Japan

by DK Eyewitness Travel and Mark Brazil

Book Overview

Konnichiwa from one of the most fascinating countries on earth. Whether you want to see cherry blossoms in Kyoto, speed through the countryside aboard a shinkansen, or shop til you drop in futuristic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756628768
• ISBN13: 9780756628765
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Do not go to Japan without buying this book!

This book is, hands down, the greatest travel guide that I have ever used. With breathtaking photos, incredibly useful illustrations, and great information relating to cultural and historical context, it provides a fantastic reference for any traveler. I don't really understand the complaints of others who stated that it had to be used with other guides and that it didn't condense the information into the "you have one day in Tokyo - this is what you must see" format. Seeing as how a travel guide is exactly that; a guide - a tool to be used in conjunction with other resources, I feel that some may have expected too much. While this book may not be as textually comprehensive as other travel guides, most of those read like stereo instructions - this book, on the other hand, does not bore the reader and is rich with poignant detail. I survived on a solo trip to Japan using this guide and, while it is true that I utilized other resources, that's half the fun of traveling - getting out there and talking to people, finding out what to do and how to do it. Which leads me to my second aforementioned point - no, this book does not say "here's what you should do if you have 15 minutes in Kyoto". I can't stand such books and don't comprehend our societal gravitation towards such instructional material. To me it shows that we are becoming lazy and want others to tell us what to do as opposed to make decisions for ourselves. Which leads me to my final point: this book is great and easily holds the reader's interest but, because it is not one of the types of books that I have begrudgingly discussed, it is not intended to be used as a sole means of guidance. Therefore, while this book is tremendously useful during one's travels, I would recommend purchasing it in advance and using it as a research springboard during one's trip planning. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. P.S. I frequently read sections out of this book; it is quite interesting even when not engaged in travel. And, on a final note: Japan is the most spectacular place that I have ever traveled to. It is a nation that is lusciously rich with vivid beauty and fascinating culture. It has such an intriguing history and the people are absolutely phenomenal. If you stumbled upon this review because you are simply thinking about going, I vehemently encourage you to take the plunge, hop on a plane, and get over there! Oh yeah, and buy this book before you do :)

Will help you plan an unforgettable trip

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides certainly live up to their motto - "The guides that show you what others only tell you." Their Japan guide is no exception; it's full of photographs, maps, three-dimensional graphics of castle and temple compounds, and has tons of background information about all possible sites you'd want to visit and about virtually all facets of cultural life. It doesn't reveal to you only the most popular or famous places, but also tells you about more well-kept secrets in the Japanese countryside. One example is the Buddha hiking trail in Kamakura; it's not a major attraction (though the Buddha it leads to is), but it's a great hiking trail, and the guide lets you know to look for it. Also, the Japan guide magnifies streets for you in town and city maps... for instance, Eastern Gion in Kyoto is a district made up of a warren of small streets, but there are a lot of sights to see there, including temples, pagodas, shrines, antique shops, and old unpaved roads. The Japan Guide gives you a magnification of that part of the map, showing clearly what roads intersect with other roads and pointing out the places of interest. Definitely a worthy investment if you're planning a trip to Japan. This colorful, extensive, informative guide will give you info on practically all aspects of your trip - places both famous and obscure, food, hotels, shopping, transportation... and you'll absorb a lot of info reading it.

Eye-catching guide is a worthy investment

This is sort of a "Japan! Wow!" type of guide, full of eye-popping graphics and catchy factoids. It is a very fun guide, and does a great job of engaging enthusiasm for Japan and its wonders. The makers definitely know their audience, and all of the weird and wild parts of the country and its culture are captured.Nothing off the beaten path here, only the major attractions of each city/region are represented. It is wide but not deep. Pricing information and such is well done, and gives an accurate picture of what to expect. Tidbits of culture and history help explain what you will be seeing and make for interesting overall reading.Even as someone living in Japan, I find this guide to be valuable and fun. It has sparked my interests in several sites and is a great reminder of places that I have been.For a deeper travel guide, I recommend "Gateway to Japan." That combined with "Exploring Japan" should be all you need to plan a snazzy and enjoyable trip.

Not perfect, yet still the best

I agree that this Eyewitness guide is perhaps best for shorter trips to Japan - depth is lacking for more extended journeys. It is perfect for main stops - Tokyo and Kyoto are covered really well, and there is a good section on more rarely visited Okinawa (you get the sense that the authors really love that most southerly of all Japan's prefectures). The coverage of other places is perfectly adequate for a one-day stop over there.I can nit-pick on small things: maps could be more detailed, more subjective focus could be given to sightseeing in order to prioritize more meaningfully (Frommer is the best for this at the moment) and there is the old problem of being too sparing on useful websites. However, it is still head and shoulders above the competition, and if you want to lug around just one book, this is it.The section on accommodation and restaurants is superb, I have not seen more inspired (and inspiring) descriptions and depictions of Japanese food anywhere else. True, graphic representation of communal bathing facilities in ryokan guesthouses made me firmly make a choice of a Western-style hotel; but at least I am glad that the guide was honest with me. Transport section (buying railway tickets, finding your way) could have been more helpful and give some handy tips instead of noting that findining an address is pain in the neck. Language section is perfectly adequate for the scope of this book.Unless you intend to spend more than three days in Tokyo or Kyoto, you really do not need separate guides for these cities.The best thing? Guiding you towards reasonable prices and not selling the usual story of price doom and scare travellers off with proverbial $10.00 cups of coffee. Yes, you can spend this kind of money in Ginza - so what? You don't need to. Of course if you eat Kobe steaks and fugu fish every day, meals will be pricy. But who says you need to do that? What's wrong with noodle bars and bento boxes? Thanks Eyewitness for not trying to bang the old drum of scaremongering and gently leading the reader through the maze of a totally different culture.If you are going to Japan for, say, a week or ten days, this will be money well spent. Highly recommended.

Eyewitness is the gold standard in travel guides!

I do hope DK will publish individual Eyewitness guides to Kyoto and Tokyo. To fit all of Japan into one guide is an unreasonable task, so I considered this book to be an overview at best. Even so they managed to include a great deal of detail and I found it extermely useful throughout my recent trip to Japan. There were many instances where Eyewitness Japan gave more detailed information on a particular sight than the Lonely Planet city guides for Kyoto and Tokyo. I love the way the Eyewitness guides organise the information in a way that is similar to how you will actually tackle it when traveling; first by region than neighborhood. It is all very visual and user friendly, but also quite meaty when you dig into the information. One word about the maps, which I found excellent; very few streets in Japan are labeled, only the major ones, and many streets don't have names at all, so street names are not really relevant. I often found myself orienting myself by the last shrine I passed.Like many people I find the Eyewitness guides to be an excellent resource in planning and navigating my travels, as well as a nice keepsake for my bookshelf when I return. I find their strength to be in guiding you around and explaining the major sights, I look elsewhere for information on dining, lodging and the off-beat. No single guide is good for everything. In fact if it were up to me I would eliminate the hotel and restaurant sections of the Eyewitness guides all together because they are so weak. I loved this guide for what it is, an excellent overall view of Japan.