Frommer's Japan (Frommer's Complete)

Frommer's Japan (Frommer's Complete)
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Manufacturer: Frommers
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.2045
EAN: 9780470181003
ISBN: 0470181001
Label: Frommers
Manufacturer: Frommers
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 662
Publication Date: 2008-08-04
Publisher: Frommers
Studio: Frommers
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Editorial Reviews:
America’s #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series

• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides

• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries

• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design

Tourism to Japan increased by 12% over the first half of 2007. Half a million tourists were North Americans, of which approximately 100,000 were traveling on business.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Comprehensive guide for travel planning
Comment: This is the 9th edition copyright 2008, the previous 2006 edition proved quite helpful for my husband who traveled to Tokyo in 2008 on business. He read this book beforehand and purchased the bilingual Tokyo City Atlas from Kodansha which he found so useful that he carried it with him daily when walking around Tokyo. We are planning a family trip in the near future and I found this guide to be very useful. I am also reading Frommer's Tokyo guide and Lonely Planet's Kyoto guide for further in-depth help in planning our itinerary.

Frommer's Japan is a comprehensive guide and a great choice for planning because of the depth of material. The first chapter covers "The Best of Japan" with sections on best temples and shrines, best museums, parks, castles etc. The second chapter is all about planning your Japan trip and the the third is suggested itineraries for 1 or 2 weeks in Japan, Northern Japan in 2 weeks and Japan for families. Other chapters are organized by geographical area and cover Tokyo, the Japan Alps, Kyoto & Nara, Western Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Northern Honshu, Hokkaido.

Japan is quite large and it is difficult to determine where to go and what to do there. This book is a good start to helping narrow down your choices, though I would also recommend that you check out online information sources including the [...] and Japanese National Tourist Organization (JNTO) websites

I agree with other reviewers that there is lack of detailed maps in this guide. There are excellent city and regional maps available from the JNTO and elsewhere.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Useful
Comment: We just got back from Japan & used this guide to supplement info gathered on the internet. It is a useful guide but our biggest gripe: The book should have the Japanese characters right next to the name of the city, restaurant, etc. What a pain it was flipping to the back of the book to find these! You're tired/hungry & not really familiar w/the characters so you're flipping to look at the directions to find the place & trying to decipher the sign outside the door. Really annoying & could be done so simply. Also it would have helped when we were watching the Japanese news (which is all in Japanese) to catch the weather for the day. The news show the cities in the Kanji characters but the city names are not in Kanji in the guidebook. GRRRR

I agree w/another reviewer that some areas of Tokyo get short shrift in this guide - Ueno is just one example. If you are traveling to more areas than just Tokyo you would buy the Japan guide (this book) but we really didn't want & shouldn't have to carry the Tokyo guide too - it should all be in one book. Besides, a lot of the info in the Tokyo guide is a repeat of the basic info on visiting Japan.

I don't like how this book is organized - all the restaurants, hotels for the whole city in one section. It would be much more useful to take each part of the city & give all the info in its own section. When I'm in Ginza looking for a restaurant I don't want to see all the restaurants listed for every part of town. Tokyo is so huge that you may be concentrating on one part of town in a day & we found it annoying to have to flip around, refer to the index, etc. to find info. Another way to organize it would be as DK Eyewitness does with an index of restaurants/hotels in the back - easier to find.

The best maps are at the Tourist Info Centers. I would recommend that be your first stop at the Narita airport. Also, print out your own Kanji for city names before you leave home. You can find them on the internet.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Frommer's Japan
Comment: Excellent and helpful information. Only down side is that Okinawa is not included in the information.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Frommer's does it again
Comment: I have trusted Frommer's for years. I have never been steered wrong by any of heir publications in over 30 years. This Japan volume continuues in that tradition.
Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Frommer's Japan
Comment: It is difficult to get really good uptodate travel books about countries in the far east. This book is good but not excellant. Just too many changes taking place especailly in countries like Japan. We found we could rely on information and data about historical landmarks and areas. Hotel and restaurant iformation changes so quickly you may be better off going to the internet.
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