Lonely Planet Japan (Country Travel Guide)
by Andrew Bender, Benedict Walker, Chris Rowthorn, Matthew D. Firestone, Paul Warham, Timothy Hornyak, Wendy Yanagihara
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andrew Bender, Benedict Walker, Chris Rowthorn, Matthew D. Firestone, Paul Warham, Timothy Hornyak, Wendy YanagiharaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-11-01
ISBN: 1741790425
Number of pages: 872
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Book Reviews of Lonely Planet Japan (Country Travel Guide)
Book Review: Amazingly encyclopedic ... and that's not necessarily a good thing
Summary: 2 Stars
LP Japan has a wonderful wealth of information. In terms of maps, restaurant and hotel reviews, details on every city and town imaginable, logistics on traveling from point A to point B, no one can top it. As a *travel guide* however, LP Japan falls short. The massive amounts of information does not (or should not) hide the fact that as a guidebook, LP Japan simply does not get the job done.
I know that LP has a cult-like following and LP Japan is the number one, best-selling travel guide on Japan but I am at a loss as to why. This guide reads like a phonebook, and although a phonebook is an incredibly valuable reference, one doesn't use a phonebook to plan their vacation. With so many places listed, a book like this needs to make useful recommendations about what to experience and what not to experience. Instead, the recommendations are so sloppy and lazy they are almost criminal. "Three Days in Tokyo" would have you skip Asakusa with its iconic shopping street leading to Senso-ji, Shinjuku (be it for the view from TMG, the experience of catching a rush hour train in the world's busiest station, or the decidedly off-the-temples-and-shrines-beaten-path "entertainment" in Kabuki-cho), Ueno Park, Kabukiza, Akihabara, Meiji Shrine (which it lists as a "highlight" yet doesn't make it on the 3 day itinerary?), etc., etc. Yes, I know they are all described in the Tokyo section ... but they're crammed in with dozens if not hundreds of other sights, many of which have dubious touristic value. It's impossible to identify which are the "memories of a lifetime" experiences and which are the "how did THIS make it into a tourbook?" types.
The "highlights" in the "Around Tokyo" section are notable for the only thing they have in common: none are around Tokyo! Chichi-jima is as "around Tokyo" as Seoul or Vladivostok. Meanwhile, highlights that are actually around Tokyo (I'm looking at you Kamakura) are curiously absent from the list of highlighted locales. I'm a bit biased because I lived there, but I'd argue that Yokohama would be a deserving "highlight" around Tokyo as well (heck, finish off a day trip to Kamakura with dinner in Yokohama's Chinatown and a stroll around the harbor and I'll guarantee you have a more fun day than LP's Tokyo itinerary, which consists of "sleep in and shop" each day after Day 1). Just about every place of note in Central Honshu is listed as a "highlight" ... but no suggestion of how to plan your time there. Despite 60 pages of information on Kyoto, there is no advice as to how to spend your time there as far as I can see. In general, there are some walking tours but not enough for a book of this size. To makes things even more challenging in terms of deciding where to go, they have literally hundreds of sections on towns and cities that no one in their right mind should visit on holiday. If you *really* need to know a few facts about Podunk City, Japan that's what Wikipedia should be for.
If you have a good idea of where you want to go, the massive amount of information is helpful ... but again, because there is also a massive amount of information on places not really worth seeing, even the information on the "must see" places is not quite as robust as you would expect. The eating, sleeping, and entertainment sections usually offer a pretty good range of options. However, when rating this book, I just can't get over the shoddy job this book does with organizing information in such a way as to help the potential visitor plan and prioritize his or her trip to Japan ... you know, to "guide" one's "travel" as a travel guide should. Perhaps some might say I am paying too much attention to this issue of "highlights" and "recommendations" but to me, in the internet age, just having "lots of info" isn't enough for a guidebook anymore when most of it--from train and bus logistics, to hotel and restaurant info, to info on the tourist attractions--is readily available online, and for free. In the internet age, the problem for the potential tourist is usually not that there's not enough information--the traditional concern--but that there's TOO much information to sift through. What would be more useful is not a laundry list of places that reads like a checklist, but suggestions of how to link them together to make for an excellent *experience* in Japan.
Unfortunately, the other Japan travel guides often come up short as well so you'll probably end up using multiple resources to plan your trip; however, if you only could take one guide with you to Japan as an independent traveler, I'd probably recommend the Rough Guide. It's written better and has most of the same information as LP but it's better organized to help you plan your trip. If you're more of a visual person you'll definitely hate LP (and the Rough Guide as well) ... try Insight or Eyewitness (personally they're too "fluffy" for me, but I know many people like them) or even LP's new "Discover" series which I still find too lightweight, but it does have some neat features not in regular LP or even the other visuals-heavy guides like Insight and DK/Eyewitness.
Summary of Lonely Planet Japan (Country Travel Guide)
Nobody knows Japan like Lonely Planet. With more maps and language content than any other guidebook, this 11th edition unveils the very best of shopping in Tokyo, skiing in the Japan Alps, soaking in idyllic onsen (hot springs), trekking to Kansai's feudal castles, slurping soba at Kyushu food stalls, and so much more.Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.
In This Guide:
Architecture chapter leading you from ancient temples to modern towers
Reliable advice from resident and specialist authors - and locals!
Japanese script in text and on maps makes navigation easy
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