Lonely Planet Tokyo Encounter (Paperback)

~ Wendy Yanagihara (Author)
Key Phrases: boxed meal, east exit, west exit, Toei Oedo, Roppongi Hills, Toei Asakusa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Encounter guides...discreet in size, but generous enough on page count to provide a fuller city experience minus the hefty guidebook load." -- Sherman's Travel, April 2007

Sherman's Travel, April 2007
'...Encounter guides...discreet in size, but generous enough on page count to provide a fuller city experience minus the hefty guidebook load.'

Product Description

What Will Your Tokyo Encounter Be?

...playing paparazzo to Harajuku's famed and outrageously clad cosplay zoku (costume-play gang) (p12)
...sinking sake in the down'n'dirty alleys of the Golden Gai (p14)
...waking at dawn for the freshest sushi breakfast at Tsukiji Market (p13)
...strutting down Ginza's boulevard lined with fashion straight off the catwalk (p18)
...blowing off steam the traditional way, in a popular neighborhood onsen (p176)
...getting your geek out in Akihabara's bargain bins of electronics, games, and manga (p19)

Discover Twice the City in Half The Time...

...full-color pull-out map and detailed neighborhood maps for easy navigation
...our experienced author recommends the top neighborhoods, shops, restaurants, sights and entertainment
...unique itineraries and highlights help you make the most of a short break
...locals reveal Tokyo's secrets: from a fashion designer's favorite places to shop to the restaurant recommendations of an organic foods chef

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 1 edition (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740595580
• ISBN-13: 978-1740595582
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #448,337 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Frommer's, January 8, 2005

By	Michael Bianco - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Lonely Planet Tokyo (Paperback)

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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent practical information, improved cultural suggestions, October 3, 2006

By	Steve S. (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tokyo (City Guide) (Paperback)

The Lonely Planet guides are very often the best when it comes to providing practical information such as maps, changing money, the best way to get from A to B, etc. This edition of the Tokyo guide is no exception. It has everything you need to plan your trip and to get around Tokyo.

This edition is also an improvement over the prior editions when it comes to cultural recommendations, such as restaurants, walking tours, interesting shops, museums, etc. The "Time Out" guide is probably still better is the cultural department, but it is weak when it comes to maps, etc., so it may be worth taking both guides.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice maps, but not much else., September 29, 2005

By	mcsidious (Kitsap County, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Best Of Tokyo (Lonely Planet Encounter Series) (Paperback)

This is a super-condensed version of the Tokyo chapter from Lonely Planet Japan with some extra info added by author Wendy Yanagihara.

I honestly cannot find any reason to recommend this book beyond its small size and fold-out color maps, although if you are going to Tokyo for a short business trip it might help. Although I like Lonely Planet's guides, this one is rather inadequate in that it spends too much time discussing Japanese culture and history and wastes too much space on big pictures instead of cramming that space with more useful information such as phone numbers, websites, and travel information (which is confined to a very small space in the back of the book). Culture and history are important things in Japan, but the amount of space given to them in this book defeats the purpose of this guide.

In other words, buy the most recent issue of the Lonely Planet Japan Guide if you're planning a trip to or employment in Japan. If you really love Tokyo above all else you can substitute the Lonely Planet Tokyo guide. Either one has plenty of information about everyone's favorite megalopolis. As for the maps, you can do without them simply by asking your hotel or the average large information desk (especially at Narita Airport) for maps of the Tokyo Metro and JR lines.

Author Yanagihara, while of Japanese ancestry, has a gee-whiz-wow attitude about everything. At times she seems to have less experience in Tokyo than the average English-language school employee. She certainly means well, but the result is a less than stellar guide - however, I get the impression her editors may be most at fault. Perhaps most unfortunate is the guide's invitation for inexperienced visitors to Japan to get lost - that is, to visit places like Kamakura, Nikko, and Fuji without providing any maps of the areas or decent advice on how to get there. There are other errors such as listing the Tokyo Monorail as the only way to access Haneda Airport, but Keikyu and Keisei Railways provide faster service to a more convenient station (Shinagawa). This should not be the case in a guide like this.

If you want a easy-to-carry guide to Tokyo, this will do. For any info beyond that, look for Lonely Planet Japan and Lonely Planet Tokyo.

Update (October 2007): I paged through the guide again recently and came upon this quote describing the Edo-Tokyo Museum:

"...this wonderful museum illustrates Tokyo's rise from the humble riverside origins of Edo (the Eastern capital) to today's fast forward futuristic metropolis."

It's bad enough that Yanagihara and (worse) her editors don't seem to know that Tokyo, not Edo, means "Eastern Capital." The fact that the main Lonely Planet Japan guide correctly describes the name means that someone at LP isn't doing the proofreading they should be, especially as Yanagihara is a contributor to the main guide. An oversight this bad ruins the credbility of "Best of Tokyo" and is a disappointing exception to LP's otherwise high quality.