Customer Reviews

Tokyo (Lonely Planet Tokyo)

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

 

 

I recently bought both this book and Frommer's most recent edition of its guide to Tokyo and my own conclusion is that the Lonely Planet guide is much better than its rival. Lonely Planet's is shorter, but the information presented within is much more useful--especially for my situation as a student with a place to stay and food being taken care of (though Lonely Planet does have information on hotels and restaurants for those who need to know). This guide has several things that Frommer's lacks...

1. a fairly complete section of street maps of downtown Tokyo that include all the subway lines.

2. cross-references within the book between sections on places of interest organized by geography and sections organized by topic. This enables one to look up on a museum, find its location, and then more readily look up other places of interest in the vicinity.

3. more walking tours.

4. correct romaji. I found it extremely annoying that Frommer's would be so careless as to make constant typos with important things such as place names. In one instance, the single-page reference to Tokyo's subway system--the generic schematic that can be had for free from the Tokyo govt--had "Yotsuya" station spelled as "Yetsuya," changing the pronunciation and potentially causing tourists to get lost.

5. More up-to-date. Even though both were printed at roughly the same time (both have 2004 as their year of publication), Lonely Planet has less information that is outdated. Again pointing to the subway reference in Frommer's, the page omits the new Shiodome station, currently a popular destination, even though the station opened back in 2002.

What I also liked about the Lonely Planet guide was the author's mention of the avant-garde of Tokyo for those who want to see more than just Tokyo Disneyland. I wouldn't say the Frommer's guide was a waste; I'll probably take both when I go to Japan this year, but suffice to say I do not regret making this additional purchase.

This guide is terrible. I'm surprised at the good reviews it's received here. Its only merits are its maps. Namely, its map of the subway lines is much clearer than the version distributed in stations there. That the neighborhood maps include Japanese characters is also a plus. However, these maps are ALL YOU HAVE to go on. The listings don't include exact addresses, or specify which subway stop (and exit) to get out at. Once you color-copy the subway map, this guidebook is absolutely returnable.

I found that most of its suggestions are nothing special. I don't know if the author settled on a few favorite places that she frequented over and over again without exploring the rest of the city, but it seems she only skimmed the surface of what Tokyo has to offer. This may be reassuring to some, but it's useless if you're a college student or 20-something looking to get a feel for the city's famously spirited & edgy youth culture.

I was particularly dismayed by its restaurant suggestions. The author's specialty seems to be in recommending places that serve international cuisine. This is TOKYO. Why would I want to eat mediocre Indian food (Moti in Roppongi), mediocre Greek food (Spyros in Harajuku), or mediocre Italian food (Sicilia or Gino's), or a bagel and potato salad (Apetito near Yoyogi-koen)???

I trustingly tried each of the above restaurants, each time hoping she had suggested them with good reason that would override the fact I didn't go to Japan to eat spaghetti. But, no. If you quickly browse her top 5 lists, the list for each neighborhood never fails to contain at least 2, or even 3, places that specialize in non-Japanese cuisine. Tokyo has hundreds of restaurants. Even if sushi or sashimi makes your stomach squirm, there's still plenty of delicious local food to be found. Just not in this guidebook.

I was equally unimpressed with the guide's section on Bars & Clubs. First, these are not divided by neighborhood, but grouped all together. Flipping back & forth between maps gets pre-tty annoying. But what really says it all is the sole top 5 list: "Top 5 Gaijin Bars." Exhibit A: the pub Dubliners, which "provides the kind of noise you're used to at home; the scene is so familiar you may just forget you're in Tokyo." I can understand the appeal of this to a homesick expat who's been stuck in Tokyo for years. Otherwise, I have no idea why any tourist with a bit of daring and curiosity would want to visit gaijin bars. Almost all her suggestions are similarly run-of-the-mill and predictable.

Her description of the sight-seeing in each neighborhood is practical and decent enough, but that's a minimal requirement for any self-respecting guidebook. Unfortunately, she left out 2 of my favorite neighborhoods, which lie just outside of central Tokyo: Naka-Meguro and Shimo-Kitazawa. Furthermore, her prose style has a remarkable ability to strip anything she describes of character and life.

You'd think Tokyo was the most unexciting, generic, BORING place in the world if you went by this book. I highly recommend Time Out's guide instead -- it's the best one out there. (I've written a separate amazon review explaining why.)

I frequent Japan, but I pretended to not know a single thing about Japan, and tried using this guide to satisfy all of my questions about culture, tradition, transportation, events, history, food, lodging, etc... And for most things, the guide was helpful, but in almost every case, the answers were a bit short/shallow, and didn't go into enough detail to truly answer the question.

Specifically, I was somewhat disappointed by the half page or so dedicated to all of the various major cities of Tokyo. One would think that you would need more than 5 pages *total* to cover Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, Asakusa, Tokyo, Ueno, Ginza, etc... Quite frankly, I think each city deserved its own 5+ page section, and a detailed map of each city.

Speaking of maps, while the guidebook maps contained both English and Japanese (which is vital when asking for directions, as the Japanese aren't confident of their English despite 8+ years of mandated English education), they were not detailed enough to be useful. I didn't particularly care for all the landmarks to be marked with numbers, which meant a constant cross-referencing between the map and the not-so-conveniently located legend on the next page. At the hotel, I picked up a free map (available in various languages) from the *official* Japan travel bureau (japanwelcomesyou.com), and found the maps to be far superior. Far more detail, a sidebar full of suggested activities, and major store names and eateries actually listed on the map so I don't have to turn pages 20 times to get an idea of what is where. Did I mention that the map is free?

The subway map in the guide was useful, and better than the one handed out at your typical subway station, but I was shocked at the complete absence of the JR (Japan Railway) map. Sure, the subway system is useful to get to the inner areas of the "Tokyo Circle" (circle of major cities) but if I want to go from those major cities to major cities, 90% of my travel is all about the JR Yamanote Green Line and the JR Central Orange Line. If I want to get anywhere outside of Tokyo, you won't get far without the JR Railway System. Imagine someone including a map of all the side streets of Los Angeles, but leaving out the major expressways... Considering the author encourages you to get a JR Rail Pass (~$200 for unlimited rides on the JR system for a week; great deal if you want to go cross-country), it makes no sense that JR map was not included. As you can tell, I was quite floored by this decision.

Another pet-peeve I had with this book was that it seemed as though the majority of the food recommendations were not Japanese cuisine. While I understand that good eats are good eats, I don't see why I needed to be introduced to so many average French, Italian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and American eateries. If I'm going to live in Japan, that's one thing, but if I'm visiting for 5 days, I'd like to stick to Japanese cuisine. I do give it major kudos for listing Izu-Ei in Ueno -- an excellent Unagi shop that's been around since the 1700's, the Emperor and big names favor it, but the common man can eat for as little as $20! I love the fact that this store goes completely against the misconception that good Japanese food costs a fortune.

Anyhow, this is a decent guidebook, but I don't see how it can be 100+ pages *shorter* than a guide to Hong Kong (which costs the same, by the way) -- it ought to be 100+ pages *longer*. While it's still better than most of the guidebooks out there, it could've been a lot better.

Good overall guide, but it only skims the surface of Tokyo. I'd rather have the guidebook go a bit more in-depth, and leave the decision of skimming the surface or going in-depth to me, the traveler.

I would still give this guide a strong purchase consideration for its overview information, but would strongly encourage you to purchase a food guide and a (major) city guide that provides you more detail for each of the cities within Tokyo.

If I need 2 more books to supplement a supposed one-stop-shop travel guide, I just can't find it in my heart to give it any more than 3 stars.

I just returned from Tokyo, where I used this book. I really think it is better to get information from your hotel's front desk or a tourist center.
I was fortunate to be visiting a friend who is from Tokyo, had I relied on the book I would have been totally frustrated. The most glaring problems with the book are:
1) It does not know any interesting things about Tokyo, no deep insights, what the book knows are the things like "Tokyo is a modern city" "the subway is full" "life is fast paced" "It is noisy in Akhirabara". In other words the book feels like anyone could have written it, not an insider that knows Tokyo.

2) Worse, it has many factual errors, especially about the hotel. I stayed in 4 different hotels and vested a total of 9, so I did my research. Some hotels it describes as nice, new and clean are tiny dirty dumps. At least one hotel is several streets away from where the book says, and its next to a lake, so you'd think they'd get that right. Another is smack in the middle of a lively red light district with, complete with dolled up women loudly chasing drunken businessmen. Not something most American tourists would like to find, I believe.

In the end it is clear what this book is: a half hearted effort quickly thrown together by the LonelyPlanet machine, using an author that, as the book admits (!) has not lived in Japan for over 10 years, and has no clear qualifications for writing a guidebook.
But Lonely Planet's marketing clout is huge, many small bookstores carry only LP books and then a large section of them. They have expertise in marketing not in guiding.

I also have the LP book on Kyoto, where I visited after Tokyo, and it is not as bad, though still bad enough to have several travelers I know through it out while still in Kyoto.

There are travel agencies at the airports and at the (amazing) train station in Kyoto that do have English speakers and frankly you're better off using them.

However, I must point out that I had no other guidebook to compare it to, so the others maybe just as bad. My personal advice, if you have a fully stocked bookstore, go there and pick a book from each publisher about a city that you do know. This way you can tell at least the quality of some of their writing.

Since some readers of this review will be thinking of going to Tokyo, here are my two cents, a mini travel advice, if you will: hotels can be surprisingly reasonable for the legend that is Tokyo, 100 bucks a night gets a room you'd pay at least 250 for in NYC. Travel agencies can get you better prices if your lucky, if you walk in off the street you will likely have to pay the walk in rate, the highest rate.

My Citibank card did NOT work even at ATMS that tell you on the screen that they accept Citibank cards. Ah the joys of modern banking...However, a real Citibank branch with atms that do work can be found. Citibank cheated its customers so bad that the Japanese government forced them to close many branches, so they are not that easy to find, ask your hotel. The branch in Ginza is, apparently, open 7 days a week.

Get a telephone card for public phones, they can be bought next to any row of public phones. Tokyo still has some public phones around, which is great because Japan's cell phone system is totally non-compatible with anything else. So even if you have a quad band gsm phone, you can not buy sim cards for it in Japan. You can however rent cell phones at the airport. For the business traveler with appointments here and there, it might be very helpful. You have to rent them at the airport, though, can't find em in the city.

Another thing: bring money. Tokyo is still very expensive in the year 2006. Taxi's are insane, the meter starting at 6 dollars and climbing rapidly from there. Subways system in Tokyo is everywhere, but for those that can't do allot of walking it can be tough. Most of Tokyo is bicycle friendly, bicycles astonishingly being accepted on any sidewalk (that can get real annoying, but remember we are guests there), so for those with them walking blues I suggesting renting a bike to explore around your hotel.

Everyone travels differently, for different reasons, I personally suggest: Explore the little things that seem normal to Japanese, so are not pointed out as special. Like the stuff in the 7-11 (sports drinks frozen solid, ice "cubes" in the shape of perfect round softballs etc.), which are everywhere, or the tiny unassuming store that a little old lady runs, who will gladly show you a kimono belt ("obi") if you ask, only to find out that the one belt costs 10 000 us dollars (I am glad I keep my hands clean!).

One side-note for the few who are Leica fans, Japan is indeed Leica country. If you, like me, keep a sticker over the red dot of your M or R take it off in Japan, I know it is showing off in a way, but it actually changes the way people treat you.

One final note on getting around in that culture: if you go to, say, Germany and speak English, they will understand you, and if they do not understand something, they will say that they don't understand (they will also think you are an uneducated fool, looking for oil and places to bomb, ah to be an American in the Bush era...). In Japan most people do not speak English. And those that do will always nod and pretend they understand everything you say, they do this convincingly and with amazing patience. You can go on for 10 minutes before realizing the person has no idea what you are saying. Do not be afraid to stop and ask "do you know what I mean when I say ....". They are very, very helpful and if you ask direction will actually walk you several blocks to show you, which makes it even more important to make sure they really know what you meant.

The worst guide book I've ever purchased. I'm not that big a fan of guidebooks in general, but have had good experiences with several from Hong Kong and one of Shanghai. So, I thought I'd give it a try and get one, since I was unexpectedly thrown in Tokyo for a night...

This guidebook is awful. It left me steaming mad and lost in the middle of tokyo for an entire evening, finally i gave up, threw the book back into my backpack and just walked around, glancing at my FREE hotel guide every couple of hours. I mean seriously, the info is all out of date, and i thought the map was horrible, it didn't even have a map that showed the entire city! Only broken up chunks of the neighborhoods... Seriously the biggest waste of money I've ever spent... I am so mad that I wish I could get a refund.

PS: Here's a tip for those of you on a budget that may want to hang out late night in the Shibuya district and not pay atrocious taxi or hotel charges. On the 7th floor of the HMV building in Shibuya (just look around for the pink neon sign, you can't miss it) there is an "internet cafe". it's really comfortable and really clean, and for the equivilant of $16,you can buy a overnight 8 hour package which entitles you to unlimited movies, computer, magazines, and most importantly a private leather cover cubicle where you can just sleep! The place is segregated into mens and ladies...so no worries about safety. Plus there's tons of staff...and the price even includes free (non-alchoholic) drinks! ALso, they'll ask you if you want a "flat" (which is basically a tatami-style leather cushion )or "reclining" which is a comfy leather reclining chair. I prefer the flat, but for those of you taller than 5'5, the reclining chair may be the way to go. Well, there, that information is a lot more than you'll get from this book! don't buy it, and you'll thank me for saving you 12 bucks.

I read most of the reviews for this book. I don't usually post reviews. But I just had to for this one because every time I read it, it leaves me wondering and asking more questions. It seems so superficial since it gives you a gist of what's going on (like stuff that's happening 5 years ago) and we are in 2006. I look for Park Hotel Tokyo. Not there. They opened in 2003, shouldn't they be in that guidebook? That revision was done later than that. So I took a trip to my local Borders store, and took a look at TimeOut Tokyo's guide book. That book was so much more informative, I really wished I could get a refund. Trust me, this book, sucks.

I found this guidebook adequate. The maps were interesting, but small. I did enjoy the Walking Tours section. I am not sure how many hotels they review, because the hotel I earlier booked is not mentioned. I was not interested in the cheap eats and cheap sleeps information; I felt it caused the book to be more suitable for backpackers rather than middle aged, middle class travelers. Having street names spelled in romanji (roman letters) was somewhat helpful; using the actual Japanese script would have been top notch though.

Very good book. Useful info. I rediscovered Tokyo through this book. However, from the pictures you would think that the majority of young people in Tokyo were 'Coz-play-zoku', a small band of rebellious costumed youth found mainly in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. The author/photographer's fascination with these young people is obvious, but the editors definitely should have limited their exposure.

This is by far the best book I have found on Tokyo. It has everything you need to know about the city. It even has colour pictures. I highly recommend this book to any of you who are interested in or are planning to visit Tokyo.