Rating: 
Summary: Badly flawed, but the best option for budget travel
Review: Initially frustrated with this guidebook's (I bought the "red kimono" edition in spring 2004) limp recommendations and surly tone, I also bought the new "Let's Go Japan" book. While more useful than the "Let's Go" book, the LP version has some very flawed contents. The directions to the top recommended ryokan / guesthouses in Hiroshima and Tokyo were poor or nonexistant. Landmarks and restaurants shown on the maps no longer existed in Ginza, Ikebukuro and Kyoto. The photos and history are nice, but in my opinion a wasteful padding. I'd much rather have a $20 book without the fluff, or at least a $27 book that's accurate. Cities change and mistakes are made, but when LP's writers place a ryokan at the top of the list (incidentally, the "best budget option" in Tokyo proved to be extremely overrated by this book), there should be a premium placed on the traveller being able to find the place. I gave LP 2 stars instead of 1 for the very valuable advice to purchase a 7-day rail pass before visiting Japan (but did not distinguish between a "green car" ride and an ordinary ride; in my experience, the ordinary non-smoking cars were spacious enough). If and when Fodor's/Frommer's comes out with a new edition, it will almost certainly be a better value than LP.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tour Guide for Grownups Who Aren't Necessarily Grown Up
Review: Lonely Planet Japan proved to be incredibly helpful in planning for and making my first trip to Japan. The cultural information in the front of the book is accurate and useful. The maps and directions on how to get to the sights are even more accurate - and in a country that can seem overwhelmingly urban at times that made life a lot easier. They tell you where the bus stops by the stations are and how to get to the airports using public transportation when it's time to go home - and that can be complicated some times, especially if you're on a budget. Lonely Planet Japan is especially good on directing you to more than just the major tourist stops, like some of the other guides I consulted. As someone who prefers to see some of the off-the-beaten path places, this was useful. Paired with the Lonely Planet Japanese phrase book I, with a minimal knowledge of Japanese, was able to get around, find good food, and good places to stay. The only drawback is that the book was published a few years ago and some of the prices (surprise) have gone up a bit - but usually only a 100 yen or so for admissions, and proportionately so for hotels. If you're going to Japan, or just want to find out what's over there and learn a little about the country, this is an excellent book
Rating: 
Summary: essential, but imperfect
Review: lonely planet japan was my guide of choice for my journey through the country last year and i was pleased with my choice when i noted that nearly every traveler i met in the hostels relied on it as well. i found the information to be interesting and helpful, although not always accurate. (you know there's a problem with the map when it takes an hour to find the hostel with the help of your english speaking japanese friend). though i think it desperately needs an update and the maps need a lot of work, this guide is still your best choice overall and i would certainly consider buying a future addition for a return trip.
Rating: 
Summary: Competent guide, but lacking for the adventurous
Review: LP does what it does best... filling in the majority of tourists to any said destination with what it perceives are the main attractions, as well as accomodation ranges depending on your budget. This publication is no exception. More intrepid travellers need not apply. This edition covers all the major cities, as well as smaller towns of historical or other special interest. LP's strength is in utilizing its legion of faithful readers for updates to the status of establishments listed in its pages. This has also been a thorn in its side, as information may be slightly questionable. In contrast to a country beset with political turmoil, one should expect that the information quoted in this guide should have not changed too much following its publication. This has been generally true, as the ryokan prices where we stayed in the summer of 1999, where unchanged from the published prices. Even more remarkable... I have not noticed any establishment (so far), capitalizing on their inclusion in this guide. Most ryokan owners recommended in the book speak some english. Which is either a remarkable coincidence, or the authors have taken the easy way out and gone with establishments already popular with foreigners. Maps are sufficient in most cases. More street names would definitely be a help. Counting off blocks became our best means of deducing a destination for the smaller towns. A ryokan we stayed in in Kyoto had poor directions from LP, and the map marked a single road, when in fact, there had been four identical thoroughfares. Needless to say, we were lost. The "Facts about the Country" section is well researched. By no means all inclusive, it does the job well of providing an introduction. Not much is said about where to go about purchasing ceramics (eg. imari, shigaraki, kutani, satsuma), which rank highly among tourists to the country. What suited us best in our travels in Japan was to use the LP guide as a general informative guide to the region, but using other books (eg. "Little Adventures in Tokyo") for a little more insider's knowledge. To be fair, one can understand the difficulty in jampacking a wealth of information into a guidebook which. above all, must be fairly portable lest it be relegated to our coffee tables.
Rating:
Summary: To much to travel with
Review: LPJ presents a very in depth picture of Japan. If you are traveling to one place and staying for a while, LP will let you get to know the neighborhoods of your major cities. However, if you are traveling for a week or two, it goes way too in depth. The book is bulky and I didn't carry it with me as I toured around. In addition, all though the information is good, the author's have a very negative attitude (especially against the US military) leaving a bad taste in your mouth before you set out. Better books are out there.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for an enjoyable trip
Review: My own recent experience with LPJ is very similar to the other positive reviews submitted by readers. I attended a scientific conference in Sapporo as a first-time visitor to Japan. By judicious reference to the book, my friends and I felt comfortable in what was to us an exotic locale. Indeed, it became a cliche for someone to yell "check the book!" anytime we were confused or unsure about something, and I quickly grew to depend on it when visiting shops and restaurants. LPJ devotes most of its space to the bigger cities, but it still manages to give a reasonable introduction to less familiar destinations in Japan.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensiive, Well Balanced, Good Photographs and Maps
Review: My preference is the Eyewitness Travel DK - Japan - which has excellent graphics but is just 400 pages long. But now I have to reconsider because of this new guide from Lonely Planet. This book is just a tremendous effort 800 pages long, very well balanced with photos, maps, history, etc. It is clearly a 5 star guide. I would rate it (and DK Eyewitness Travel) head and shoulders ahead of Frommers, or Rough Guide or similar books that are less well balanced. Japan is a place one does not visit every day and it is expensive. Also I like to go well armed with maps and books because unlike the USA or Canada some areas have no English signs so the more information the better. It is unnerving to be on trains and subways where there is just Japanese signs. I would recommend this book, and at least one book on Japan's society - see Amazon.com plus a good map book. This book is well balanced and like the DK guide is that it pulls a lot of things together such as history and culture and urban areas. The book brings it all to life with just magnificent photos and maps. Personally I would buy more than one guide and definitely a guide on just Tokyo, so I would buy this book or the lighter 400 page DK guide and one book on Tokyo. Either case this is an excellent buy. 5 stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: maps
Review: my trip to Japan was based on this book.
and maps are important because I visited really small
places.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional!
Review: Of a five-week junket to Asia in 2003, Taiwan formed the first wing and Japan the second. The Lonely Planet guides for each locale accompanied me for both wings my Asian vacation. Considering how dreadful the Taiwan guide was (you can check out my review of it), the Japan guide was remarkably voluminous and useful. I used the 7th edition for my trip (the 8th came out while I was overseas), but, as outdated as it was, it still proved to be an excellent resource for my trip. First facts - I speak only restaurant and "ninja" Japanese, am Chinese, and am ninhogo-illiterate, so I was plopped into the middle of a country where I had few internal resources to call on. Armed with the Lonely Planet guide and reasonable phrasebook, I was able to navigate my way through Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nagoya, and Himeji without any significant problems. The restaurant recommendations were pretty much on the mark - the okonomiyaki and fugu joints in Osaka were outstanding in quality and price, and the gyoza recommended in Kyoto was phenomenally tasty, to pick a few. The city maps were pretty accurate, although some of the club and bar scene locales were defunct or vague. Eschewing the book's rec's after a couple of disappointments, I started hitting random places that looked, and were in fact, pretty cool. The tourist spot info is pretty accurate and includes stuff that sometimes isn't noted in the local tourist literature (I highly recommend checking out the little "meditation" waterfall mentioned in the Kyoto section). Lonely Planet Japan is an exceptional guide book. I would recommend it to anyone who is planning a trip Japan-wards, regardless of taste - this book covers everything. I intend to purchase the latest edition before my next trip there (soon, I hope!).
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional!
Review: Of a five-week junket to Asia in 2003, Taiwan formed the first wing and Japan the second. The Lonely Planet guides for each locale accompanied me for both wings my Asian vacation. Considering how dreadful the Taiwan guide was (you can check out my review of it), the Japan guide was remarkably voluminous and useful. I used the 7th edition for my trip (the 8th came out while I was overseas), but, as outdated as it was, it still proved to be an excellent resource for my trip. First facts - I speak only restaurant and "ninja" Japanese, am Chinese, and am ninhogo-illiterate, so I was plopped into the middle of a country where I had few internal resources to call on. Armed with the Lonely Planet guide and reasonable phrasebook, I was able to navigate my way through Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nagoya, and Himeji without any significant problems. The restaurant recommendations were pretty much on the mark - the okonomiyaki and fugu joints in Osaka were outstanding in quality and price, and the gyoza recommended in Kyoto was phenomenally tasty, to pick a few. The city maps were pretty accurate, although some of the club and bar scene locales were defunct or vague. Eschewing the book's rec's after a couple of disappointments, I started hitting random places that looked, and were in fact, pretty cool. The tourist spot info is pretty accurate and includes stuff that sometimes isn't noted in the local tourist literature (I highly recommend checking out the little "meditation" waterfall mentioned in the Kyoto section). Lonely Planet Japan is an exceptional guide book. I would recommend it to anyone who is planning a trip Japan-wards, regardless of taste - this book covers everything. I intend to purchase the latest edition before my next trip there (soon, I hope!).
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