The Rough Guide to Tokyo (Paperback)

by Jan Dodd (Author), Simon Richmond (Author) "Tokyo is Japan's main international air gateway (although New Tokyo International Airport - better known as Narita - is actually 66km east of the city..." (more)
Key Phrases: hase station, big egg, outer garden, Shibuya Station, Roppongi Station, Shinjuku Station (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
INTRODUCTION

Nothing quite prepares you for Tokyo; love it or hate it, the restless capital of Japan, home to twelve million people, packs a powerful punch. Initial impressions can be off-putting: ugly buildings are tarted up with eyeball-searing neon and messy overhead cables, pavements teem with crowds and roads are clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Yet behind the barely ordered chaos lie remnants of a very different past. Step back from the frenetic main roads, and chances are you’ll find yourself in a world of tranquil backstreets, where wooden houses are fronted by neatly clipped bonsai trees; wander beyond the high-tech department stores, and you’ll find ancient temples and shrines. In this city of 24-hour shops and vending machines a festival is held virtually every day of the year, people regularly visit their local shrine or temple and scrupulously observe the passing seasons. And at the centre of it all is the mysterious green void of the Imperial Palace – home to the emperor and a tangible link to the past.

It’s almost impossible to be bored in Tokyo and first-time visitors should be prepared for a massive assault on the senses – just walking the streets of this hyperactive city can be an energizing experience. With money to spend, you can pick up the coolest fashions, eat in fabulous restaurants and dance in the hippest clubs. But you’ll also be surprised how affordable many things are. Cheap and cheerful izakaya (bars that serve food) and noodle shacks far outnumber the big-ticket French restaurants and high-class ryotei, where geisha serve minimalist Japanese cuisine, while day tickets for a sumo tournament or a Kabuki play can be bought for the price of a few drinks. Many of the city’s highlights are even free: a stroll through the evocative Shitamachi area around Asakusa and the major Buddhist temple Senso-ji; a visit to the tranquil wooded grounds of Meiji-jingu, the city’s most venerable Shinto shrine, and the nearby teenage shopping mecca of Harajuku; the frenetic fish market at Tsukiji; the crackling, neon-saturated atmosphere of the mini-city Shinjuku – you don’t need to part with lots of cash to explore this city.

High-speed limited-express and Shinkansen trains put several important sights within day-trip range of Tokyo, including the ancient temple and shrine towns of Kamakura to the south and Nikko to the north. Mount Fuji, 100km southwest of the capital, can be climbed between June and September, while the adjoining national park area of Hakone offers relaxed hiking amid beautiful lakeland scenery, and the chance to take a dip in an onsen – a Japanese mineral bath. Kawagoe, to the north, offers a glimpse of traditional Japanese houses and some great eating experiences.

Financial scandals, economic doldrums and the Sarin gas attack by terrorists on the subway in 1995 have left Tokyo less ebullient than it was in the "bubble years" of the mid-1980s, but, this precocious 21st-century city can afford to take a breather and let the rest of the world catch up.

Legend says that a giant catfish sleeps beneath Tokyo Bay, and its wriggling can be felt in the hundreds of small tremors that rumble beneath the capital each year. Around every seventy years the catfish awakes, resulting in the kind of major earthquake seen in 1995 in Kobe. There is a long-running, half-hearted debate about moving the Diet and main government offices out of Tokyo, away from danger. Yet, despite the fact that the city is well overdue for the Big One, talk of relocating the capital always comes to nothing. Now, more than ever before, Tokyo is the centre of Japan, and nobody wants to leave and miss any of the action.

About the Author
Jan spent two years in Tokyo studying Japanese language and nightlife before moving to France. She is the co-author of the Rough Guide to Japan and the Rough Guide to Vietnam. Simon Richmond headed east to work as an editor and journalist in Tokyo. Two and a half years later he traded in his treasured shoe-box apartment for the itinerant life of a freelance author.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 2nd edition (November 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185828712X
• ISBN-13: 978-1858287126
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,792,233 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only guide you'll need to Tokyo, December 10, 2002

By	Stuart Johnson (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

I made four trips to Tokyo for work in 2000, and this is the only guide book that made it into my suitcase on trips 2, 3, and 4. Filled with concise reviews of all the major sights as well as restaurants and stores, this little book (I bought the pocket, mini edition) is as frank as some of the back-packer guides, but is not prejudiced against the reader who has a bit of disposable income. Some finds from this book not mentioned in most other guides to Tokyo that really made me feel like an insider: taking the Sumida gawa ferry, the underworld of Gay Tokyo in Shinjuku Ni-Chome, and heavenly CHEAP bath salts from Japanese no-name brand Muji.

Truly, if you want to feel like you are an insider, and you don't want to have to read four or five of the same old, same old guides, this is the book for you!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cut down version of the Japan rough guide, September 9, 2003

By A Customer

I bought this thinking that it is a more in-depth guide of Tokyo. But it is simply a cut down version of the Tokyo section of Rough guide to Japan. I immediately returned it because I'd already bought the latter. For the price, I would at least expect something more original.
The only advantage over the guide to Japan is that it is pocket-sized.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good overview -- some details wrong, January 13, 2007

By	Anthony J. Fox "Corner Pocket" (Greenville, MS USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Tokyo, Third Edition (Paperback)

The Rough Guide to Tokyo provided a good overview of the city and some of the best tourist destinations. The overview of the regions in the city was particularly helpful, as were the transportation guides (although similar information was available at subway stations.)

Several times during our one week visit, my wife and I attempted to find a restaurant or bar that was recommended or described in the Rough Guide, only to discover that it had closed some time ago. This was particularly frustrating as the 3rd edition was less than a year old at the time of publication.

Overall, a convenient way to get your feet wet, but ask the locals where to eat for dinner, they gave better advice and the restaurants still existed!