Fodor's Exploring Japan, 4th

Rating:
Summary: nice pictures, but not as helpful as Fodor's Japan
Review: I read both this book and Fodor's Japan prior to two trips to Japan (Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Fuji, Tokyo, Kanazawa, Toba). While this book contained nice, glossy photos, it was heavy and lacking in the detail to be helpful as a guide that could be carried around. If you want a Fodor's publication, get the most recent edition of Fodor's Japan instead. Don't forget to use the Japan National Tourist Organization as a supplement. They are accessible on the internet and in various major cities.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't help me at all
Review: I'm a pretty sophisticated traveler, so I don't need everything spelled out for me, but this Fodor's Guide turned out to be almost worthless in planning my trip. Many of the things I had read about on the internet that I wanted to see simply weren't listed in this book. It's full of color pictures but lacks a useful overall map of Japan! The restaurant recommendations aren't keyed to any maps at all. The bulk of the dense text is devoted to Honshu, so if you are hoping to get beyond the usual tourist track, this isn't all that much help. (It just suggests you visit the local tourist office.) It's a heavy book, and I don't plan to take it with me when I go. I'll be ordering other books.

Rating:
Summary: Limited basis for comparison, but...
Review: Unlike the other reviewer, I have not yet read Fodor's Japan, but Exploring Japan still appears useful. Yes, it does have a lot of, maybe too many, pictures, but I chose this guide over others, the names and publishers of which I can't recall for several reasons. As a student of Japanese language and history, I wanted to prepare for a semester of study-abroad in Japan. For the businessman or regular tourist, the most needed info. might be found in other travel guides which are mostly resturaunt and hotel directories. However, as a student, I didn't need a guide on food and accomodations. Exploring Japan is good, at least helpful for me, in that it focuses on cultural, historical sights, and national treasures. It does devote some information to other things, such as shopping, hotels, resturaunts as well as the usual information on customs, visas, and emergency and contact info.

Besides its focus on Japanese history and culture, the other thing I like about this guide is its organization. Within the regionally divided sections are paragraphs each devoted to a sight with coordinates on regional/city street maps that begin each section, a rating of importance (so you can prioritize for your itinerary), a description of its place in Japanese history more detailed than most guides, and opening-closing times and contact info. when applicable. Another nice feature is the guided walking tours for many major cities and towns from Kyushu to Hokkaido, which could be helpful for those wishing to get in a lot of sights crowded in one small area (such as parts of Kyoto and Nara), those who don't want to rely on expensive transportation but don't want to get lost walking Japan's confusing labarynth of streets (Tokyo and Kyoto each have more than one walking guide in this book). For those of you who just plan only on enjoying Tokyo's nightlife for a week then this book is not for you, but if you plan on doing a lot of travel and most of it on "educational" excursions then I highly recommend this book.