Japan by Rail [Paperback]

I've just been around Japan and this book is an absolute must for anyone wanting to do the same via the ultra-efficient train network. I managed to get round virtually all of it with this and a basic phrasebook with very little knowledge of the language.

The main section of this book is split by area, (eg Hokkaido, North, central and west Honshu etc.) then into two sub-sections; Route guide and City Guide. The Route section deals with how to get from one major city to another via the train network and the latter deals with what you can do when you get there. Most stations, large and small are covered on each line, with suggestions about when to stop off on your journey to take in the sights. The City guide covers most major cities and provides maps showing places to eat, stay, and see, as well as other useful things such as Internet Cafes, subway stations etc. (This section was not quite as useful as it sounded as the hotels listed are often more expensive than what you can get if you just pop into the local JTB branch found in every city.) For all the local attractions, it also lists the opening times and price, and these (at the time of writing) are pretty accurate.

There are other sections as well either side of the main one: There is a detailed section on the history and culture, along with itineraries and recommendations, along with frameworks of what you might want to do depending on how long you'll be staying. There is also a guide to how to get hold of your invaluable Japan Rail Pass, which you'd have to be barmy not to use if you intend to be there for a week or more. (Tip: Don't bother with the green passes - the standard carriages are more than enough luxury compared to the trains in the UK). Finally, there is a section at the back with numbers/dates/days of week etc. translations, useful phrases, and some basic timetables that can be used as a rule of thumb when getting from place to place.

The book in general has an emphasis on the JR lines (because that's what the pass is valid for), but does have some information about connecting lines in order to get to recommended destinations along the way. It would be nicer if there was a little more information about the non-JR sections and what there is to do along them, but there is only so many pages and the text can only be made so small, and its already packed to the gills with interesting and useful info already.

Overall, thoroughly recommended. Especially now as its been updated (2007) I took many books with me and found this to be enough for almost all my needs, hence why my copy of this one is so dog-eared and the others are pretty much mint. :)

In fact you only this book period because it tells you how to get around as well as defining what there is to detain a rail traveller in any particular place. We found it absolutely brilliant. I left my other guide books at home and slowly discarded brochures from JNTO as largely redundant.

The phrases in the back of the book were more helpful than a 3 month night school of Japanese 1 and the timetables are still fairly accurate. You can check these locally, on the internet before you leave, when you are there or have your nice Nagoya Hotel do that for you (Hotel Astria). All JR stations will help as well!

Back to the book however, what it doesn't tell you is really not worth knowing. We visited 2 listed steam attractions; the Locomotive Museum in Kyoto, impressive and the Senzu-Oigawa line even more so, including the singing conductor! Of the places it mentions, the Gold Leaf Museum is exactly as described down to the tea you will be served with tiny squares of gold leaf floating in it. There is usually some little thing you do not recall from the book, such as a little demonstration of what gold leaf really is like, which make this almost the perfect guide book.

Truly leave the rest at home and seek out only the very special extras if you must, such as "Walks in Nara" though we thought the 2 main things the book recommended for Nara were quite enough really, after all the Giant Buddha & the Lantern Temple are both poles apart and it was a hot day!

Will definitely look for another edition when we are next able to return to Japan.

This book was extremely helpful during our rail holiday in Japan. Provides useful tips about using the rail pass and infomation on places to visit. We didn't use any of the suggested routes, but the city information was helpful anyway. Not alwasy easy to find exactly what you need as information is organised by rail route and seems to jump about a bit.