Tokyo: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Outside the U.S., my two favorite cities in the world are London and Tokyo, and it's far more difficult to find reliable, up-to-date information on the latter, especially with the economic ups and downs Japan has experienced in the past decade. (London mostly just keeps on keeping on.) This series is aimed not at the tourist but at the person who expects to be living, and probably working, in a new cultural environment for an extended period. Sure, you want to know about restaurants and what sights to see, but of more immediate importance is discovering how you go about getting the electricity turned on, and figuring out the subway system, and -- especially in a non-European country like Japan -- knowing how not to look like an idiot and avoid offending your host. The author covers all those things and many more, with sections on introducing children to Tokyo (they'll learn the language much more quickly than you), transportation (forget buying a car), the health care system (keep plenty of cash on hand for emergency medical treatment, because most hospitals and clinics don't take plastic and hardly anyone in Tokyo accepts checks), and many other subjects of interest to the new arrival. My only complaint is that the book received insufficient editing; there are far too many typos, missing words, and awkward sentences. And the index, frankly, is pathetic. But what the author actually has to say is very much worth hearing.