[.ca] Lonely Planet Japan (ISBN 1740591623)

Reader beware.:
While Lonely Planet produces many fine travel books, this one is disturbing and rather invidious. I get the distinct impression that the authors do not like or respect Japanese culture and some of the statements made are frankly, quite racist. For example- "Foreign travellers should be warned that medical services in Japan may not be on par with those of other developed nations." "Condoms are widely available in Japan, but generally only locally produced varieties, which tend to be on the small side." "Ainu traditions are re-enacted by sometimes listless performers and these tourist circuses can be pretty depressing- they are often combined with caged bears in a debased imitation of the Ainu's sacred Iyomante (Bear Festival)." While a few subtle implications are excusable, the entire book is rife with them. Despite these flaws, the book does give a good overview of places to stay and visit.

Not impressive, despite some good aspects:
In brief: in Japan, LP is miles behind Rough Guide, which in terms of helpfulness, detail and balance shines like a crazy diamond. There is no reason to buy it except for brand loyalty. In detail: I am not a natural fan of Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, but on my previous trip to Japan, Rough Guide impressed me beyond belief - I found it the best guide on the market. This time, I decided to turn it up a notch and bought a Lonely Planet Japan. I tried to approach it with an open mind - and I admit that it is much, much better than many Lonely Planets that I have seen. There is almost no cheap anti-American rhetoric (good job they kept spiteful fingers of Deanna Swaney well away from this one). The guide, however, did not think it was worth mentioning that Japan's Norhern Territories are still occupied by Russia and that this is one place on earth where World War II has not ended, because the two countries still do not have a peace treaty. Imagine now that these territories were occupied by the Americans: there would be many indignant passages denouncing imperialism of "yankees". Not a big score on fairness front. Most maps are better than cheap-and-lazy imitations found in many Lonely Planet books, and there is plenty of information on lodging beyond your local dumpster. Even better, Lonely Planet seems to finally have ditched their senile ramblings on flight information and no longer focuses on irrelevant oddities of Apex Fares and Courier Flights. However, the book still maliciously avoids any mention of mainstream ticketing and hotel booking websites, making sure those who can least afford it are ripped off by "youth travel specialists". I would like to hope they do that out of their usual misguided sense of political correctness - otherwise it is just a blatant product placement, which would be really hypocritical. On the plus side, finally there are some professionally-made photographs and not granma's snaps made with disposable camera. Use of kanji characters alongside with main placenames and attractions is a nice gesture and helpful to those of us who have not commited themselves to systematic studies of writing in Japanese but would like to learn a sign or two. The biggest criticism is that the guide is really patchy and chaotic. There is very little information on train travel times and frequencies. Hotel descriptions are lazy and pricing info is oftern inaccurate. Descriptions of attractions are too varied in their quality to be reliable, and often look decidedly lazy. Lonely Planet often disappoints with their apparent "been-there-done-that" approach, where it seems like a traveller is encouraged to do some box-ticking and to roam around without any focus or genuine interest. The Tokyo part is stunningly disappointing, while Kyoto and Nara chapters are more adequate. It seems that the authors do not like Tokyo much and just go through the motions. I liked Sapporo and Okinawa bits, which I thought were well researched and more inspired than descriptions of more mainstream destinations. Non-geographic chapters on arts and cuisine are very good, but they are not sufficient to offset the general feeling of a weak guide. For many, a trip to Japan is an expensive and long-anticipated trip of a lifetime; you will need the best guide that money can buy. Lonely Planet is not up to task on this ocassion.

Exceptional!:
Of a five-week junket to Asia in 2003, Taiwan formed the first wing and Japan the second. The Lonely Planet guides for each locale accompanied me for both wings my Asian vacation. Considering how dreadful the Taiwan guide was (you can check out my review of it), the Japan guide was remarkably voluminous and useful. I used the 7th edition for my trip (the 8th came out while I was overseas), but, as outdated as it was, it still proved to be an excellent resource for my trip. First facts - I speak only restaurant and "ninja" Japanese, am Chinese, and am ninhogo-illiterate, so I was plopped into the middle of a country where I had few internal resources to call on. Armed with the Lonely Planet guide and reasonable phrasebook, I was able to navigate my way through Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nagoya, and Himeji without any significant problems. The restaurant recommendations were pretty much on the mark - the okonomiyaki and fugu joints in Osaka were outstanding in quality and price, and the gyoza recommended in Kyoto was phenomenally tasty, to pick a few. The city maps were pretty accurate, although some of the club and bar scene locales were defunct or vague. Eschewing the book's rec's after a couple of disappointments, I started hitting random places that looked, and were in fact, pretty cool. The tourist spot info is pretty accurate and includes stuff that sometimes isn't noted in the local tourist literature (I highly recommend checking out the little "meditation" waterfall mentioned in the Kyoto section). Lonely Planet Japan is an exceptional guide book. I would recommend it to anyone who is planning a trip Japan-wards, regardless of taste - this book covers everything. I intend to purchase the latest edition before my next trip there (soon, I hope!).

Comprehensiive, Well Balanced, Good Photographs and Maps:
My preference is the Eyewitness Travel DK - Japan - which has excellent graphics but is just 400 pages long. But now I have to reconsider because of this new guide from Lonely Planet. This book is just a tremendous effort 800 pages long, very well balanced with photos, maps, history, etc. It is clearly a 5 star guide. I would rate it (and DK Eyewitness Travel) head and shoulders ahead of Frommers, or Rough Guide or similar books that are less well balanced. Japan is a place one does not visit every day and it is expensive. Also I like to go well armed with maps and books because unlike the USA or Canada some areas have no English signs so the more information the better. It is unnerving to be on trains and subways where there is just Japanese signs. I would recommend this book, and at least one book on Japan's society - see Amazon.com plus a good map book. This book is well balanced and like the DK guide is that it pulls a lot of things together such as history and culture and urban areas. The book brings it all to life with just magnificent photos and maps. Personally I would buy more than one guide and definitely a guide on just Tokyo, so I would buy this book or the lighter 400 page DK guide and one book on Tokyo. Either case this is an excellent buy. 5 stars. Jack in Toronto

Badly flawed, but the best option for budget travel:
Initially frustrated with this guidebook's (I bought the "red kimono" edition in spring 2004) limp recommendations and surly tone, I also bought the new "Let's Go Japan" book. While more useful than the "Let's Go" book, the LP version has some very flawed contents. The directions to the top recommended ryokan / guesthouses in Hiroshima and Tokyo were poor or nonexistant. Landmarks and restaurants shown on the maps no longer existed in Ginza, Ikebukuro and Kyoto. The photos and history are nice, but in my opinion a wasteful padding. I'd much rather have a $20 book without the fluff, or at least a $27 book that's accurate. Cities change and mistakes are made, but when LP's writers place a ryokan at the top of the list (incidentally, the "best budget option" in Tokyo proved to be extremely overrated by this book), there should be a premium placed on the traveller being able to find the place. I gave LP 2 stars instead of 1 for the very valuable advice to purchase a 7-day rail pass before visiting Japan (but did not distinguish between a "green car" ride and an ordinary ride; in my experience, the ordinary non-smoking cars were spacious enough). If and when Fodor's/Frommer's comes out with a new edition, it will almost certainly be a better value than LP.