Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty pointless, actually, 18 Oct 2008
This is the only book of its type, which might endear it to you. It gives English maps of the various Tokyo subways/rail networks, plus information on how to use the subway and the various available tickets, a double page spread on each of the lines, a chart for finding the correct exit from each station, and an index of which station to go to for each attraction. That's pretty much it, and it seems useful.
Actually, it's almost completely useless. The most important thing is the English-language subway map, but you can pick one of those up very easily in Tokyo, and this one is rendered all but useless because it's reproduced across the fold, making it impossible to read a lot of the names. More useful, anyway, than a purely English map is one that is bilingual, having both the English and Japanese station names.
The station-by-station lists of each of the various lines is completely pointless, and nothing you can't figure out from the map.
The correct exit charts seem to make no sense whatsoever, and again are pointless. In Tokyo, each subway platform contains a number of charts, pasted to the walls, which show you which carriage of the train you should board to get to the exits -- which ones will take you next to which escalators/stairways/elevators, etc. Each station platform also tells you which exit to take for which attraction. So you don't need this information in the book, and it's so much easier on the actual platform charts. This book certainly does not tell you which carriage to board for which exit.
Finding which station to go to for each attraction is fairly useless. All you need is a good map of Tokyo. It will have the stations marked. Find the nearest station to the place you want to go and bingo -- you're there.
The ticketing information is out of date. The book mentions Pasmo but does not mention Suica at all. Suica takes all the pain out of figuring out fares in the Tokyo subway. You just swipe in and swipe out. You're deducted the correct amount automatically -- just like the equivalent system in the London underground. You top up Suica whenever you need to either at the station before you swipe in or at a Fare Adjustment machine before you swipe out. Anyway, buying tickets in the Tokyo underground couldn't beeasier -- all machines give you an English language option, and the cardinal rule is, if you don't know what to buy, get the cheapest possible ticket, and then put it through the Fare Adjustment machine on your way out. It will tell you how much more you need to pay, and give you a ticket to let you out once you've paid it. (Unlike London, there are not penalties.) Tokyo underground is very friendly to English speakers -- on the trains, announcements are always in Japanese and English, and notices are all in English too. Any guidebook to Tokyo will tell you the basics of using the system. It's really the friendliest subway system in the world -- you'll be using it in seconds. And throwing away this book at the first available bin.
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by Atsushi Umeda
by Jan Dodd
by Yoshi Abe
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