Japan (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

If you're going to Japan I recommend this book for 95% of your travelling pleasure and information. It may not have EVERYTHING about Japan or be as detailed as other guides, but the true point of a guide is to be concise and accurate. It's not too large so that you're carrying around a dictionary which hurts to walk with; makes you embarrassed to show; or vividly display's to the country that you're a tourist. It's not too small that you have to squint to read; is easy to lose; or hard to find the information you require. The layout is precise, colourful, and common-in-sense. The chapters each have an apparent colour and mark a different region of Japan. Within each region are the major cities present plus some notable other areas (eg: Hot Springs, Mountains, and Beaches). There are plenty of pictures, diagrams, charts, important information sheets, etc, throughout the book. (eg: each region has a breakdown map of cities/notable places). Within the major cities, there are landmarks, attractions, and neat notable nooks mentioned throughout. Everything is followed by an appropriately concise paragraph. This is how it should be to me: A brief description of what you are going to see so that you do not have your nose buried in the book when you should be viewing the sites and yet still have a background to what you are viewing. I think every guide book should have many pictures, maps, etc, so that you can help visually reference yourself, which you will need to do in Japan. There is so much packed together in this country that it's easy to get lost. There are pictures literally on almost every page of this book, which provide excellent landmarks for your travels. The maps are not overwhelming; they only display the required information. I obtained 15+ guide books and maps during my travel to Japan, however this one book was the reference I carried with me everywhere I went. Until you tour Japan often you are going to want a book like this one for everywhere you go.

For years I've been dreaming about going to Japan.I love Eyewitness Travel Guides. In my opionion there are no better travel guides than Eyewitness.I love it, am planning my trip and can't wait to see this beautifull country.Eyewitness Travel Guides save me time and money and help me make the best of my trips. I can select what is worth my time and I love them.C.Flemishfeel free to discuss this with me at@wookie198[...]and if you are in the mood for something else fee lfree to check out one of my own books.

I work as a specialized travel planner for travel to Japan and use this guide as a complement to the materials that I send to my clients. Why? Because the guide is great for pictures, general descriptions, diagrams and for giving a very brief flavor of a place and works very well when in conjunction with detailed instructions. I suggest treating it as a "McGuide" - it satisfies the immediate need for a bit of information while you're on the road. On the other hand, I would never recommend this guide as the only guide to take to Japan if you're doing serious travel planning while on the road, since there's just not enough hard information to make critical decisions on what to see and do on any given day. Many other reviewers have pointed out that there are few suggestions, no prioritization and not much "how to". On my last trip to Japan we used it as a quick guide on what to see in the smaller places and then relied on the ubiquitous tourist board stands to get information on specifics (maps, flyers, etc.). For example, in Hakone it mentions the "circuit", but doesn't give enough information to know how to actually do it. We had to gather that information from our hotel and our Hakone Free Pass paperwork. This guide also omits some places that western travelers might find interesting, such as the art installations at Benesse House on Naoshima Island or Karatsu on Kyushu Island. The very best things about this guide: short tours (such as Kiso Valley or Saga Pottery area) detailed diagrams (such as the Gassho-zukuri houses and Toshu-gu Shrine in Nikko) and lots and lots of photos on the same page as the descriptions. Oh, and it's also a great guide if you can pre-plan your trip and don't want to spend your entire vacation with your nose in a book reading rather than experiencing the place. Japan is such a fabulous place to engage with the culture and this book can help you make the leap from reading/observing to engaging by taking away the reams and reams of text found in other books.

I have always liked DK's Eyewitness series of travel books, and "Japan" is consistent with their past quality. Chockful with useful information, and wonderful photographs. I particularly like their suggested "walks" amd maps. I do not use it for hotel selection and local travel details, but more for sightseeing information, cultural information, food, and such.

I wouldn't call this a "travel guide" so much as a beautiful little glance at Japan. It would be wholly unusable for someone actually trying to get around an unfamiliar area- I suggest a Lonely Planet instead.

We just travelled in Japan for two weeks and found this book to be very helpful both in pre-planning the trip and on the trip. It is a handy size to carry around. We also took the Lonely Planet guide and we used this one a lot more.

Nothing

I always like DK eyewitness tour guide books.

Fountain of knowledge, tips and interesting to read.

These DK eyewitness books are brilliant and we have bought quite a few over the years.