Chichibu: Japan's Hidden Treasure (Tuttle Guides)

Rating:
Summary: Had the old version
Review: I found the old edition of this book in my flat when I lived close to Chichibu. I lived in Minano, which holds the last temple in the 34 temple pilgrimage.

The book gave some good information but I felt not enough history about the different temples or the different sects that each temple follows. Never the less the book is very good and better than the cartoon map that you can find in town.

Any book that can help you get off the beaten path in Japan is great.

Rating:
Summary: Sufficient to explore Chichibu
Review: I got the book from a Japanese friend who knows that I enjoy visiting temples and shrines. I started to read it and decided I should follow the trail. I just got back from Chichibu and had followed the first day of temple 1 to 9. I would recommend that anyone who wants to do this, do it in autumn or winter when the weather is more pleasant. The book is sufficient for anyone who wants to visit all 34 temples. As a traveler, I only use a guidebook as a rough guide and then kept asking the people around for more update information. I could not speak Japanese but the book is a good compass plus I got good help all the way to all 9 temples. I think the rating of this book depends on the expectation. I am glad that I got the book so I know more about the pilgrimage trip in Chichibu and could do the trip. Japanese people are friendly and helpful. Once you're there, you will be fine. I would not expect that it is a good reading or a real guidebook as lonely planet. But, I really appreciate that there is a book on Chichibu, there should be more books like these in Japan where people like us who do not read or speak Japanese can enjoy the traveling.

Rating:
Summary: Japan's Hidden Treasure Stays Hidden
Review: It was exciting news to learn that the best guide book to an intriguing and little known place to explore in Japan, Chichibu, was being updated and re-published by Tuttle. Having used the original book on many trips to Chichibu, I eagerly awaited its release as I was anxious to give it to a friend who was visiting Japan in the new year.

Once I had it in hand and began to search for the places I wanted to recommend to my friend to visit and to stay, I was appalled to see how many errors there were. For example, one fine ryokan that is in the center of Oganomachi is listed as one number on the reference sheet and on the map is listed as another, thus totally confusing the visitor.

Subsequently, I learned that the author had meticulously revised the entire book but that the publisher, the once-revered Charles Tuttle Co., simply reprinted the second half of the book without including any of the updated information provided by the author. Why do such a thing and cause enormous frustration for a visitor and bring disgrace to themselves?

I lived in Japan for twenty years and I know how difficult it is to get off the beaten track on one's own and to find such treasures as Chichibu with all its marvelous festivals and wonderful people. Guidebooks must be very accurate and this guidebook, once a treasure all its own, is now useless and a great disappointment. My sympathies to the author.

Rating:
Summary: Chichibu: a Disappointment
Review: Sumiko Enbutsu's wonderful guidbook, Chichibu, Japan's Hidden Treasure, is back in print. Originally published in 1990, this charming book, delightfully illustrated with detailed maps, color photographs, and woodblock prints by Mitsuo Kosuge, transports the reader to the magical town that lies just northwest of Tokyo.

This should be a welcomed and rewarding book, but unfortunately it is a terrible disappointment. The publisher represents that the book is a Revised Edition. It is not. It is a seriously flawed reprint of the original. For whatever motives (greed, arrogance, haste, indifference come to mind), the publisher has totally dispensed with all the well-researched and time-consuming revisions that the author provided.

A good guidbook should inform, not misguide. The Finding List at the end of the book is totally useless. All the page references relate to the old text, not the new. Anyone trying to make use of what was a very helpful appendix in the original book will tear her hair out. Moreover, some of the restaurant, shops, and other vendors indexed have gone out of business. The maps are also a mess. Sites are misnumbered, some have no numbers.

If the reader follows the instructions on how to buy a train ticket to Chichibu found on page 17, she will not find the travel service. It has moved to a new location. In 1990, the author advised readers to buy their tickets a week in advance; in 1999 she advises readers to buy tickets a month in advance. But the readers will never know, because the publisher chose to ignore the new advice and go with the old.

In the original version of Chichibu the author told her readers that the lively Children's Festival with its colorful floats takes place on July 23 and 24. The new edition gives this same information, but the event now takes place on July 19 and 20.

Buyers should know that the text is still a joy to read, but as a guide the book is worthless.