Rating: 
Summary: For a real Japan experience, look elsewhere...
Review: Although this book is filled with helpful information, for example, "recommended tours if you have 1 day, 3 days, or 5 days", or "Top 10 Japanese experiences", the (rich, culturally inept) woman who wrote this book intended this for a very specific demographic. This causes a whole plethora of problems when trying to use the book, particularly if you are young, can speak some Japanese, or would like a Real Japanese Experience. Why?1. Reviews for restaurants and hotels seem to focus on restaurants that serve Western food and speak English (how dare they speak Japanese in Japan!) and Western style hotels that have beds, rather than Japanese styled tatami mat rooms and futons. The humbling experience of entering a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant and pointing at other people's dishes or the pictures on the menu and eating foods you've never seen or heard of-or staying at a fairly inexpensive hotel sleeping on the floor in a futon-is top notch! I felt this book really neglected to mention a lot of these opportunities for cultural experiences, and I found that frustrating when looking for ideas. 2."And what good is a book with no pictures?" Alice wondered...Many of the best ways to get excited about a place is to first see pictures. There are very few, if any pictures in this book. 3. She refers to the Japanese language as "symbols". 4. In addition, rather than giving the Japanese characters for the cities, towns, restaurants and hotels she recommends you visit on that same page (this is very helpful because English translations are not always written, but you can easily make sure you're in the right place simply by comparing the book with the sign), she puts them all in an appendix at the back for inconvenient referencing. Including both the Japanese character and Japanese pronounciation of each location is extremely helpful. Overall, the book will assist you in having a wonderful English tour of Japan, but I think you may miss out on some great Japanese experiences that do not require a lot of money (which many of her suggestions do require). Of course, this will involve a little bit of work and discomfort on the part of the tourist (although by no means Japanese fluency). Nothing compares to the satisfaction of having successfully ordered yakisoba in broken Japanese! Bottom Line: This book is better used as supplemental reading to another book, although the beneficial descriptions of must-sees in Japan that are the most helpful in this book can really be found in just about every other guide book.
Rating:
Summary: For a real Japan experience, look elsewhere...
Review: Although this book is filled with helpful information, for example, "recommended tours if you have 1 day, 3 days, or 5 days", or "Top 10 Japanese experiences", the (rich, culturally inept) woman who wrote this book intended this for a very specific demographic. This causes a whole plethora of problems when trying to use the book, particularly if you are young, can speak some Japanese, or would like a Real Japanese Experience. Why? 1. Reviews for restaurants and hotels seem to focus on restaurants that serve Western food and speak English (how dare they speak Japanese in Japan!) and Western style hotels that have beds, rather than Japanese styled tatami mat rooms and futons. The humbling experience of entering a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant and pointing at other people's dishes or the pictures on the menu and eating foods you've never seen or heard of-or staying at a fairly inexpensive hotel sleeping on the floor in a futon-is top notch! I felt this book really neglected to mention a lot of these opportunities for cultural experiences, and I found that frustrating when looking for ideas. 2."And what good is a book with no pictures?" Alice wondered...Many of the best ways to get excited about a place is to first see pictures. There are very few, if any pictures in this book. 3. She refers to the Japanese language as "symbols". 4. In addition, rather than giving the Japanese characters for the cities, towns, restaurants and hotels she recommends you visit on that same page (this is very helpful because English translations are not always written, but you can easily make sure you're in the right place simply by comparing the book with the sign), she puts them all in an appendix at the back for inconvenient referencing. Including both the Japanese character and Japanese pronounciation of each location is extremely helpful. Overall, the book will assist you in having a wonderful English tour of Japan, but I think you may miss out on some great Japanese experiences that do not require a lot of money (which many of her suggestions do require). Of course, this will involve a little bit of work and discomfort on the part of the tourist (although by no means Japanese fluency). Nothing compares to the satisfaction of having successfully ordered yakisoba in broken Japanese! Bottom Line: This book is better used as supplemental reading to another book, although the beneficial descriptions of must-sees in Japan that are the most helpful in this book can really be found in just about every other guide book.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe I can burn it?
Review: I bought the book for a general overview of places in Japan, and was very disappointed. If you're going outside of major cities, information is very minimal, even skipping some cities with populations of 1 million people. The entire Okinawa island chain was left out as well! In short, this book is terrible!
Rating: 
Summary: Enough of a guide for the short-hop traveller.
Review: I found this book extremely useful in planning my trip to Japan, especially when selecting destinations outside of the obvious Tokyo and Kyoto. In particular this book convinced me to stay over in Miyajima after going to Hiroshima, and to spend a night at a Buddhist temple in Koyasan. These were unforgettable experiences. While this guide does not provide adequate navigational information (I used Lonely Planet and Japan Solo) it is more valuable for itinerary planning. I also found the hotel and restaurant recommendations reliable and interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Indespensible for a first time traveler to Japan.
Review: I found this book extremely useful in planning my trip to Japan, especially when selecting destinations outside of the obvious Tokyo and Kyoto. In particular this book convinced me to stay over in Miyajima after going to Hiroshima, and to spend a night at a Buddhist temple in Koyasan. These were unforgettable experiences. While this guide does not provide adequate navigational information (I used Lonely Planet and Japan Solo) it is more valuable for itinerary planning. I also found the hotel and restaurant recommendations reliable and interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Very user friendly and well structured guide
Review: I have the Japan Solo and Lonely Planet guides as well but this is my favorite. I rely on this one for recommendations on accomodation (excellent that this guide details proximity to transportation & sights) & must sees. This is the only one that explains public bath etiquette -prepares the first time visitor for such an experience. The layout of the guide makes for easy reference - the glossary of common Japanese terms and phrases is very helpful as well. Japan Solo has the best maps though.
Rating:
Summary: Very user friendly and well structured guide
Review: I have the Japan Solo and Lonely Planet guides as well but this is my favorite. I rely on this one for recommendations on accomodation (excellent that this guide details proximity to transportation & sights) & must sees. This is the only one that explains public bath etiquette -prepares the first time visitor for such an experience. The layout of the guide makes for easy reference - the glossary of common Japanese terms and phrases is very helpful as well. Japan Solo has the best maps though.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and Reliable
Review: I've been living in Japan for six months now, using this book to plan a number of trips to various places. So far, it hasn't let me down once; recommended eateries and accommodation have been excellent, and the guides to attractions have been accurate and helpful. It is targeted at people who speak no Japanese, and who are interested in seeing the tourist sights. If you're interested in hiking around the bits of Japan that no tourists visit, you'd be better off with a different book. However, I don't see that as a flaw of this book. It does what it sets out to do extremely well.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and well used
Review: If you are going to Japan for a week or two on vacation, this is the one book you will need. Some go into much greater depth, but Frommer's provided me with plenty of options at all price catagories, all of which were excellent. By the end of the trip I didn't use my Lonely Planet guide any longer as I trusted the Frommer's guide. The size is easy to carry and the orgination makes it easy to quickly reference on the street. The only thing missing is better maps, but I traveled with one in addition to the guide to round out my trip. Well done.
Rating:
Summary: Enough of a guide for the short-hop traveller.
Review: Not a bad guide. Could be a little better on reviewing the history of the country and detailing the less travelled, but equally beautiful areas of Japan. Also I found cheaper options more plentiful than the book describes. But certainly enough for the short-time visitor.
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