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- ISBN13: 9781843539193
- Condition: New
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Product Description
The Rough Guide to Japan provides invaluable advice on everything from getting there (including overland routes) to tracking down the latest and best places to sleep, eat, drink and shop. There is comprehensive coverage of all the major sights ? and many off the beaten track - from the northern tip of Hokkaido down to the islands of Okinawa, closer to Taiwan than Tokyo. Full-colour sections introduce manga and anime, arguably Japan?s most successful cultural export, its rich variety of festivals and its stunning traditional gardens. All this is accompanied by in-depth coverage of Japan?s history, religions, arts, movies and music plus a discussion of environmental issues. There are maps of all the main towns and tourist destinations, together with separate colour maps of the Tokyo subway system and the rail network in Osaka.
Customer Review:A1MZL91Z44RN06
Rating: 
Summary: Decent
A guidebook is great for reading up on culture, history, and food before you go on a trip. And I found this book to be good for just that. Japan is way too big and interesting to fit in such a small book, though. You'll find Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka in depth with way too little about most other places.
Not really much else to say. It's a guidebook. Rough Guides seem to be better than LP, but slowly deteriorating as any big guidebook company will inevitably do. Too many updated versions with too few updates, but at least you get the feeling they have actually been there before.
Customer Review:A2V287Z3AGYSEK
Rating: 
Summary: "The Rough Guide" - Too rough to guide the tourist
My husband and I travel approximately twice monthly to national and international destinations. We have planned many trips with many guides and found "The Rough Guide to Japan" to be the WORST we have experienced.
The pluses: Lots of interesting cultural facts and historical background. As such, this would be a great book to read before one heads out of town.
The reality: The 'concrete information' for a traveler trying to get from point A to point B, find a decent hotel (without being too pricey nor too gritty), or manage the transportation options in and between cities is limited, convoluted, and generally useless.
One example: Hotels listed in any city have virtually no information about cost. We understand that rates change between editions but printing said data at least gives a metric for determining if a hotel is a good selection according to one's budget. In order to find this information one has to seek it out themselves. This adds one more step in the planning process which - seeing as a guide is supposed to serve this purpose - is a nuisance.
Another example: We booked a hotel on Miyajima Island (one we found separately since the options in the RG were so limited). The "Rough Guide" mentions and generally recommends the private boat service that is a shorter tram ride from the Hiroshima train station to Miyajima with no mention of specific scheduling concerns, giving the impression few exist. We arrived - after significant effort and time on the tram- at about 5:00 to catch our 'rapid transit' only to find there are very few trips by the private service and service ceases at 4pm. As such, we ended up spending a small fortune on a taxi to return to Hiroshima Station (and avoid losing another hour in return), then take the train (one more hour) and catching the public ferry.
In my opinion, the maps were dreadful. Very small areas covered and limited street names. They definitely did not help to get around well.
The book was such a waste that it made no sense to carry a 1 1/2 pound "guide" around on our trip. We dumped it and we'll never buy another Rough Guide.
The Lonely Planet is far and away superior, as are Rick Steves' guides. If you must buy a Rough Guide, read it before you leave for the contextual information but don't carry it - it can't be considered a guide.
Customer Review:A13SERRWEJ4T9A
Rating:
Summary: Don't Leave for Japan Without This Guide
I used this guide to plan our 2-week vacation in Japan. It provides useful historic information of locals that we were interested. What I found the most useful was the transportation guides to the locals. We never got lost. The hotel and dining info was a bit limited, but it was a good start. I highly recommend this book to people who are traveling to Japan. If you're doing a self-tour for more than a week, make sure that you get the JR Rail Pass before you head to Japan. I'll now get the rough guides for Australia and New Zealand.
Customer Review:A1I44M38QS1VT2
Rating: 
Summary: difficult to read
The print in the book is faint and small which makes it difficult to read. Otherwise, the information in the book is helpful.
Customer Review:AARJTBIC7MG3D
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, detailed guide for Japan
I purchased the Rough Guide for Japan based on the reviews and was not disappointed. It offers detailed information on all aspects of travelling, including local transportation, air/train/sea/ground ticket purchase and travel, customs, rules and regulations, etc, as well as great information on sites and eating. We spent 9 days in Japan and used the Rough Guide's recommendations on restaurants for every meal and were only disappointed 1 time (and that was likely due to our speaking very little Japanese). The information provided on how to get around and sightseeing attractions is very good and very detailed. There are several pictures and overall, I found it to be the best travel guide I have ever used. So much so that I bought Rough Guides for my next two trips. I would say that for a complete guide that covers everything from the beginning of your trip and buying tickets and packing, to getting around, seeing the sights, eating and culture, books, movies and art in Japan, this is your book.
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