The Rough Guide to Japan Simon Richmond Jan Dodd 9781848366152 Books
Download As PDF : The Rough Guide to Japan Simon Richmond Jan Dodd 9781848366152 Books
The award-winning Rough Guide to Japan makes the ideal travel companion to one of the world's most unique and dynamic countries.
In full color throughout, this opinionated guide is packed with essential information on the latest and best places to sleep, eat, party and shop and includes pointers on etiquette and other cultural niceties. Maps of all the main tourist destinations and easy-to-read color transportation maps of the Tokyo and Osaka train and subway systems help you navigate the major cities.
From neon-soaked Tokyo to temple-studded Kyoto and snow-topped Mount Fuji, all of the major travel hotspots are covered in full, and The Rough Guide to Japan also points the way to off-the-beaten-track gems Soak in a live-volcano hot spring on Kyushu island, go diving in tropical Okinawa, or wind your way through mountain traverses in the Japan Alps.
You'll also find a richer understanding of the country through chapters on Japan's history, religions, arts, movies, music, and pressing environmental issues.
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth with The Rough Guide to Japan.
About Rough Guides For thirty years, adventurous travelers have turned to Rough Guides for up-to-date and intuitive information from expert authors. With opinionated and lively writing, honest reviews, and a strong cultural background, Rough Guides travel books bring more than two hundred destinations to life.
The Rough Guide to Japan Simon Richmond Jan Dodd 9781848366152 Books
This is a book in the LP- or Moon guides- type vein: information for the individual traveler looking for places to go, stay, and eat. It is not the Fodor- or Insight Guides-type that is filled with nothing but big glossy pictures with some history about the big tourist places to visit. In other words, if you're taking a package tour, most of the info contained here isn't necessary. However, if you travel, as opposed to being a 1-week book-a-tour tourist, this book contains information that will help you find places to stay and how to get to them, as well as the souvenir stops.I purchased this book in the hopes that I could find out about places other than those that were already covered in Lonely Planet Japan. However, place for place it covers almost the exact same ground with about a 95% plus overlap. There are a few hotels/ryokan that are not listed between the two and a few places that are in one but not the other (i.e. Goto Islands in LP but not RG). I was disappointed; not that much is different.
Its strengths lie in its writing style, which is not as abrupt as LP, its maps which are simpler (this can also be a detriment), its context chapter at the end, and its having the area codes on all the telephone numbers (very annoying in LP where you have to find the beginning of the section to find the area code).
Weaknesses include an inconsistent subtitling for basic information. For example, in some chapters, hotels are under "Practicalities" and in others it's under "Accomodations." This slows you down a bit until you get used to it. Another is the hotel pricing system. As anyone who's been around the inexpensive hotels in Japan knows, pricing is done per person, and not per couple (double or twin). Even a "discount double" is often only Y500 less than 2 singles. Many business hotels have very limited twin and double accomodations, being mostly singles (Hotel Hawaii in Akita has over 300 singles but 9 doubles or so). In some ryokan/minshuku rooms, a double price is misleading because if you squeeze a 3rd or 4th person in the room, you pay for each person. A Y5000 per person room is only Y5000 with one person, but Y20,000 with 4. That said, the Rough Guide at least has a few different accomodation listings from Lonely Planet, but not always. Train and bus connections are sometimes hard to find as they are only at the end of main divisions, and not at each destination. I would mark them with post-its or just get a JNTO rail schedule at Narita.
In conclusion, look over the maps and styles, but don't get both the Rough Guide AND the LP Japan; they both fill the same niche in travel books. Pick the one that looks good to you and you'll have a useful tool. If you want the pretty photos and all your hotels and meals are already paid for, you don't need this guide or the LP guide.
November 2012 update (Amazon wouldn't let me review the Kindle edition separately. The above review is about the 2nd edition which is quite old now):
I purchased the Kindle edition in May 2012 to see how using it would be not having to carry a larger paper copy. I tried using it a few times in Japan but just gave up. If you try to find something on your way it's not going to be easy.
1) The navigation is nearly impossible. If you know you want to find a certain temple or place, there is no index or link that will take you there. You have to go to "Kyoto" or "Tokyo" from the ToC and then page through until you (may) find what you're looking for.
2) As stated elsewhere, the maps are nearly unreadable. The "zoom" feature doesn't help.
The clunky navigation and useless graphics make this only a readable book, and not a travel tool. Get the book if you're on the road.
(Lowered to 3 stars due to the almost useless Kindle edition)
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The Rough Guide to Japan Simon Richmond Jan Dodd 9781848366152 Books Reviews
This is a good general guide for Japan, but don't get the download! The maps and images are unrecognizable and the publishers are so afraid that you will copy them that they don't give you a size you can even read!
What good is a travel book without maps??
This book is an excellent book for me when in Japan and is very up to date. It is much more thorough than free websites. I think the coverage outside of Tokyo and Kyoto is generally strong, and you will probably find something to do in the book no matter where you are.
The maps in this book are very helpful, especially on-the-ground when walking around. I have been lost several times and consulted the book to find my way in certain neighborhoods. I also use the maps to find things nearby.
While the book is good at locating important places, no book can tell you how to get from where you are to that place. If you are planning a trip just to Tokyo or across Japan, using train websites like hyperdia.com will be a good aid in planning your trip along with this book.
This was a good book for my trip to Japan. It provided excellent commentary on history and sites, which I read before visiting temples and shrines. I stayed at two of the accomodation selections in Kyoto and found them to be right on target with the write up. It also is helpful for traveling within the country as it has accurate prices and routes. The maps were a good overview of the area, though they could be better organized with the text. I can't give it 5 stars because of the map organization and because I only used it for three places in Japan. A good resource!
What would be your reaction if you read in a Guide of the United Staes that A. Lincoln was mexican ?
What would you think of that guide?
In the guide of Japan it is written that Saint Francisco Xavier was Portuguese... Wrong , very wrong.
When you are directed to read a note in this unaccurate guide, it is impossible to go back to the page that you were reading before.
When you open a map there is no way you can read it clearly. It is all blurry on my Ipad.
Should I go on ?
I was a fan of the Rough guides ...until now.
While I did find this guide slightly lacking in information compared other Rough Guides from other regions such as Europe, I think Rough Guide does a far better job than Lonely Planet Japan which only spends about, roughly, 2-3 pages on Osaka, which is a major city. Lonely Planet spends most of their focus on Tokyo, while Rough Guide does try to spread it around. I visited Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, based on the book and had little to no difficultly (combined with Kansai region provided maps) planning my daily adventures. I still find (especially after having lived in Asia for two years) that almost all travel guides seem to be unable to capture the right amount of information like they can for more traveled areas such as Europe; so knowing this is the case across the board, I would say Rough Guide did a pretty good job capturing a balanced amount of info.
I do think they should consider including much more detail in assisting the reader in locating places when writing a book for English speakers where the country being visited has an entirely different alphabet, it makes a difference.
We have about 20 Rough Guides in our collection and will always consider them first when exploring other countries.
The Rough Guide to Japan served us very well on our 2 week holiday in this wonderful country. Like all Rough Guides, the author injected their own personal touch and the listings for restaurants and accommodation proved as helpful and accurate as ever.
With the exception of one small fishing village that didn't live up to the cuteness the author raved on about, everything we did and visited as a result of the guide made our holiday one of the most memorable we have had. I would recommend the guide whole-heartedly to anyone planning a holiday there.
This is a book in the LP- or Moon guides- type vein information for the individual traveler looking for places to go, stay, and eat. It is not the Fodor- or Insight Guides-type that is filled with nothing but big glossy pictures with some history about the big tourist places to visit. In other words, if you're taking a package tour, most of the info contained here isn't necessary. However, if you travel, as opposed to being a 1-week book-a-tour tourist, this book contains information that will help you find places to stay and how to get to them, as well as the souvenir stops.
I purchased this book in the hopes that I could find out about places other than those that were already covered in Lonely Planet Japan. However, place for place it covers almost the exact same ground with about a 95% plus overlap. There are a few hotels/ryokan that are not listed between the two and a few places that are in one but not the other (i.e. Goto Islands in LP but not RG). I was disappointed; not that much is different.
Its strengths lie in its writing style, which is not as abrupt as LP, its maps which are simpler (this can also be a detriment), its context chapter at the end, and its having the area codes on all the telephone numbers (very annoying in LP where you have to find the beginning of the section to find the area code).
Weaknesses include an inconsistent subtitling for basic information. For example, in some chapters, hotels are under "Practicalities" and in others it's under "Accomodations." This slows you down a bit until you get used to it. Another is the hotel pricing system. As anyone who's been around the inexpensive hotels in Japan knows, pricing is done per person, and not per couple (double or twin). Even a "discount double" is often only Y500 less than 2 singles. Many business hotels have very limited twin and double accomodations, being mostly singles (Hotel Hawaii in Akita has over 300 singles but 9 doubles or so). In some ryokan/minshuku rooms, a double price is misleading because if you squeeze a 3rd or 4th person in the room, you pay for each person. A Y5000 per person room is only Y5000 with one person, but Y20,000 with 4. That said, the Rough Guide at least has a few different accomodation listings from Lonely Planet, but not always. Train and bus connections are sometimes hard to find as they are only at the end of main divisions, and not at each destination. I would mark them with post-its or just get a JNTO rail schedule at Narita.
In conclusion, look over the maps and styles, but don't get both the Rough Guide AND the LP Japan; they both fill the same niche in travel books. Pick the one that looks good to you and you'll have a useful tool. If you want the pretty photos and all your hotels and meals are already paid for, you don't need this guide or the LP guide.
November 2012 update ( wouldn't let me review the edition separately. The above review is about the 2nd edition which is quite old now)
I purchased the edition in May 2012 to see how using it would be not having to carry a larger paper copy. I tried using it a few times in Japan but just gave up. If you try to find something on your way it's not going to be easy.
1) The navigation is nearly impossible. If you know you want to find a certain temple or place, there is no index or link that will take you there. You have to go to "Kyoto" or "Tokyo" from the ToC and then page through until you (may) find what you're looking for.
2) As stated elsewhere, the maps are nearly unreadable. The "zoom" feature doesn't help.
The clunky navigation and useless graphics make this only a readable book, and not a travel tool. Get the book if you're on the road.
(Lowered to 3 stars due to the almost useless edition)
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