Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52526 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
Tokyo is a city that evolves with breathtaking pace, thanks largely to a local obsession with renewal and innovation. Combine this with the resurgence of the Japanese economy and there's never been a more exciting time to visit. Spectacular restaurants and bars, with designs from Tokyo's young hotshots, are opening across the city, and the luxury hotel chains are finally descending, with a Mandarin Oriental, Conrad, Ritz Carlton and Peninsula all joining the fray. The wildly popular lifestyle complex Roppongi Hills has new rivals in the form of Ando Tadao's Omotesando Hills and the soon-to-open Midtown Project. Yet in the midst of this consumer frenzy, the traditional Tokyo is also enjoying a renaissance. Zen practices are making a comeback and traditional Japanese design is now all the rage. With foreign interest in Japan showing no signs of waning, "Time Out Tokyo" is the most reliable commentator on its dazzlingly fast paced, ever-changing capital.

From the Publisher
With the help of local journalists, writers and experts, the Time Out Tokyo guide leads you through the marvels and mysteries of the world's most undiscovered capital

Customer Reviews

Bang up to date
This is the most up to date and un stuffy book available on Tokyo and hence indispensible.

I really gets you out and about the city.

The photos seem to be taken whilst running - but that helps to capture the motion of the city.

Forget dinosaurs like Lonely Planet and Rough Guides - if it is Tokyo you are in this guide is what you want. Highly Recommended.

Not for a first time visitor
I've used a dozen Time Out city guides around the world, and they are almost always reliable and informative. However, despite having this guide to show me around the city, I left Tokyo feeling much like Bill Murray at the end of 'Lost in Translation'.

'Compiled and researched by a team with other 200 years' combined experience of life in the Japanese capital' boasts the back cover of the guide, but this may be its problem rather than its strength. Although the contributors regularly emphasise the excitement and diversity of the Tokyo, they fail to bring it to life.

More frustratingly, information on the basics is weak. Perhaps it's the rigid format of the Time Out guides, with a separate 'directory' at the back, but I learnt more about public transport, tourist information centres and accessing the internet from five minutes browsing 'Lonely Planet Japan' than in many frustrating hours with this guidebook.

For example, for a first time visitor the system of addresses in Japanese is very confusing. So it's not good enough to provide not very detailed maps. How about some clearer directions rather than just mentioning which railway station to get off at? Why show some places mentioned in the text, on the map, and not others? And why having an arrow pointing in a vague direction off the map, when there is no way of finding the location? I have a degree in geography and have been to countless cities around the world, but still managed to get lost using these maps.

I can't quite put my finger on it but there was something that meant this guidebook didn't gel. It's the only time I've had that problem with a Time Out guidebook - I went straight from Tokyo to Hong Kong and had a great time with the Time Out HK guide - so if you've had good experiences with other books in the series, be warned.

As you can tell, this guidebook and I fell out. You'll notice the five star reviews come from Tokyo residents, and I have no doubt that the detailed listings are invaluable, but I would not recommend this book for a first time visitor. There must be better ones out there. Go and flick through another one in a bookshop instead. (Only kidding, Amazon editor.)

It's the details that count!
This is my third guide book for Japan. The first and second being a quick Tokyo guide, which I'd finised within a couple of weeks, and full Japan guide which you could hardly carry around with you! This guide is so easy to use and although I'd already been there 3 months when I bought it, there were still so many places to visit. The cafe and restaurant suggestions are really good modern ones and the ideas for shopping are great.

I will now use TimeOut as my main travel guide for the future - I do a lot of travelling and am so pleased I found this series!