Exploring Tohoku: A Guide to Japan's Back Country [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Jan Brown (Author), Kmetz Sakakibara (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A guide to the north-eastern region of Japan's main island - its wilderness, festivals, crafts and legends. The book provides clear maps, detailed directions, bilingual addresses and a Japanese finding list.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Weatherhill Inc.; 1 edition (February 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0834801779
• ISBN-13: 978-0834801776
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,502,687 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must have" travelers companion for northern Honshu!, March 19, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Florida) - See all my reviews

My wife and I were stationed at Misawa Air Base, Japan in the early 80s and this book made our travels fantastic! It not only pointed out "must see" places, shrines, castles, etc., it gave you directions such as "turn right just before the railroad tracks at the school...." to help you get there. In addition, the back of the book has a section which translates road signs to help you get where you are going. The book not only gets you there but gives great details as to what you are looking at, its significance, etc. We once stopped at a (very hard to find) shrine which the book said had a museum focusing on 18th/19th century Japanese sailors inside. We didn't see a museum but found the priest and in our "best" sign language asked him where the museum was. He was shocked (and delighted) we even knew about it. He then opened the "private collection" and gave us a two hour private tour. "What an experience!" We have dozens of photo albums and experiences like this from our 3 years in Tohoku, and even people who lived at Misawa AB used to ask how in the world we found such neat "off the beaten path" places to see. We'd show them the book. Our copy, which is "extremely" well worn and has earned a special place in our library and I recommend it to anyone who travels throughout Northern Japan. If you get stationed there, congratulations, now BUY THE BOOK!

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Japan travel book!, November 22, 2006

By	Happeeface "Happee" (Maryland) - See all my reviews

You are lucky if you can get your hands on a copy of this book. I've been to Japan many times with my daughter who lived there for three years and speaks fluent Japanese. For us, it is a breeze to travel there. For most people who are not Japanese or don't speak or read it it is very difficult to see anything off the beaten track. It's even difficult on the beaten track. With this book I could travel by myself throughout the Tohoku region with minimum difficulty. My copy is the first edition, 3rd printing from the early 80's. It's old, but it's still accurate for most things. In easy to read detail it gives driving directions and train and bus routes. I would not recommend driving in Japan under any circumstances until you've been there awhile. You have to contend with driving on the other side of the road (if you are American) and signs that are usually not in English once you get away from the large cities. Trains and buses are the much easier way to go. You will see much more.

Most Japan travel books cover only the most well known travel sites. There are so many interesting places to see in Japan that aren't in those books. This book covers Tohoku only, but there are many, many places that you won't find in any book written in English. Most travel books don't cover much in Tohoku at all, but concentrate on the bigger cities and the most famous cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima. Those are wonderful places to visit, but if you want to see more of the real Japan you should try something different after you have been to the places the other books cover.