Lonely Planet Japan: Detailed Itineraries | Travel Like a Local | Insider Tips | Covers Tokyo, Mt Fuji & around Tokyo, the Japan Alps, Kyoto, Okinawa and more (Travel Guide)

I picked up the Lonely Planet Japan guide expecting a standard travel overview, but I was genuinely surprised by the sheer volume of content packed into this book. What initially seemed like it might be a surface-level tourist guide turned out to be an incredibly thorough resource that goes far beyond the typical highlights.For anyone planning a trip to Japan, don’t underestimate how much valuable information this guide contains. It’s dense with content in the best possible way – you’ll find yourself discovering new places and experiences you hadn’t even considered. Well worth the investment for both first-time visitors and return travelers looking to explore beyond the beaten path.

A great resource for anyone traveling to Japan!

I’ve been reading this Lonely Planet Japan guide, and it’s absolutely inspiring! It’s not just a travel book — it’s a window into the culture, traditions, and beauty of Japan. From the onsen etiquette to hidden temples and local food tips, every page makes me more excited to explore this amazing country.If you’re dreaming of Japan or planning your trip, this book is a gem!

Bought this guide as was traveling to Japan and found it quite helpful but the problem for me is the format.As much as I love buying guides to prepare my trips, I cannot pass by the fact that they are not practical, especially in big city’s. 1st you always need to double check every places they suggest as they might have closed, be on renovation, have regulated entries etc… 2nd it takes you to tourists spots and do not show you the way of a more “local” experience.Great tool the be part of you preps as it is easy to read and carry strong knowledge in tourism but I can only recommend to also use other tools as map apps, social medias, and to lose yourself in the places you are gonna visit !Have a great time in Japan, you’ll have a blast !

I'm quite sad to be disliking a Lonely Planet book. It's never happened before, and they've been my companion through so many great adventures over the years.Researching online, apparently the publisher went through an ownership change in recent years, and I wouldn't be surprised if the poor level of helpfulness in this book is a consequence of cost-cutting in some way.What sealed the deal for me in returning this book was the Mt. Fuji section, which gave no overview of the towns nearby and how to make choices among them. Just kind of verbal diarrhea with little structure or organization to the writing. Among older Lonely Planet books, it was the helpful organization of information, and depth of detail that was the selling point, and that is absent here.You can tell the folks writing it are not really into the writing craft either. Adjectives like "amazing" and "incredible" don't show genuine enthusiasm, feeling or passion for the places which they're writing about.Returned it, and went ahead and bought a used copy of the older edition, which I hope will leave me feeling happier.

Very complete and easy to understand. It includes detailed itineraries, useful tips, and lots of information about Japanese culture. Perfect for first-time visitors. Highly recommended!

Call me old fashioned and yes you need all kinds of apps and cards to visit Japan today, but this is still essential to me in my travels. Used it to play my trip to Japan this summer and it was great. But for old people like me this is how we used to travel and still travel today, but I would suggest you will also need to watch some youtube before your trip.

I think this book is just okay. It didn’t get me excited about my Japan trip because the information is so dense, and there aren’t a lot of pictures. For example, the section on Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) in Kyoto—the place with the thousands of bright red torii gates—has only a short blurb and a photo of a single gate. So if you already knew you wanted to visit, you’d still have a hard time finding it in the book.This guide is very focused on culture rather than sightseeing or fun tourist activities (like cat cafés, maid cafés, owl cafés, or the streets of Akihabara). I get that it’s trying to cover all regions of Japan, even the remote islands, but because of that, the info on major cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka feels too compressed.I bought this book because Lonely Planet has an excellent Italy guide, and I was hoping this one would be just as good.