Time Out Tokyo

Just got back from a trip to Tokyo and this book was great. I bought the Rough Guide to Japan as well as this book, and I was glad to have this book while in Tokyo. It provided tons of info and lots and lots of pictures...I like to have pictures when I travel, it helps me make quick decisions about what I want to see and when.

I've just returned from my first 10 day trip to Tokyo and had to write about how fantastic this guide book was. The maps were excellent - especially since the streets in Tokyo are not always labeled. They enabled my group and I to find the excellent clubs, shrines, temples and restuarants with ease. All the places we checked out in the guide were fantastic and the paragraph descriptions were insightful and helpful. I will always take a Time Out Guide when traveling going forward!

I am usually less than impressed with Time Out - too concerned about being cool and hip; ocassionally preaching, sometimes overloaded with opinion. This is not the case with Tokyo. Yes, the guide sometimes slips into over-casual tone of oh-so-self-aware urban cool, which can be annoying, but overall this is a major success. I would say Time Out covers Tokyo better than Rough Guide Japan, by far the best guide to the country (where places OTHER than Tokyo are covered very well, and Hokkaido is just outstanding, but Tokyo chapter lacks punch and inspiration). Eyewitness and Fodors, although more than adequate, are clearly behind on this front; Lonely Planet is just about OK, which is more than can be said about many of the LP guides. Back to Time Out. I would say that maps could be better and some of the practicalities are sketchy, but overall description of the city, area by area, and why you would want to go there, are very good. The guide, regrettably, overlooked the town of Narita, which, 40 miles away from Tokyo, is so much more than the location of Narita international airport, although the giant Tokyo is just too close and is steeling its thunder. Most of the other guides have a good description of the town and Narita has a good tourist office. I found descriptions of restaurants good, but maybe too heavily biased towards foreign cuisine (why would anyone eat foreign food when visiting Japan, a paradise of gourmet adventures both cheap and expensive, is anybody's guess). Hotel descriptions, I thought, were really among the most accurate. I have stayed in quite a few places in Tokyo and upon checking my experiences against this guide, I would say it is very reliable. If you're only going to visit Tokyo, this is the natural choice. If you are touring Japan and have an all-country guide, this is still a book that you will not regret buying.

The one poor review this book has unfairly received has prompted me to put metaphorical pen to paper.I have been living in Tokyo for over two years, and find this by far the most useful guidebook available. I've been through the Lonely Planet (no addresses, only phone numbers, how useful is that for non-Japanese speaking visitors?) and the Rough Guide (full of mistakes), and this is the only one that even comes close to bringing this disparate city to life.I like the way the book as a whole is structured. It takes its time to tell you what is interesting about the various areas that make up Tokyo and leaves you to make your own mind up about whether you want to go there. Sure, the Time Out style may at times grate, but at least there IS a style. This is a book that has an attitude of its own. You may not like it, but at least you don't have to wade through the clumsy mundanities that pass for prose in the competition. Guide books that wear their hearts on their sleeves and provoke a reaction are all too scarce, and Time Out is to be applauded for venturing into areas where few others go.One of these is the gay section. In my new edition, this has four pages, and the maps have served me well on many occasions, since I often carelessly leave my compass at home, preferring to navigate by the landmarks that are clearly marked on the maps. Other tips that I knew nothing about, even as a long-term resident, include dressing up for cheap tickets for the movies, and the location of two well hidden bars in Shibuya. In short, I would recommend this book to anyone coming to Tokyo for any time from a few days to a few years. It makes the city sound like the fun place it is, rather than the sterile futurescape of western imaginings. The nightclubs section alone is worth the price of admission.

Concise descriptions of places to go to in Tokyo. Most helpful is the inclusion of addresses; where they can be found on the included 34 maps; the average prices of entrees, admissions, cover charge at restaurants, clubs, and bars; dress codes at different places; and websites if they're available. Especially helpful was the simple Japanese Phrases section and the Highlights Boxes. I would recommend this to any first time visitors to Japan. It's an interesting read even if you don't plan on going there.