unless you follow one of their 5-8 itineraries, the only way you plan your trip is reading the book cover-to-cover.

Also, a friend of mine lived in Japan for 10 years. All the tips he gave me were in the Rough Guide.

Just came back from a memorable 6-day stay in Kyoto, and also used the book for an earlier trip to Tokyo which is far less interesting. Like most Rough Guides (I own more than 30), this book is excellent overall, with detailed descriptions, background information, and clear maps (unlike Lonely Planet, whose maps are a pain to read). Thought it was almost perfect until I researched the excellent japan-guide.com and Kyoto's official web site and realized how many sites were missing from this book. Kyoto has 17 World Heritage Sites, but 6 of them are not mentioned at all. The most glaring omission is probably the beautiful Ninna-Ji, which can be easily visited after the famous Kinkaku-Ji and Ryoan-Ji, the latter only a 10-minute walk away. Ninna-Ji is historically the favorite temple of Japanese emperors and is famous for a dense grove of late-blossoming cherry trees, so it's a must see if you've just missed the peak sakura season. Also missing is Daigo-Ji, which is easily reached on the subway and can be combined with a visit to Uji. With over 1000 cherry trees, it's probably the best temple to view cherry blossoms in Kyoto and very popular with the Japanese. The four other World Heritage Sites missing are the two Kamo shrines, Kozan-Ji and Ujigami Shrine near the Byodo-in.

Also missing from the book is Kiyamachi Street in the heart of Kyoto, probably the most beautiful street in Kyoto, at least during the sakura season. It runs along a small canal which is lined with cherry trees and crossed with little bridges, prettier and less crowded than the famous Philosopher's Path, and it's only a 1-minute walk west of the Pontocho restaurant street. The book also neglects to mention that during the sakura season, many sites (including the Kiyomizu Temple and the Nijo Castle) are open at night, which is a great time to revisit the sites as the buildings and flowering trees are beautifully lit. The Maruyama Park and the neighboring Yasaka Jinja are also open at night during this time and together host a lively night market, with lots of Japanese having hanami parties under the blossoming cherry trees. The Hirano Jinja is yet another excellent flower-viewing location that's not mentioned.

Despite all these shortcomings, I still give this book 5 stars because it does provide excellent coverage overall and there's simply no better English guidebook available. I hope the authors will read my comments and make improvements in the next edition. For those who read Japanese or Chinese characters, there's a brilliant "Kyoto Walking Map & Note" which I found at a 7-11 and was indispensable during my trip.

I was first inteding to purchase Lonely Planet on Japan (as on several previous trips). Then I borrowed the previous edition of Rough Guides from a friend. I instantly realized that Rough Guides is far more superior than Lonely Planet. The best thing about it is the introduction of the whole country with 32 must-see places. Each section also has a highlights page with some 8 must-see spots in the particular region. This makes the planning of the trip very easy. Moreover, the information provided in the Rough Guides is much more detailed than in LP. I will definitely choose RG for my next trips.

This very handy guide may be called 'rough' but at 1056 pages it is not exactly lacking pages or information. It provides 'invaluable' advice on A-Z for an enjoyable stay in Japan. And organization is one of this volume's strongest points. Anyone encountering Japan for the first time, if unorganized, will be in for not only a cultural shock but a practical time one as well. And time is money, but in Japan loss of time means you might not get to see all that you want to see. A guide such as this, with prepared planning can and will make all the difference leading to an effective visit.

Living in Japan during the years 1962 through 1964, I have come to rely on the best guides to keep me up to date with contemporary Japan. This guide will be a boon and reward to any who use it. I also rely on the Insight Guide from Discovery but believe this volume, The Rough Guide to Japan, to be equally useful to the traveler. Offering information on sleeping, eating, and shopping it also helps with maps of major towns together with color maps of the Tokyo subway system. As anyone knows whose been there, help getting around Tokyo is always welcome.

That much used phrase "don't leave home without it" might be applied here to this very useful guide. Plus from my years of residing at Kamiseya 16 km from Yokohama, the best view you might ever have of Mount Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) may be the cover photo on this travel guide!

Semper Fi.

I purchased the Rough Guide for Japan based on the reviews and was not disappointed. It offers detailed information on all aspects of travelling, including local transportation, air/train/sea/ground ticket purchase and travel, customs, rules and regulations, etc, as well as great information on sites and eating. We spent 9 days in Japan and used the Rough Guide's recommendations on restaurants for every meal and were only disappointed 1 time (and that was likely due to our speaking very little Japanese). The information provided on how to get around and sightseeing attractions is very good and very detailed. There are several pictures and overall, I found it to be the best travel guide I have ever used. So much so that I bought Rough Guides for my next two trips. I would say that for a complete guide that covers everything from the beginning of your trip and buying tickets and packing, to getting around, seeing the sights, eating and culture, books, movies and art in Japan, this is your book.

I used this guide to plan our 2-week vacation in Japan. It provides useful historic information of locals that we were interested. What I found the most useful was the transportation guides to the locals. We never got lost. The hotel and dining info was a bit limited, but it was a good start. I highly recommend this book to people who are traveling to Japan. If you're doing a self-tour for more than a week, make sure that you get the JR Rail Pass before you head to Japan. I'll now get the rough guides for Australia and New Zealand.

The print in the book is faint and small which makes it difficult to read. Otherwise, the information in the book is helpful.

A guidebook is great for reading up on culture, history, and food before you go on a trip. And I found this book to be good for just that. Japan is way too big and interesting to fit in such a small book, though. You'll find Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka in depth with way too little about most other places.

Not really much else to say. It's a guidebook. Rough Guides seem to be better than LP, but slowly deteriorating as any big guidebook company will inevitably do. Too many updated versions with too few updates, but at least you get the feeling they have actually been there before.

I used this guidebook for a week-long trip to Western Japan. It's an OK guidebook. It provides you with the essentials. I did find though that the restaurant & accommodation sections were weak. For Hagi, the guidebook listed only a few restaurants, none of them worth mentioning - in a city renowned for its excellent seafood. Quite a few budget accommodation options were also missing from the guidebook. And for Tokyo, the guidebook recommended some old, bedbug-ridden, smelly Ryokan among its options. I definitely recommend you to do additional research on restaurants & accommodation before you go.

My husband and I travel approximately twice monthly to national and international destinations. We have planned many trips with many guides and found "The Rough Guide to Japan" to be the WORST we have experienced.

The pluses: Lots of interesting cultural facts and historical background. As such, this would be a great book to read before one heads out of town.

The reality: The 'concrete information' for a traveler trying to get from point A to point B, find a decent hotel (without being too pricey nor too gritty), or manage the transportation options in and between cities is limited, convoluted, and generally useless.

One example: Hotels listed in any city have virtually no information about cost. We understand that rates change between editions but printing said data at least gives a metric for determining if a hotel is a good selection according to one's budget. In order to find this information one has to seek it out themselves. This adds one more step in the planning process which - seeing as a guide is supposed to serve this purpose - is a nuisance.

Another example: We booked a hotel on Miyajima Island (one we found separately since the options in the RG were so limited). The "Rough Guide" mentions and generally recommends the private boat service that is a shorter tram ride from the Hiroshima train station to Miyajima with no mention of specific scheduling concerns, giving the impression few exist. We arrived - after significant effort and time on the tram- at about 5:00 to catch our 'rapid transit' only to find there are very few trips by the private service and service ceases at 4pm. As such, we ended up spending a small fortune on a taxi to return to Hiroshima Station (and avoid losing another hour in return), then take the train (one more hour) and catching the public ferry.

In my opinion, the maps were dreadful. Very small areas covered and limited street names. They definitely did not help to get around well.

The book was such a waste that it made no sense to carry a 1 1/2 pound "guide" around on our trip. We dumped it and we'll never buy another Rough Guide.

The Lonely Planet is far and away superior, as are Rick Steves' guides. If you must buy a Rough Guide, read it before you leave for the contextual information but don't carry it - it can't be considered a guide.