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Title: Frommer's Japan: The Best of Tokyo and the Countryside by Beth Reiber, Janie Spencer ISBN: 0028634527 Publisher: Frommer Pub. Date: June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71
Rating: 2
Summary: For a real Japan experience, look elsewhere...
Comment: Although this book is filled with helpful information, for example, "recommended tours if you have 1 day, 3 days, or 5 days", or "Top 10 Japanese experiences", the (rich, culturally inept) woman who wrote this book intended this for a very specific demographic. This causes a whole plethora of problems when trying to use the book, particularly if you are young, can speak some Japanese, or would like a Real Japanese Experience. Why?
1. Reviews for restaurants and hotels seem to focus on restaurants that serve Western food and speak English (how dare they speak Japanese in Japan!) and Western style hotels that have beds, rather than Japanese styled tatami mat rooms and futons. The humbling experience of entering a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant and pointing at other people's dishes or the pictures on the menu and eating foods you've never seen or heard of-or staying at a fairly inexpensive hotel sleeping on the floor in a futon-is top notch! I felt this book really neglected to mention a lot of these opportunities for cultural experiences, and I found that frustrating when looking for ideas.
2."And what good is a book with no pictures?" Alice wondered...Many of the best ways to get excited about a place is to first see pictures. There are very few, if any pictures in this book.
3. She refers to the Japanese language as "symbols".
4. In addition, rather than giving the Japanese characters for the cities, towns, restaurants and hotels she recommends you visit on that same page (this is very helpful because English translations are not always written, but you can easily make sure you're in the right place simply by comparing the book with the sign), she puts them all in an appendix at the back for inconvenient referencing. Including both the Japanese character and Japanese pronounciation of each location is extremely helpful.
Overall, the book will assist you in having a wonderful English tour of Japan, but I think you may miss out on some great Japanese experiences that do not require a lot of money (which many of her suggestions do require). Of course, this will involve a little bit of work and discomfort on the part of the tourist (although by no means Japanese fluency). Nothing compares to the satisfaction of having successfully ordered yakisoba in broken Japanese!
Bottom Line: This book is better used as supplemental reading to another book, although the beneficial descriptions of must-sees in Japan that are the most helpful in this book can really be found in just about every other guide book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, with much information, but could use more maps
Comment: Very useful guidebook--I used it on a trip to Japan in 2001 and I will use it again this year. Much information, about relatively small cities, even, if they would be of interest to Westerners.
A few faults. First, more maps are needed. Yes, I know Japanese don't always name their streets, but they could be based on landmarks. If you choose to visit one of the smaller cities covered, say, Takayama, you will do so without a Fodor's map (get one at the Tourist office, usually by the train station). But even some large cities, which are extensively covered, like Kobe, do not have maps in the book.
Second, more hotels should be reviewed, and they might want to concentrate on the sort of hotel you'd book online.
Third, there's a certain incompleteness about the text. For example, they list the three top gardens in Japan. You will find that only two of the cities are listed in the index. For the third, look in vain.
Still, I recommend it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent and well used
Comment: If you are going to Japan for a week or two on vacation, this is the one book you will need. Some go into much greater depth, but Frommer's provided me with plenty of options at all price catagories, all of which were excellent. By the end of the trip I didn't use my Lonely Planet guide any longer as I trusted the Frommer's guide. The size is easy to carry and the orgination makes it easy to quickly reference on the street. The only thing missing is better maps, but I traveled with one in addition to the guide to round out my trip. Well done.
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Title: Gateway to Japan (Kodansha Guide) by June Kinoshita, Nicholas Palevsky ISBN: 477002018X Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Japan by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, John Benson, DK Travel Writers ISBN: 0789455455 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Japan (Japan, 7th Ed) by Chris Rowthorn, John Ashburne, Sara Benson, Mason Florence ISBN: 0864426933 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.99 |
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Title: Fodor's Japan: The Guide for All Budgets (Fodor's Japan) by Fodors ISBN: 067900890X Publisher: Fodors Travel Pubns Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook (Japanese Phrasebook, Ed 3) by Kam Y. Lau, Yoshi Abe ISBN: 086442616X Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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