Tokyo City Atlas: A Bilingual Guide (3rd Ed.)

Book Description

This is the updated third edition of an atlas first published in 1998. During the past six years, the transportation network of the metropolitan area of Tokyo has changed a good deal. In the case of the subway system, lines have been extended, and some rapid-transit lines have been added, so
code numbers for each station are given in our atlas for foreign travelers to identify them easily. In addition, as a result of urban development in areas such as Roppongi, Shinagawa, and Shiodome, quite a few new company buildings, stores, and hotels have appeared. These developments are also
covered in this updated edition.

- 21 area maps of Metropolitan Tokyo (42 pages) showing not only chome numbers but also block numbers (banchi).
- 18 detailed maps of Central Tokyo (30 pages) to guide the reader even to numbered subway station entrances.
- An additional 7 maps of central Yokohama and Kawasaki and access maps to 3 U.S. military bases (Yokosuka, Yokota and Zama).
- Comprehensive index: More than 3,600 entries of town and station names, as well as major organizations and buildings, provide the user with easy access to all destinations.

Customer Reviews:

Best thing I brought on my vacation........2007-10-17

This was the most useful thing I brought to Tokyo. I used it every day I was there, and the bilingual feature came in handy considering many fare charts and train stations don't have the Anglicized spellings of routes/stations prominently displayed.

It was most useful when I found my train line unexpectedly delayed/indefinitely shut-down one evening and had to find my way to the next station to get home. Or when I thought Yoyogi Park looked like a short walk from the top of the Met. Gov't Building and took off on foot, only to get a very interesting route through several wards before finding the park. Even though I was quite off course, the map was accurate, reflected the landmarks (good luck finding a named street), and made getting around easy. I got lost but could always reference the map and find my way home.

My only criticism is that it did not go into much detail beyond central Tokyo and I spent some time in outlying areas. Obviously it's a large city and hard to pack so much into a still-portable book, but something of the suburbs would be nice in future editions.

At the advice of others.......2007-08-24

I recently went to Tokyo. Before I got there I thought I'd be lost if there was no way to figure out the somewhat strange addressing system in use there. Well, as it happened, you can get lost just the same (especially if you're looking for an establishment that closed two years ago!). I think the map is quite good but one has to keep in mind that if one is lost with the map, it's as good as not having a map if you can't speak Japanese.

Don't even think about going to Tokyo without it. .......2007-08-16

Quite simply, this atlas is worth its weight in gold. There are few street address systems more confusing than the Japanese variety, streets are rarely labeled (and even then, if you don't read Japanese, you're usually sunk), and guidebook maps, as I know from rueful experience, look precise and then require half an hour circling several look-alike blocks in confusion.

To all these problems, the Bilingual Atlas is the solution. Streets are labeled in Japanese and in romaji, block numbers are clearly designated, shrines, temples, hotels, stores and almost every conceivable point of interest are clearly labled, and the maps even mark where the various subway station exits deposit commuters. The subway and train maps are comprehensive and as easy to understand as anything you'll find.

My only complaint? The pages aren't completely waterproof, as I found out the hard way one night in Shinjuku.

thank god we bought this book.......2007-08-12

this is an indispensible guide for tokyo. do yourself a favor and buy this book if you plan to be in tokyo longer than a week. we would be lost without it. hell is coming back as a tokyo mailman!!!!!

Good Maps, but heavy to carry........2007-07-16

While I did use this book a lot (I had the paperback version), I found it heavy to carry. What I did most days was refer to it and cross referance with my paper map, plan our days travels and then leave it back at our apt. I brought my paper map everywhere.
I like to tear out the sections of the travel book that I will need for the day to cut down on weight and bulk. Since we needed umbrellas(it rains a lot in Tokyo), Jackets and water bottles, camara, hats and maps it was all a bit cumbersom.

Average customer rating:

Best of the New
good story
Out of Sight
Grittily Horrifying
Out: A novel

Out: A Novel
Natsuo Kirino
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400078377
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Book Description

Nothing in Japanese literature prepares us for the stark, tension-filled, plot-driven realism of Natsuo Kirino’s award-winning literary mystery Out.

This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot’s ringleader, but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning, as it leads to a terrifying foray into the violent underbelly of Japanese society.

At once a masterpiece of literary suspense and pitch-black comedy of gender warfare, Out is also a moving evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds, and the friendships that bolster them in the aftermath.

Customer Reviews:

Best of the New.......2007-10-07

A breathtaking novel that, for once, lives up to its hype. In fact it surpasses it. It is darkly, grotesquely humane.

good story.......2007-09-28

I found this book so fascinating. The plot is very good and every character is so full of life. Strongly recommended.

Out of Sight.......2007-09-27

This is a real page turner. It will keep you up past your bedtime. You won't be able to put it down. Okay, you may get the point. You will find yourself walking and struggling with Masako. The only thing I did not like is the ending. How could Masako feel anything for Satake? Masako was so logical, strong, and methodical.
Another strength of the book is its depiction of the struggle of the poor working class to survive. Most people have boring and painful jobs that they suffer only for the buck (or the yen). Their poverty wears on their families; there seems to be no room for familial warmth in this cold world. And Kirino captures that spirit with great skill.

Grittily Horrifying.......2007-09-09

I wasn't prepared for this novel. I couldn't put it down and I am still thinking about it. Everyone I've recommended this book to thought it was a great read. Sometimes I had trouble getting my copy from friends because their friends wanted to read it.

Out is not for the faint of heart though; chapters and chapters of plot tend to explode in frightening scenes of carnage that caused my heart to skip a beat (or two).

Out: A novel.......2007-09-08

During the reading of this novel I really wanted to be able to read Japanese. The translation at times confused me with euphimisms that I felt pandered to American expectations regarding this genre of fiction. I admired the protagonist but she unfortunatley fell in love with another. That love is what I found revolving around the central theme... and what makes the author a worthy competitor in the guessing game of looking into the well of human darkness.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies

ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Lust in Translation: The Rules of Infidelity from Tokyo to Tennessee

Average customer rating:

A good qualitative analysis
Anecdotal (but not funny)
Infidelity around the World
EXCELLENT book!
Unique & humorous perspective on cultural differences

Lust in Translation: The Rules of Infidelity from Tokyo to Tennessee
Pamela Druckerman
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594201145
Release Date: 2007-04-19

Book Description

An irreverent and hilarious journey around the world to examine how and why people cheat on their spouses; this global look at infidelity reveals that Americans are uniquely mixed up about being faithful.

It's an adulterous world out there. Russian husbands and wives don't believe that beach-resort flings violate their marital vows. Japanese businessmen, armed with the aphorism "If you pay, it's not cheating," flock to sex clubs where the extramarital services on offer include "getting oral sex without showering first." South Africans may be the masters of creative accounting: Pollsters there had to create separate categories for men who cheat, and men who only cheat while drunk.

In America, however, there is never a free pass when it comes to infidelity. According to our national moral compass, cheating is abominable no matter what the circumstances. But do we actually behave differently than everyone else? Pamela Druckerman, a former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, decided to delve into this incredibly taboo topic. She interviews people all over the world, from retirees in South Florida to Muslim polygamists in Indonesia; from Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn to the men who keep their mistresses in a "concubine village" outside Hong Kong.

Druckerman talks to psychologists, sex researchers, marriage counselors, and most of all, cheaters and the people they've cheated on, and concludes that Americans are the least adept at having affairs, have the most trouble enjoying them, and suffer the most in their aftermath.

Lust in Translation is a voyeuristic, statistics-packed, sometimes shocking, often hysterical, worldwide glimpse into the endlessly intriguing world of extramarital sex. It may be politically incorrect to say so, but who knew infidelity could be this fascinating?

Customer Reviews:

A good qualitative analysis.......2007-10-17

Despite the lack of quantitative data, Pamela Druckerman is giving an interesting perspective of what adultery is and means over the world. Even though the author's perspectives are a bit culturally biased (she is American), she points rightfully elements of culture, of sociology, of moral, of religion which explain at least what is considered as "cheating" or not.

The limits of this book lie in the fact that it sometimes fall into cultural cliches and a certain ethnocentrism. The author, a former Wall Street Journal journalist based in Paris (France), remains partially prisoner of her own culture.

However, this is a stimulating reading, which opens interesting perspectives for cross-cultural couples, but also our unformulated conceptions of what is a "good couple".

Anecdotal (but not funny).......2007-10-17

Pay attention to that one sentence from the Publishers Weekly: "Druckerman (the author) offers an anecdotal rather than a scholarly exploration of the international etiquette of adultery." What worse, and other reviewers noted that already, that anecdotal treatment is not especially interesting.

Infidelity around the World.......2007-09-01

In March or April, Lust in Translation received a glamorous review in The Economist and sparked my interest. It's an informative book about the cultural aspects of affairs... Pamela Druckerman somehow researches this thorny subject and presents rare insights into cheating in the US, France, Russia, Japan, Indonesia, China and South Africa.

Having had exposure to the cultures in the USA, France and Russia, I did not find the chapters about these three countries surprising. In a way, the book just confirmed what I already knew or suspected. In contrast, what goes on (or doesn't go on) in a Japanese bedroom was completely novel to me.

I would not necessarily recommend this book to an American cheated or cheating spouse. It is neither a self-help guide to appeal to the former nor a manual on how to have affairs to satisfy the latter. Nevertheless, if you are looking for an easy, interesting read and want to be culturally informed about the subject, this book is one of a kind. Just be prepared for your spouse's raised eyebrows and have an answer to the question "Why on Earth are you reading THIS book?"

EXCELLENT book!.......2007-07-24

As an American who lived in Japan for several years, I believe that Ms. Druckerman's observations of the culture surrounding marriage, courtship, and extra-marital affairs in Japan are very accurate. I also enjoyed reading the rest of the book, and found it to be well-researched, well-analyzed, and well-written. This book does not aim to be a self-help book; rather, it is more of a sociological perspective on a universal issue. The book's description of cultural differences and personal perspectives regarding infidelity are fascinating. Overall, the book is interesting and enjoyable to read, and I highly recommend it.

Unique & humorous perspective on cultural differences.......2007-06-30

I decided to buy a copy of "Lust in Translation" by Pamela Druckerman because way back when (mid 1980s), Pamela and I were US House of Representatives pages together. Other than an occasional email contact, I had not directly heard much from Pamela. I had read several of her Wall Street Journal articles over the years.

As someone who thoroughly enjoys reading about other cultures and people, this book fit my occasional non-fiction reading habits. I wasn't looking for anything "heavy" - as in, full of facts, figures, dates, or history. And, I certainly wanted to stay away from anything that seemed academic or dry.

It's fair to say that if you're looking for relatively creative non-fiction spanning several cultures that are not frequently bunched together or compared (including Hasidic Jews, French, and Chinese), you'll find it hard to put down this book.

In my opinion, Druckerman's writing style mirrors what you would expect from a former Wall Street Journal reporter. She mixes interviews, statistics, and commentary in a nearly seamless manner. In a sense, it's a collection of long articles - each relating to a different culture's practices and perspectives relating to infidelity.

There are many funny tidbits (using words you usually don't see in serious non-fiction) about how each culture covered refers to affairs in their language - often using slang terms. I laughed out loud a few times.

To me, the best contribution of the book is comparing the stereotypes regarding infidelity for each culture to how it is currently viewed within the culture. I was left surprised that anyone would share some of the details described in the book - even on an anonymous basis.

My overall conclusion is that this book falls into the category of "Truth is stranger than fiction." The way Druckerman handles this topic, it's possibly more funny than fiction, too.

Average customer rating:

We might be Fruits too.
Nice!
This is a great photo book.
A Birthday Gift
Colorful World

Fruits
Shoichi Aoki
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com's Best of 2001

If you ever wondered where the catwalk got its claws, then the portraits gathered in photographer Shoichi Aoki's book Fruits, from the streets of Harajuku in Tokyo, point the way to an extraordinarily imaginative and invariably stunning glut of mongrel fashion heists. A best-of collection from the fanzine of the same name, and published for the first time outside Japan, Fruits keeps its style clean: front-on, razor-sharp images, ranging from the deadpan to the manic, of the sharpest collages of sartorial influence that, usually, little money can buy. From off the peg to off the wall, kitsch to bitch, each person bears a combination and philosophy as distinctive as DNA. All shades of aesthetic are raided, with exquisite, scrupulous attention to detail. Punk is a favorite, as is, appropriately, Vivienne Westwood, alongside Milk and Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the occasional Comme des Garçons. Many of the outfits, though, are second-hand or self-assembly, such as a skirt drooping petals of men's silk ties, Wa-mono, when tradition Japanese clothes are topped with, say, an authentic bowler hat, EGL (elegant gothic Lolita), and a swathe of tartans, pinks, and turquoises. The most malleable feature, unsurprisingly, is hair, with dreadlocks, mohicans, back-combing, and crops dyed an irradiated spectrum. While the eye is drawn, obediently, to the mannequins, the background is often worth a look, either for the vending machines against which a number are shot, or the ubiquitous Gap store and bags, a constant reminder of the global mass market.

One enterprising man wears a genuine British paperboy's delivery bag, and, to pick but one profile, Princess, 18, is trying to be a doll and is currently preoccupied with body organs. Mmm. All the subjects are asked the source of their clothes, as well as their "point of fashion" and "current obsession." The scope for sociopsychological discussion is vast, particularly with the preponderance of infantilization, through dolls, bonnets, pop socks, and Barbie, but this is a joyous documentation of the innovative, celebrating the inspirational polytheism of street fashion, captured with provocative, political zeal. Best let the street cats prowl. --David Vincent

Book Description

If you ever wondered where the catwalk got its claws, then the portraits gathered in photographer Shoichi Aoki's book Fruits, from the streets of Harajuku in Tokyo, point the way to an extraordinarily imaginative and invariably stunning glut of mongrel fashion heists. A best-of collection from the fanzine of the same name, and published for the first time outside Japan, Fruits keeps its style clean: front-on, razor-sharp images, ranging from the deadpan to the manic, of the sharpest collages of sartorial influence that, usually, little money can buy. From off the peg to off the wall, kitsch to bitch, each person bears a combination and philosophy as distinctive as DNA. All shades of aesthetic are raided, with exquisite, scrupulous attention to detail. Punk is a favorite, as is, appropriately, Vivienne Westwood, alongside Milk and Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the occasional Comme des Gar+ons. Many of the outfits, though, are second-hand or self-assembly, such as a skirt drooping petals of men's silk ties, Wa-mono, when tradition Japanese clothes are topped with, say, an authentic bowler hat, EGL (elegant gothic Lolita), and a swathe of tartans, pinks, and turquoises. The most malleable feature, unsurprisingly, is hair, with dreadlocks, mohicans, back-combing, and crops dyed an irradiated spectrum. While the eye is drawn, obediently, to the mannequins, the background is often worth a look, either for the vending machines against which a number are shot, or the ubiquitous Gap store and bags, a constant reminder of the global mass market.One enterprising man wears a genuine British paperboy's delivery bag, and, to pick but one profile, Princess, 18, is trying to be a doll and is currently preoccupied with body organs. Mmm. All the subjects are asked the source of their clothes, as well as their "point of fashion" and "current obsession." The scope for sociopsychological discussion is vast, particularly with the preponderance of infantilization, through dolls, bonnets, pop socks, and Barbie, but this is a joyous documentation of the innovative, celebrating the inspirational polytheism of street fashion, captured with provocative, political zeal. Best let the street cats prowl. --David Vincent

Customer Reviews:

We might be Fruits too........2007-09-26

My high school art class, Costume Design, LOVE this book. It's fun to see teenagers in another culture taking western fashion and personalizing it. Every time I pick up the book I see something new. We've only had the book a couple of weeks and it is already dog-eared.

Nice!.......2007-03-27

Great book, made my girlfriend quite happy. She is very into Japanese street fashion and this book just captivated her, she looked through it about 20 times the day i gave it to her.

This is a great photo book........2007-02-04

Even if you aren't particularly interested in Japanese youth culture, this book is just a great example of fashion or humanity and the expansion of western culture into the eastern. The photographs are all high quality and just about every page also has a little questionaire filled out by each subject so you get to know a little more about them then their outrageous fashion sense.

A Birthday Gift.......2007-01-10

I got this for my 14 year old son who is into Asian pop culture.
He enjoyed the book but thought it had too much FASION aspect.

Colorful World.......2006-09-30

I had the good fortune to run into this book on vacation. As soon as I got home I ordered both Fruits and it's companion. As a self motivated student of fashion and all of it's off-shoots, I immensely enjoy this book. It is a plethora of individuals, and not a duplicate picture in the book. It features mostly youth (teenagers) but that is to be expected. But it doesn't limit itself to just the very young. There are a few family photos and "older" individuals. It is a monument to anyone who creatively clothed themselves. It gives brief details: name, age, point of fashion, fashion brands and makers. A lot of the "point of fashion" remarks seem like nonsense at first. After reflection, I think they are just 'smart allec come-backs', much like what you'd get from someone in the American Gothic culture if you asked one of them why they wear black all the time. Even with brief details you can start to see patterns in clothing styles seperating themselves out from one another. By age particularly, and by preference to designers within a group of friends. The only problem I had was reading some of the bubble gum colored print that it was done in.

Tales From a Tin Can: The USS Dale from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

Average customer rating:

Not a bad Navy story
Destroyermen The Few The Proud
Great Book
They were both (Anchors Aweight) good!!!
kudos for a great book

Tales From a Tin Can: The USS Dale from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay
Michael Olson
Manufacturer: Zenith Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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Anchors Aweight
Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II

ASIN: 076032770X

Book Description

Looking up from his newspaper from where he sat on the deck of the destroyer USS Dale, Harold Reichert could see the pilot plain as dayâthe leather helmet with chin strap, the goggles, and then the red rising sun painted on the plane’s fuselage. âI saw the torpedo drop and watched as it ran up on the old Utah.â

It was daybreak at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the beginning of the war, and the Dale was there; she would serve until the end, when the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered. In the words of those who manned her, the Dale’s war comes vividly to life in this first oral history of a combat ship from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. From carrier raids on Midway, Guadalcanal, and the Solomons to the bombarding of Saipan and Guam in the capture of the Marianas, from the Aleutians in the far north to strikes on Tokyo and Kobe, Tales of a Tin Can recreates the action aboard the Dale, and conveys as never before the true grit of wartime on a destroyer.

Customer Reviews:

Not a bad Navy story.......2007-09-09

As a Navy Vet and one who served for a short time on a tin can I found this book interesting. I enjoyed reading it not only from a veterans perspective but also from a historical viewpoint.

Destroyermen The Few The Proud.......2007-08-28

This is a terrific read and well reflects the lives we endured on the "greyhounds of the sea". The memories of these terrific sailors is exciting and certainly reflects the challenges that they faced again and again. Having rode many of these ships over a 30 year Navy career I would certainLY recommend this to any and all. BRAVO ZULU!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Book.......2007-06-27

If you are a serious student of history, you cannot help but enjoy this book.
All too often when telling the story of WW II, the intimate and personal day to day experiences of the individual soldier or sailor get over looked.
This book tells that story, specifically how individual sailors dealt with the day to day stress of combat operations and the death of friends and shipmates; a great read.

They were both (Anchors Aweight) good!!!.......2007-05-26

Two different books and two different stories. If you liked the fun of the ship and the good times that were there, then you'll want to read them both, Anchors Aweight and Tin Can Tales!!!

kudos for a great book.......2007-05-15

We have totally enjoyed the book. It's written as if the men were talking to you right in the room.

Who Is Fourier?: A Mathematical Adventure

Average customer rating:

A book that explains just the basics on Fourier analysis
I was impressed by the concept of LEX and this book
Gateway to signal processing
Good for specifics
Unique and Quite Amazing

Who Is Fourier?: A Mathematical Adventure
Transnational College of Lex Tokyo
Manufacturer: Language Research Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0964350408

Customer Reviews:

A book that explains just the basics on Fourier analysis.......2007-02-05

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to read the entire book. It has 456 pages and is divided into 3 parts with a total of 13 chapters. There is an appendix (12 pages) with a few exercises.

What author explains here is very well done, with plenty of illustrations, but Fourier analysis is treated very superficially, with a few practical applications. There is a lack of a set of exercises (problems to be solved) in the end of each chapter, in order to help readers to practice what was learned previously.

If you need to acquire a deep knowledge on Fourier transform and intend to apply it in some important areas of Telecommunications (microwave engineering, digital signal processing, etc.), don't expect to become an expert just reading this book. Here you will find a few basic concepts, only.

I was impressed by the concept of LEX and this book.......2007-01-31

This book was originally written to convey the experiences of the Transnational College of LEX (TCL), also known as Torakare, to as many members of the Hippo Group as possible. The college was founded in Tokyo in 1984 as a place where people could study the relationships between human beings and languages. People of all ages, from recent high school graduates to grandparents, study there. It is a school with no homework or exams and no taking of attendance, although people do graduate. Senior fellows, scientists and academicians are also there to lecture and help direct the people in their studies. The Hippo Family Club is the name that the group went by before the LEX name was taken, so the members and graduates are often referred to by that legacy title.
The language studies conducted at LEX are amazing, the Hippo members practice speaking eleven different languages at the same time. Their approach is that every form of human endeavor, mathematics included, has its' own specific language. Therefore, the idea behind this book was to write a description of Fourier series that would be understandable by as many people as possible.
In that capacity, they have succeeded very well, they start with the basic idea that all speech is a set of waveforms that can be described by sine and cosine curves. Moving slowly from this point, the plotting of complex waveforms by combining different curves is demonstrated. The calculus operations of differentiation and integration are included and the final stop is at the Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs).
Many diagrams are used along this journey, reflecting the incremental nature of the presentation. The slow speed of coverage makes it inappropriate as a textbook, but it would be an excellent book for individual study. However, if you knew some of the math, you would find those sections boring. In many ways, this book has the appearance of a children's workbook, only there are not very many exercises to work through.
While I often found the pace tedious, I remain impressed by the concept of LEX and this book. It is readily admitted early on that it is the work of amateurs, but the authors clearly had fun in writing it and they do explain the topic in complete detail.

Gateway to signal processing.......2006-04-23

This book gives a clear explaination of Fast fourier transform. Although there are many books with lot of mathematics to explain fast fourier transform, this book explains without much math. Some explainations are too wordy, but overall this is a very good book to buy for yourself if you are new to Fourier domain and were wondering what is FFT.

Good for specifics.......2006-03-03

This was a pretty cool book. It's been 25 years since looking at any kind of Calculus text and well, one night I was thinking to myself just how much of this stuff did I learn in the first place.

The chapters on differentiation and integration were well done. From a cultural perspective the little cartoons were fun for awhile but got tiring fairly soon after getting into the text. Also, it would have been nice to have real life problems, for example, distance, velocity, acceleration, popultions, etc. showing applications of the aforementioned functions. 3.5 stars

Unique and Quite Amazing.......2005-10-01

This is a great book, but probably different from anything you might expect. On flipping through the pages it looks like one of those comic book guides, but don't let that decieve you; there is a lot of serious material in this book. "Who is Fourier" is certainly not equivalent to a college level textbook on Fourier Analysis, but neither is it simply a descriptive overview. The book is filled with equations, and some of them are quite complex. What is unique in this book is that the equations are explained from the ground up, starting from an extremely basic level, yet building to a fair level of complexity. If you have taken any math beyond high school algebra, this can sometimes be annoying because the book really assumes essentially no knowledge of anything beyond basic math. On the other hand, if you have not had much math, this is really good because it makes the text accessible to virtually everyone, and if you have taken some more advanced classes in math, you may still find some interesting surprises in the basics. I know I did.

In spite of the very basic building blocks that this book begins with, the book does take you through some pretty serious stuff. The Fourier series itself is covered in roughly the first third of the book. From there, the basics of differentiation, integration, vectors, complex numbers, Maclaurin series, and the Euler formula are described, leading one steadily from the Fourier series to the Fourier transform.

The only thing I can see that might turn some people off is the somewhat comic book style in which the book is written. To understand the reason behind the style, one must understand who wrote the book and why. The book really was not originally written for the general public, but for members of a club whose members learn up to 11 differnet languages simultaneously. The club is related to the Transnational College of LEX which does research into the way we learn languages. The study of waveforms was a natural extension of their interest in languages, and this led, of course, to Fourier analysis. The book essentially chronicles the students' own learning of Fourier analysis, and it was written as a means of sharing what they learned with other students and members of their club, so it was written in a very casual style, including little stick figure illustrations of characters representing the students and various historical figures. It even has simulated dialogue between the students and fictional characters. I debated about giving the book four stars instead of five because I personally do not care for this style very much, but in the end, I'm not sure the book would be quite as effective if it were written in a more formal style, so I left it at five stars. The book is truly unique and quite amazing.

As a side note, I just glanced at the preview pages on Amazon. These really don't do justice to the book. Although they give a good idea of the general layout of the book, and the sort of comic book style in which it is written, they don't show any of the meat in the book. There is much more to the book than suggested by the preview pages.

The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.

Average customer rating:

History was VERY unkind to this book....
A solid reference work
A must read in the globalization debate
The Global City -Saskia Sassen
The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo

The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.
Saskia Sassen
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691070636

Book Description

This classic work chronicles how New York, London, and Tokyo became command centers for the global economy and in the process underwent a series of massive and parallel changes. What distinguishes Sassen's theoretical framework is the emphasis on the formation of cross-border dynamics through which these cities and the growing number of other global cities begin to form strategic transnational networks. All the core data in this new edition have been updated, while the preface and epilogue discuss the relevant trends in globalization since the book originally came out in 1991.

Customer Reviews:

History was VERY unkind to this book...........2004-09-19

This is a sad book. History was very unkkind to this woman. Just when she thought she completed here masterpiece, a book that was supposed to ensure her tenure and fame and all the things that a sociologist may want, everything blew up in her face.

Her theory in the original version went like this; Why oh why are there huge concentration of functions in Tokyo, London, New York, when so much IT allows easier communication and remote office and all that? Why do these cities grow, when all the production and other functions gets shipped off to backwater countries?

Well, she said, IT allowed the separation of production and management/development. That's why managers remain in cities with their high pay, while actual sweat work goes to third world child labor under measly wages.

But why did the cities grow bigger? Well, because cities are the new production centers. Management and stuff requires a lot of legal services and accountants and other services etc that are much easily available in the cities. That's why all those management stuff accumulated in the city.

But aren't those activites just leeches to the actual job? They don't create any new value, do they? Aha, she says. But they do! Look at all those financial innovations, like hedge funds and derivatives and stuff! Look how much money they are making! They are not leeches, they are creating new values. You gotta throw away your old ideas about the economy! Only cities can produce that sort of new financial products, and that's why London, NY, Tokyo are growing!

There was another brownie point. Her theory went very well with shallow anti-globalism arguments. Managers stay in NY/London with high pays, while at the factories half way around the globe, workers suffer forever under low wage.

But exactly when the first edition came out, everything changed.

First was the collapse of the Japanese economy, that took down Tokyo with it. Her theory had nothing to prepare or explain this. What happened to the new production? What happened to all those financial innovation? Why didn't that work in Tokyo? In the book, Sassen tries to answer this using various ad-hoc excuses, but the more she does it, the less convincing the original proposition becomes. So it wasn't THAT important, after all? All those theories of yours were only subordinate to those other stuff that you never mentioned before?

And yes, what about those innovations? Collapse of LTCM and huge hedge funds etc. since the first edition made finance less glamorous. Arbitrage does increase some efficiency of the market, which does create some value. But they were not the major new "product" to sustain the world.

Her theory about the separation of production and management wasn't so hot afterall. Look at Asia, look at China! Concentration of production functions REQUIRED many management and design / development functions to go along with them. Also, the factories did make the workers richer, and as a result, much of Asia and China really became better off. There are dicrepancies, and differences in earnings, but its nothing like what Sassen had described.

It's amazing that NOTHING of here original theory remained. In this second version, she tries to pick up the pieces, but they are too completely destroyed to be picked up, and the effort is almost painful to read. I wonder why she even bothered with the second edition. It's not a book worth salvaging in 2001, and it's hardly worth reading, except as a sad but amusing look back at the strange ideas of the past.

A solid reference work.......2003-03-18

Sassen aims to - unpack the concept of "the city" (p. xviii) - as a unit of analysis in sociology and economics from a global perspective. The scope of this endeavor is quite staggering and she has to bring an number of different fields under the same conceptual umbrella in order to capture the elusive character of 'the city'. Her method is the painstaking analysis of a huge amount of data from a vast array of sources. This might seem unnecessary to some people who are more interested in bold visions of the future á la Manuel Castells or Antonio Negri. The thing about Castells or Negri though is that you need a leap of faith to interpret the world according to their views. Sassen is more boring to read but one can always rely on her providing the data leading up to her conclusions. This is crucial to anyone wanting to take a stab at the interdisciplinary phenomenon of the global city and use availible data for comparison. The thorough research foundation of the book makes it easy to link the issues to areas that otherwise would be quite far apart such as urban planning and service management. Personally I think the most important message is that place and location matters maybe even more nowadays than it used to when production and consumption was explicitly bound by the physical limitations of our world.

In all I think that this book is a must read for anyone even remotely interested i urban matters. It's a bit tough to get through though and the visual presentation of the data could have been better, hence rendering the book a four rather than a five star grade.

A must read in the globalization debate.......2002-02-13

In writing this review, I had to begin with one critical question: why on earth would I review a book already in print for almost four years? What better time than now, when anti-war advocates are seen in many eyes as un-American, to write about a book in which the author discusses the dangers of nationalism and xenophobia in the context of an ever-globalizing economy? In ten essays the doctor of sociology attempts to "expand the analytic terrain within which we need to understand the global economy in order to render visible what is now evicted" from our current picture of the global economy. She writes in such mouthfuls often, yet her textbook style of writing is a welcome break from the sensationalist and anecdotal approach most often utilized in accounts from the anti-globalization perspective.
If, in the last ten years, you have followed the globalization debate even just a little, then nothing I write here can spoil the book's ending for you. The ending is inconsequential, however, for it is this native Dutch woman's approach to the globalization topic that matters most. The book is not a story, and thus does not follow a traditional plot line, but it never tries to disguise itself as anything other than a categorical critique of international policy. Nor is the book a moral plea to human rights, an approach that seems an easy trap into which fall most writers with parallel paradigms to Sassen's. She takes an obvious stand against globalization of the economy, but instead of simply stating that globalization is bad, Sassen pulls the reader through 218 pages of hard earned facts and qualified theories about the dangers of globalization. Rather than dwell in idealisms, the University of Chicago professor acknowledges the simple observation that globalization is occurring, and rather than asking for an uncompromising end to globalization, she takes a card from the neoliberals' hand and offers concrete solutions to the globalization problem. While that seems like a rather unexciting prospect in itself, one has to remember that many opponents of globalization get sucked into the blame game mindset and offer few (if any) plausible-- or well backed-up-solutions (see the Global Exchange website if you do not believe me).
The remarkable quality of the book is its language. It is written under the assumptions of a human-rights advocate but with the deliberate, yet convincing style of an economist. Its academic quality will turn off a lot of people, but this book was never intended to be bedtime reading material. The normal arguments of the two sides of the issue often give the appearance of two runners in completely different races. Sassen, however, meets her opponents head on, and by using their lexicon and dry grammatical structures, she writes one of the most important books about globalization to this day. Indeed, if there is one real weak point to the book, it is her penchance for writing too dully for even academic writing. She falls occasionally into the trap of spending too much time telling the reader what she is going to say before she actually says it- but only occasionally, and her writing style is disciplined for the most part.
Globalization is inherently a complex issue. Sassen does the reader a great service by avoiding getting stuck on minor or irrelevant points about the issue. Perhaps she pulled a page from Wordsworth, for her attack on globalization is well organized to the point at which she seems to have recalled "in tranquility" the issues rather than descending into scare-mongering tactics. She gives the argument for which the globalization proponents have been asking, and she completely avoids forays into minor points that matter only to those whose heart strings it tugs.
As boring as the subject could be for anyone not passionate about globalization, Sassen grounds well the work by looking at globalization in several contexts. Though she seems at times to be dwelling on topics minor in comparison to the greater umbrella issue, she manages to examine all the major issues of globalization. After first explaining her paradigm in the introduction, Sassen looks at globalization through the window of immigration in the first three chapters. The chapters begin and end with statements about immigration, but the arguments within the envelope structure are based around the general issue of globalization. Splitting up the issue under the subheadings of immigration, feminism, and what she calls "space" helps to deliver her arguments in bite-sized portions without making her seem as if she is avoiding any issue. Indeed, she covers every main argument made by opponents of globalization, and she editorializes it further with her recommendations on immigration policy and her focus on feminism. At the risk of repeating myself, however, she brings up all her points carefully and avoids dropping her extensive knowledge on the reader like lead weights. One would hope that she would write in such an organized fashion, but in the globalization arguments, such structure is rare, unfortunately.
As to the original question: why review such an old book, the answer is becoming readily apparent. Though Sassen has written several books on globalization, including The Global City, a book written in 1991 but updated in 2001, this book encompasses all the major issues of globalization in one fell swoop, and it serves as an authoritative text on those issues. There may be more contemporary versions of Sassens arguments, but none serve as better tools in the argument against globalization, one of the most important fulcrum issues in the post September 11th world. As we continue to wage war against nations our president deems as "terrorist," the issue of globalization continues to be, perhaps, the most important dialogue for our nation. Whether we care to admit it or not, terrorism does not appear from thin air, and we must now ask the question of ourselves: what could America have possibly done to anger people enough to kill themselves in an attack on our nation? Sassen takes an honest look at how American and international policy is affecting marginalized countries and our own, and we would all do well to pay attention to what she is saying.

The Global City -Saskia Sassen.......2000-08-27

If you can understand this book you are obviously incapable of living in the real world. Sassen's dense, turgid writing style simply aims to bewilder the reader into unquestioningly accepting her doomsday view of socitey. Most depressing reading.

The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.......2000-07-03

This book is a profound empirical assessment of the changes that have taken place in the world economy since the sixties and the emerging role of core cities therein. One of the more significant changes in the world economy has been, according to the author, that manufacturing activities have been spatially dispersed while at the same time production-related services such as finance, accounting, and management have been spatially centralized. It is this 'combination of spatial dispersion and global integration [that] has created a new strategic role' [p. 3] for such cities as New York, London, and Tokyo. They have become global cities, i.e., 'postindustrial production sites' for a variety of command functions that integrate the global economy in the post Bretton-Woods era. An immense volume of data is presented to substantiate the hypothesis that these three cities, diverse as their historical, cultural, political and economic settings are, have undergone similar transformations: their economic base has shifted from manufacturing to services, in particular to producer services (chs. 5,7); agglomeration economies in favour of these global cities induced the urban hierarchy to become more top-heavy in the U.S., Great Britain, and Japan, respectively (ch. 6); and their urban social structure is characterized by increasing income and employment polarization since there is complementary expansion of jobs at the top-level and in the informal economy (chs. 8,9). Quantitative indicators, almost by definition, do not suffice to vindicate such far-reaching conclusions. Some of them rely on a questionable notion of what is normal, e.g., the indicators of these cities' 'disproportionate share' in worldwide capitalization of equities, due to their stockmarkets, or the 'overrepresentation' of the financial industries' assets and income in these cities [pp. 171-179]. But what is normal about the value of equities and banks' assets being proportional to city size? Other indicators do not necessarily support the hypothesis forwarded. The conclusion that 'the salient difference' between the three global cities and other major cities 'is the extent of concentration of the producer services and finance' [p. 326] is undermined by the observation 'that the producer services as a whole have grown rapidly over the last decade and that they have grown more rapidly in the countries as a whole than in these cities' [p. 138]. The evidence thus suggests that the 'salient difference' may be a temporary phenomenon and can hardly serve to characterize global cities in general. However, these are minor objections against some empirical arguments in favour of the Global City hypothesis. The author, Professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University, provides much more qualitative and quantitative evidence to substantiate her case. It is the outcome of work for years, in collaboration with an impressive number of other reserachers and institutions. And apart from the attempt to empirical verification, there is also a theoretical framework which supports the Global City hypothesis. The study contributes to an emerging literature on' the social geography of advanced economies' [p. 251] in the classical tradition of political economy. It deviates from orthodox classical or Marxist theory in that the iron law of falling profits is modified by the notion of capitalist 'regimes' or 'models of growth' which are able to restore profit-generating opportunities on a global scale. Fordism has been the last fully articulated regime, charcterized by 'capital intensity, standardization of production, and suburbanization-led growth' [p. 331]. The present work on global cities thus amounts to search for the new 'form of economic growth' and its sustainability [p. 12], based on speculative finance, shift to a service economy, and inner city growth. Even if one does not share this theoretical background and the preoccupation with questions of how durable a particular phase of capitalism is, SASSEN's book proofs tiffs perspective to be a useful device to focus a study of rather complex issues. Moreover, there is abundance of material which should be of interest to the more orthodox-minded economist. Just to mention two examples: the paradox of financial market deregulation being motivated by the need of governments to finance ever larger deficits [pp. 88, 118]; or descriptions of processes in global labor markets [p. 31 ] and urban economics [p. 126] which extend COASE's logic of the firm, though not mentioned, to new fields of study. This is clearly an outstanding book, an authoritative study of the subject and yet stimulating reading for further theoretical and empirical research on major cities and the world economy.

Average customer rating:

Lot of Information but not too much
Fun stuff!
A good Premise For A Book-- But Only Decent writing And No Pictures
Required Reading for Disney Addicts
Amateur Writing, but Interesting Info Nonetheless.

The Disneylands That Never Were
Shaun Finnie
Manufacturer: Lulu Enterprises, UK Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Spinning Disney's World: Memories of a Magic Kingdom Press Agent
The Disney Mountains: Imagineering At Its Peak
The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World
Art of Disneyland, The
Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World

ASIN: 1847285430

Book Description

In 1955 Walt Disney presented the world's first theme park. Disneyland opened with just 18 rides and attractions. Today there are eleven Disney parks around the globe. Visitors can spend weeks at a time in these resorts, often staying in one of Disney's own hotel rooms. But in the last fifty years the Disney Imagineers have designed thousands of rides, attractions, hotels, and even entire theme parks that have never been built. Many of these concepts have remained hidden in the company's private archive for decades. until now. The Disneylands That Never Were documents the biggest, best and most outrageous of these abandoned plans. It details everything from Walt Disney's initial ideas for Mickey Mouse Park to his planned ski resort in California. From small developments like The Disney Hotel in New York's Times Square to the huge Port Disney concept, over five decades of dreams are brought to life in The Disneylands That Never Were.

Customer Reviews:

Lot of Information but not too much.......2007-06-20

This book give us lot of very interesting information but without pictures. It's a bit frustating. Else, my first impression was a few spoofing with the use of a very big font for all pages.

Fun stuff!.......2007-06-08

For Disney park aficionados, this is a great read to hear about ride, land, park, and resort ideas that never came to be. One caution: the book contains little in the way of verification or validation: it reads like a high-school book report without supporting references. Not a scholarly work, but certainly fun for those with a Disney Jones!

A good Premise For A Book-- But Only Decent writing And No Pictures.......2007-05-31

For true fans of the Disney theme parks, this book is a good list of the many ideas considered by Imagineers for projects that, for various reasons, were never completed.

If you can ignore the many typos -- and the self-published vibe -- of the book, you'll enjoy the research that reveals the dozens-and-dozens of concepts for attractions, hotels, shops (and entire theme parks) that were never built due to politics, finances and/or public resistance.

My one MAJOR complaint is the complete lack of any photographs or artists renderings of all the "lost" Disney ideas. The writing is decent, but in no way is able to fully convey some of the GREAT ideas that have been tossed-around in the hallways of Disney's Imagineering division. Not having pictures for this sort of premise is silly (though I understand that Disney was probably uncooperative on this venture), and in a way, self-defeating. I'd love to see a revision -- under the Disney publishing arm -- loaded with the artwork from Imagineering's "morgue" of discarded ideas. Maybe the author can approach Disney with that proposal in a year or two?!? One can hope...

Required Reading for Disney Addicts.......2007-05-14

This book is required reading for Disney Addicts. The information in this book is extremely interesting to even the most seasoned Disney lover. The book is an easy read with tons of interesting info. You can't go wrong with this book...a definite buy!!!!

Amateur Writing, but Interesting Info Nonetheless........2007-05-12

This book is a flawed product of good intentions. It is poorly edited, misstates facts and names, and generally makes a mishmash of its subject, but it is still full of interesting stuff for the casual and inexperienced fan of things Disney. Most of the info here is better told in first-hand memoirs of Disney people, the book is poorly organized, and the author, who clearly hails from the UK, uses mistaken terminology to describe American subjects in a way that grates if you care about language as I do. The book jumps back and forth, repeats itself, and is kind of painful to read...BUT...the info is there hiding beneath the bad writing, so if you really want the basic background on many historical curiosities about the Disney theme park empire and especially about the attractions and plans that were never completed (even though many of the reasons and facts given about WHY they weren't are wrong or half-baked) then read the book anyhow. But you've been warned. It is realy rough going.

Average customer rating:

Colorful, fun and travel-sized!
Where's the magnifying glass ?????
boring, but incredibly useful
Excellent Resource
Excellent practical information, improved cultural suggestions

Lonely Planet Tokyo
Andrew Bender , and Wendy Yanagihara
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1740598768

Book Description

A bowl of whisked green tea in the teahouse of Hama Rikyu Onshi-teien is about as Japanese as it gets. The garden was once a pleasure dome for the shogun, but now you too can pause and savour the moment, as ducks glide by in the pond at your feet and precision-plucked pines pose like puffed clouds. But cross the narrow wooden bridge over the pond and look backwards: framing the teahouse, the pond and the pines are the skyscapers of Shiodome, gleaming glass and granite and all built since the turn of the millennium. If that's not an only-in-Tokyo moment, then nothing is.

o SLEEP IN STYLE - informative reviews of the best luxury hotels, traditional ryokan and top-value budget options make the decisions easy
o NAVIGATE WITH EASE - clear and detailed maps with Japanese script take you where you want to go
o TREAT YOURSELF - our authors have hand-picked the best designer wares, specialist music stores, tucked-away shopping streets and more
o FEAST LIKE A LOCAL - discerning reviews deliver the gems, from decadent kaiseki to mouth-watering sashimi
o ESCAPE FOR A DAY - head for the traditional temples of Nikko and Kamakura, or soak your bones in an onsen; our Excursions chapter has all the best tips

Customer Reviews:

Colorful, fun and travel-sized!.......2007-10-01

I had no idea this book was so small until I received it, and I don't mind it at all. I have other Japan travel books by Frommer's and Fodor's so this thin book was a blessing.

Another reviewer mentioned needing a magnifying glass to read, but I can read it fine and so can my husband -- we're twenty-somethings and he wears glasses -- so I think that if you have grandchildren or existing eyesight problems then yes, it might be an issue.

For me, the bright colors behind the text were no problem. I love how colorful everything is -- EVERY page is in color. Great photos and summaries of the top "must do" attractions.

The descriptions are short to keep the size of the book down, but they list all essential info: name in english AND hiragana/kanji/katakana (really handy!), address, hours of operation, admission fees (if applicable), a URL if they have one and what train to take to what stop and even what exit to use from the station. AWESOME.

The only blemish on this otherwise amazing book is the foldout map. Mind you the map itself is helpful as heck, what with the Tokyo subway system map included, close-ups of three popular neighborhoods, every sight listed in the book listed on the map with appropriate designations (a2, d4, etc), and even helpful phrases such as "hello" and "two beers please." However, the perforation on my copy was poor and the map was glued in VERY crooked. While trying to carefully pull the map out like was intended, it pulled the cover from the back of the book. I should have just cut it with scissors in retrospect, but that was the point of the map: to pull it out easily. When I got it loose, it was difficult to pull the excess paper from the perforation. So just cut out your map out of your copy of the book and you won't have any problems!

Oh, and the super-glossy parts of the front and back covers are just slick as hell.

Where's the magnifying glass ?????.......2007-10-01

This book needs to come with a free magnifying glass.

I recently purchased the 2007 edition of Tokyo Encounter by Lonely Planet. We will be flying to Tokyo in November, 2007. They condensed the size of this book to fit into a pocket and as a result, the print is tiny and difficult to read. In fact, much of the print actually cannot be read without straining the eyes or needing a magnifying glass. The highlighted areas are shaded in pinks, greens, blues and the print on those shaded areas is ridiculously even more reduced to the point it cannot be read. This book is only for those with 20/10 vision and for those who carry along a pocket magnifying glass. Otherwise, don't spend your money.

boring, but incredibly useful.......2007-09-28

When we were planning our trip to Japan, we purchased The Rough Guide to Japan and The Lonely Planet Guide to Tokyo. Reading through the Lonely Planet Guide, I found very little that sounded worth doing or seeing. The same items described in The Rough Guide were much more intriguing. So I chose what to see and do based on The Rough Guide.
Close to the time of our trip, someone who had just been to Japan recommended The Time Out Guide to Tokyo for the maps. But when it came time for planning the details of the tour - where the chosen attractions were located, when they were open, and how to get from here to there, the maps and the details in the descriptions in The Lonely Planet Guide were far more useful than those in the other two books. For practical use, I have given this book four stars.

Excellent Resource.......2007-04-23

Tokyo can be really overwhelming because there are a million things to do! This book really helped with highlighting each area of Tokyo as well as providing hours and addresses of the places you want to visit. It also had fantastic suggestions for cheap eats. This author takes you into the back alleys (if you want to go - which you should!) or keeps you in the high class areas of Tokyo for a well rounded trip.

I coupled this book with the Tokyo City Atlas book, which made it possible to understand the crazy mapping system of Tokyo.

Have fun!

Excellent practical information, improved cultural suggestions.......2006-10-04

The Lonely Planet guides are very often the best when it comes to providing practical information such as maps, changing money, the best way to get from A to B, etc. This edition of the Tokyo guide is no exception. It has everything you need to plan your trip and to get around Tokyo.

This edition is also an improvement over the prior editions when it comes to cultural recommendations, such as restaurants, walking tours, interesting shops, museums, etc. The "Time Out" guide is probably still better is the cultural department, but it is weak when it comes to maps, etc., so it may be worth taking both guides.

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