Japan Books - Page 3

Frommer's Tokyo (Frommer's Complete)

Beth Reiber

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

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

You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go--they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!

Tokyo is a whirlwind of traffic and people, a fast-paced gateway to the 21st century. It's one of the world's great cities, but it can be overwhelming. Frommer's makes it easy for you to find your way and discover the best of Tokyo, from business hotels to traditional Japanese inns, from restaurants serving exquisite kaiseki feasts to stand-up noodle houses, from tranquil gardens and temples to the incredible swirl of nightlife in Shinjuku and Roppongi.

Whether it's business or pleasure, Frommer's Tokyo will take you there in style. You'll rely on us for a handy glossary of everyday expressions and menu terms, and our unique and indispensable Japanese character key that makes recognizing establishment signs as easy as ABC. With step-by-step directions, exact prices, detailed neighborhood maps, and valuable cultural insights, Frommer's Tokyo puts Japan's premier city at your fingertips.

Frommer's(r) Hong Kong, 7th Edition

Beth Reiber

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Defending this guide and a call to be nice 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

One of the reviews below declares that the author of the Frommer's guide to Hong Kong should burn in a hell for guidebook writers. I don't find this funny. In fact, I find this to be a pretty mean thing to say, and I doubt the author of that review would say such a thing to Ms. Reiber in person. The author of that review should be ashamed of himself, and apologize here in a follow-up to his original review.

I am very familiar with the guidebook scene to Hong Kong, though I've never met Ms. Reiber, and I happen to think that her guide is one of the better ones out there. Her book has an honest and thoughtful tone; it also offers some of the more astute observations about Hong Kong to be found in the current crop of guidebooks. If there is a weakness to her guidebook, it is that it does not cover the more far-flung regions of Hong Kong--Tap Mun, Tai Mo Shan, and so on. But in a way this omission reflects well on Reiber and her book. Most guides to Hong Kong cover places like Tap Mun or Tung Lung Chau, but they provide such sketchy information that I doubt the author ever went there. Of course, authors never admit this. Reiber, on the other hand, has the integrity to only include in her guidebooks the places in Hong Kong that she has actually visited. In any case, Reiber's book covers all the locations that 99% of all visitors to Hong Kong go to. If you are that 1% of travelers who want to hike in the more remote areas of the New Territories or explore some of the more hard to get to islands, this is not the book for you. Otherwise, I can certainly recommend this guide.

Editorial Review:

* A discriminating guide to a great time in Hong Kong
* Travel to Hong Kong is booming, with an estimated 14.8 million visitors expected in 2002, an increase of 8 percent
* Our guide offers the lowdown on the best hotels, restaurants, sights, nightlife, and shopping
* A giant foldout map, walking tours, and special tips for single business travelers as well as families make the guide even more valuable
* Travelers also get the scoop on nearby Macao as well as side trips to the New Territories and mainland China

Etiquette Guide to Japan: Know the Rules that Make the Difference!

Boye Lafayette De Mente

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Editorial Review:

Minding your manners is an acquired skill, but what serves you well elsewhere could trip you up in Japan. Save yourself possible embarrassment with Etiquette Guide to Japan. An inside look at Japanese social graces, it answers all the questions of the thoughtful traveler.

This updated and expanded edition of the classic etiquette guide addresses all the newest developments, trends and protocols that every traveler needs to know, from the tea ceremony to the subway to the bathroom.

The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto

Masaaki Ono

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Off the beaten track, not easily seen because in private or official hands, these are the "hidden gardens" of one of the world’s great historic cities.

All the main types of Japanese garden are represented. First comes the pond garden, which on the grandest scale can be a match for the lake-wood-and-meadow parks of Western estates, and on a more modest scale still contains islands and bridges and pavilions. Then there is the dry landscape garden, whose gravel, rocks, and moss have an austerity remote from most Westerners’ idea of a garden, yet whose purpose, once understood, leaves an impression of dignity and resonance. And finally the tea garden, whose scrupulous simplicity belies great sophistication in the arrangement of its few components.

To a much greater degree than Western gardens, their enjoyment depends on knowing how to interpret them: how to look for the auspicious tortoise stones—a wedge-shaped head poking out of the ground—or the wings of a stone crane; the symbolic waterfall where no water flows; the bridge that crosses from this world into the next.

No better guides to these underlying attributes can be found than the photographer of this book, who has spent most of his life in the old capital, and the commentator, a professional garden designer who learned his craft from one of the twentieth century’s greatest landscape gardeners. With their help we learn such things as why no flowers bloom in the tea garden, and why its paths are seldom straight; or why some scenery is best seen in passing from a boat rather than on dry land.

As a sequel to the acclaimed LANDSCAPES FOR SMALL SPACES, this new appreciation of the traditional Japanese garden will give as much, if not more, pleasure, since part of its attraction is knowing that the gate into these gardens—which might otherwise be closed—is, in these pages, open to us all.

Japan

Amazon Price: $60.18 List Price: $75.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Nazraeli Pr Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $54.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

BEAUTIFUL!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is another fine offering from the good people at Nazraeli... Makers of EXTRAORDINARILY beautiful limited edition art books, and this one is NO exception.

Housed in a gorgeous black silk covered folding case, the red silk cloth cover of the book just visually stuns when the covers (three panels) are opened. The cover panels wrap around the book and fasten shut with ivory-colored japanese bookbinding clasps.

A beautiful gift!

The photos are stunning, printed with utmost care at exact size with light spot-varnishing on the images so that they pop off of the paper. The subject matter here is landscapes in Japan, sometimes very minimal and always meditative.

Get it while you can. Give it as a gift. Buy it for yourself and just look at it every few days... You will love it.

About This Book 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Artist Book and Exhibition Monograph. Collection of photographs on subject. Possibly the photographer's single most beautiful book. The true first. Precedes all other editions. One of the most exquisite productions ever made by Michael Kenna, Chris Pichler, and Nazraeli Press: Oversize-volume format. A large book in square shape. Red silk cloth boards wrapped in handsome black silk folding slipcase in the Japanese style, with white toggles at the ends. Photographs by Michael Kenna. Text in Japanese and English by Kotaro Iizawa. Printed in Tokyo, Japan to the very highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of a series of exhibitions in the United States and Japan. "Michael Kenna's photographs have long inspired words such as 'mysterious', 'elegant' and 'hauntingly beautiful', adjectives that likewise describe the Japanese landscape. These photographs are the result of an ideal pairing of artist and subject. Kenna has had a large following in Japan ever since his first exhibition there in 1987. His many subsequent exhibitions and publications in Japan have provided him with ample opportunities to visit and photograph. During the past several years, as this project began to take shape, Kenna's trips became more frequent and intense. The resulting images are stunning" (Publisher's blurb). "He has been reflective when others have been militant, romantic when others have been skeptical. Such isolation can starve all but the most independent of talents, but for these it can provide a sanctuary where visions can develop undisturbed. Kenna is one of these" (The Times of London). Michael Kenna's best book thus far. © 2006, ModernRare.com

Fodor's Exploring Japan, 6th Edition (Exploring Guides)

Fodor's

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fodor’s. For Choice Travel Experiences.

Praise for Fodor’s Exploring guides:
“Authoritatively written and superbly presented…worthy reading before, during or after a trip.”
- Philadelphia Inquirer

“Absolutely gorgeous. Fun, colorful, and sophisticated.”
- Chicago Tribune


Fodor’s helps you unleash the possibilities of travel by providing the insightful tools you need to experience the trips you want. While you’re at the helm, Fodor’s offers the assurance of our expertise, the guarantee of selectivity, and the choice details that truly define a destination. It’s like having a friend in Japan!

Fodor’s Exploring Japan is a concise, comprehensive and colorful guide to Japan that’s packed with practical information, including:

•Exceptional coverage of Japan’s HISTORY and CULTURE

•ITINERARIES, WALKS, and EXCURSIONS on and off the beaten path

•Savvy regional cuisine and lodging picks for EVERY BUDGET

•COLOR PHOTOS by the hundreds

•RATINGS for key sights


Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.

Streetwise Tokyo Map - Laminated Center City Street Map of Tokyo, Japan - Folding pocket size travel map with subway map - JR lines (Streetwise (Streetwise Maps))

Streetwise Maps

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Streetwise Tokyo Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Tokyo, Japan - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated subway map including lines & stations - JR lines

This map covers the following areas:
Tokyo Area Map 1:50,000
Marunouchi / Ginza Map 1:15,000
Shibuya / Harajuku / Akasaka / Aoyama / Roppongi / Azabu Map 1:15,000
Shinjuku Map 1:12,000
Ueno Map 1:8,000
Asakusa Map 1:7,400

Tokyo is no place to be stuck with an inferior map. If you only have a few days to enjoy the city, getting lost can be frustrating and a waste of time. There’s so much to see and do that what you need most is a way to get around quickly and efficiently. The STREETWISE® Tokyo Map will enable you to do just that.

Our STREETWISE® Tokyo Map is based on the subway system, the key to understanding how to navigate this unfamiliar terrain. Not only are the subway stations the most visible way to orient yourself, but they’re also the connecting link between the diverse and unique neighborhood districts. Armed with the knowledge of how the Tokyo subway system is laid out, you can get anywhere in the city and more importantly, back again.

The multicolored subway lines and Japan Rail Lines are laid out in a comprehensible and manageable manner on this map of the entire Tokyo metropolitan region. STREETWISE® has simplified the process of figuring out fares, routes and transfer points by including detailed instructions. The entire Tokyo subway map is clearly depicted so it’s easy to make your way from one point in the city to another.

The STREETWISE® Tokyo Map also includes inset maps of Tokyo’s most important districts: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Harajuku, Akasaka, Aoyama, Roppongi, Azabu, Marunouchi, Ueno and Asakusa. These Tokyo map insets are intensely detailed with railroad and subway entrances and exits, hotels, museums, sites, major building landmarks and an address system overlaid on the Tokyo street grid to further enable you to travel with ease through neighborhoods. So whether you’re traveling on foot or by rail, the STREETWISE® Tokyo map will get you exactly where you need to go.

The funny thing is, you’ll only know how valuable this map truly is once you’re there. You’ll welcome the sense of freedom that comes with having a great map. Then you too can feel as though you’ve conquered Everest.

Our pocket size map of Tokyo is laminated for durability and accordion folding for effortless use. The STREETWISE® Tokyo map is one of many detailed and easy-to-read city street maps designed and published by STREETWISE®. Buy your STREETWISE® Tokyo map today and you too can navigate Tokyo, Japan like a native. For a larger selection of our detailed travel maps simply type STREETWISE MAPS into the Amazon search bar.

The Narrow Road to Oku (Illustrated Japanese Classics)

Matsuo Basho

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the account which he named The Narrow Road to Oku, Basho makes a journey lasting 150 days, in which he travels, on foot, a distance of 600 ri.
This was three hundred years ago, when the average distance covered by travelers was apparently 9 ri per day, so it is clear that Basho, who was forty years old at the time, possessed a remarkably sturdy pair of walking legs. Nowadays with the development of all sorts of means of transportation, travel is guaranteed to be pleasant and convenient in every respect, so it's almost impossible for us to imagine the kind of journey Basho undertook, "drifting with the clouds and streams," and "lodging under trees and on bare rocks."
During my countless re-readings of The Narrow Road to Oku, I would bear that in mind, and the short text, which takes up less than 50 pages even in the pocket-book edition, would strike me as much longer than that, and I would feel truly awed by Basho's 2,450-kilometer journey.
I chose The Narrow Road to Oku as the theme of the exhibition marking the thirtieth anniversary of my career as an artist. As somebody who has been illustrating works from Japanese literature for many years, the subject naturally attracted and interested me. But once I'd embarked on the project, it wasn't long before I realized I'd chosen a more difficult and delicate task than I ever imagined, and I wanted to reprove myself for my naivete.
Last year, to mark the centenary of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's birth, I produced a set of 54 pictures for his translation of The Tale of Genji. This was a formidable undertaking, as I had to grapple with the achievement of a literary genius whom I had personally known. But if producing a single picture to represent each chapter in The Tale of Genji was a matter of selecting a particular "face," or "plane" to represent the whole, producing a picture to represent each haiku in The Narrow Road to Oku was without a doubt a matter of having to select one tiny "point"-a mere "dot." One misjudgment in my reading, and the picture would lose touch with the spirit of Basho's work, and end up simply as an illustration that happened to be accompanied by a haiku. I had to meticulously consider every word in those brief 17-syllable poems. Then, if I was fortunate, from the vast gaps and the densely packed phrases a numinous power would gather and inspire me: at times I felt as if I was experiencing what ancient people called the "kotadama," the miraculous power residing in words.
A self-styled "beggar of winds and madness," Basho originated and refined a unique genre of fictional travel literature, which used poetry that enabled one to render, empty-handedly, all of creation. But Basho also left us the following poem:
Journeying is the flower of elegance
Elegance, the spirit of travelers long gone:
The places seen and recorded
by Saigyo and Sogi -
All those are the heart of haikai.
I believe that I could ask for no greater favor from my painter's brush than that I too be able to glean the merest fragment of what the saint of haiku Basho saw, and be able to reproduce it in my work.
Miyata Masayuki

Time Out Guide to Tokyo, 5th Edition

Time Out

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great Tokyo Guide 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Just got back from a trip to Tokyo and this book was great. I bought the Rough Guide to Japan as well as this book, and I was glad to have this book while in Tokyo. It provided tons of info and lots and lots of pictures...I like to have pictures when I travel, it helps me make quick decisions about what I want to see and when.

Time Out Tokyo 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are looking for a very comprehensive guidebook on Tokyo, you won't get anything better than Time Out Tokyo. The Time Out guidebooks are almost always very complete with a wide range of activities, restaurant, and recommendations. There is also cultural information in there to help you get a little more acquainted with the cultural differences of the country you are visiting. No matter wat your purpose is for the trip, Time Out Tokyo is definitely a good buy.

Editorial Review:

Time Out Tokyo leads readers through the marvels and mysteries of this metropolis — from futuristic skyscrapers to ancient temples, from sex clubs to sushi bars. Color photos and maps throughout the guide lend assistance in navigating the city with no street names, and help make the most of its numerous shopping options, from must-have souvenirs to electronics bargains. Also included are etiquette do’s and don’ts, a menu-reading guide, and listings of gay- and lesbian-friendly spots. Travelers can also explore the sights beyond Tokyo, including Yokohama, the hot springs of Hakone, and the slopes of Mount Fuji.

Culture Shock! Korea: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Shock! Guides)

Sonja Vegdahl, Ben Seunghwa Hur

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An OK book, but a good travel guide is more useful 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book was OK, but I wish that I had just spent my money on a good travel guide (Moon Handbook Guide to S. Korea by Robert Nilsen) because most of the information was superficial. Worth a look into if you are in a bookstore or library, but otherwise I would just save my money.

Editorial Review:

With over three million copies in print, CultureShock! is a bestselling series of culture and etiquette guides covering countless destinations around the world. For anyone at risk of culture shock, whether a tourist or a long-term resident, CultureShock! provides a sympathetic and fun-filled crash course on the do's and don'ts in foreign cultures. Fully updated and sporting a fresh new look, the revised editions of these books enlighten and inform through such topics as language, food and entertaining, social customs, festivals, relationships, and business tips. CultureShock! books are packed with useful details on transportation, taxes, finances, accommodation, health, food and drink, clothes, shopping, festivals, and much, much more.