Japan for Kids: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Their Children

OK. The book was written by an American primarily from an American point of view, and is heavily weighted towards life in Tokyo. Some basic demographics: Japan - total population about 127 million. The English speaking population in Tokyo is maybe 40,000 (if you assume that most of the West Europeans speak English on top of their mother tongues). The number of registered foreigners living in all of Japan is about 1,686,444 (as of Dec 2000) of which 2.7% are US citizens representing the fifth largest ethnic group after Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians and Philippinos. This is to give you an idea of how small the total number of English speaking foreign residents is. Naturally they are spread out very unequally all over this country with the greatest numbers concentrated in the Tokyo/Yokohama corridor and in the Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe region.Diane writes very positively. In spite of lack in total coverage of the whole country, this book makes Japan more attractive to people who would be overwhelmed otherwise by the exotic nature of Japan, a country where very few people are capable of communicating on even the simplest level in English (unlike Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden, Holland, India, etc.) The book is too short to address every nook and cranny of an endless topic, but it is a darn good start in the right direction and the only book of it's kind. Supplemented by the Japan Health Handbook, long term visitors have a good set of tools for tackling the job of living here with limited or no Japanese language ability. There are several chapters dealing with general information applicable to living in most urban areas of Japan. She has also included a lot of web site URLs in this second edition which make more detailed information on a local basis available. This book is not the definitive resource, nor was it meant to be at only 320 pages, but it is an excellant place to get started in the exploration of a potential lifetime experience.For a family travelling as tourists to Japan this book is also immensely useful coupled with the Lonely Planet Guide and universally helpful hotel concierges (even when their English is sometimes lacking). Even if this book only manages to impart to the reader the "flavor" of this country, the multitude of things that appear similar on the surface but are actually quite different, then the reader has acquired that much more data with which to navigate. It may be best to see this book as a good reference book which will lead to other places for more detailed information once arrived in Japan.

A more apt title for this book is perhaps "Tokyo for American Kids", because that is what it is mostly about. I am located in Yokohama, which is not far from Tokyo, so fortunately it is still useful for me, as it contains some references to Yokohama. However, if you are living in other parts of Japan, the book's usefulness is limited. The book makes many references to getting access to things that you are used to "back home", where home is America, so if you aren't American that's not much help either. Having said all that, the book has many good features if you are living in or near Tokyo, including lists of English-speaking doctors, parks/playgrounds and things to see and do, however don't rely too heavily on the directions to the attractions given in the book, as some of them are pretty ordinary. There is enough general type of information to make the book worth buying regardless of your location, if only to give you an idea of what to expect if you are moving to Japan with children, just don't be disappointed when you discover that most of the specific details provided are aimed at people living in Tokyo. If you are moving to Tokyo, this book is excellent. If you are an American moving to Tokyo, then it's even better!