In planning. my dream vacation to Japan, I want to make sure that I do things off of the usual tourist maps. Yes, I want to see all of the touristy things - even the traps! But I also want to be able to venture off on routes that only the locals might visit and savor. Matthew Baxter's knowledge of Tokyo is evident, as is his love for the richness of its culture. His descriptions and insights virtually beg you to drop the usual travel guides and wander off with him for an even deeper taste of what the city has to offer. I have already tagged several of his recommended excursions and woud get them all in if I could! ( )

I received this book through the Early Reviewers program.

Tokyo Outdoors is a guide to explore Tokyo and the surrounding areas by walking, hiking, and cycling. The book starts with map of the area with the routes shown on it. Next, there is a short section of essential information. The 45 routes form the main section of the book. The back of the book divides the routes by interests.

The routes start with a title, distance and whether it is best by foot and/or bike. There is a nice map with a QR code to open a custom Google Map. Next is a short description along with how to get to the starting point. Places of interest are indicated by a number on the map and have paragraph long descriptions. Most routes have a recommended cafe and/or meal spot. There are a couple pictures under each walk. The back of the book has a one page list of useful Japanese.

I am looking forward to doing some walks with this book. It is a good size to carry around and looks to have just the right amount of information. ( )

Tokyo Outdoors is compact but filled with lots of information. It’s perfect for anyone planning a trip to Japan’s capital or for armchair travelers. It contains suggested routes (including distances), a list of festivals, some Japanese phrases (including the hiragana) and a wealth of maps of the city and subway. These maps are accessible from Google Maps via the QR codes throughout the book. Both popular tourist destinations and lesser known sites are featured. Locations of cherry blossoms are clearly marked. Most routes are just two pages but Baxter includes what to see, how to get there, hours of operation and any costs (in yen) and discounts as well as shopping opportunities. He doesn’t forget to point out where to get a snack or a meal. He has spent a number of years living in Tokyo so he has a good handle on where to go for what. There are small black and white photographs (in color in the Kindle version) as well as an index. This was a fun read. If you have never been to Japan, you might want to book your flight after reading Tokyo Outdoors. ( )

This is a great book for exploring the city of Tokyo. Aside from giving clear directions as to which station to go to, which exit to use, and a map of the route for each walk, the author gives what I think is the best feature of this book: recommended cafes and recommended meal spots. Also, some of the places on the route map are given a brief history or related anecdote, making it an interesting place to visit. I just wish some of the book was in color, especially the photographs that are included (maybe for a future, more expensive edition). ( )

I have not been to Tokyo, so have not had the chance to try out any of these walks. Nor do I know if any good sites were missed. I do have a trip coming up but am not in the planning stages for a while yet. So I read this with the aim of getting an idea of what there is to see in Tokyo, and it was interesting in that regard. I appreciated that the author included little tidbits of history or culture where appropriate.

Each of the book’s 45 “walks” is a little tour of a given area. Each walk lists a handful of sites, each with its own short descriptive blurb and entry fee & hours (which is very helpful as it saves me from looking this up). Each walk also includes directions from a nearby subway station, a photo and the author’s recommendations for a café and a place to eat (not with vegetarians in mind). There is also a picture of a little map (with the walk outlined) & a link to the online map, which is priceless, as you can click on the sites for online photos and google reviews, thus better enabling you to decide if the given site is somewhere that you want to visit.

At first, I was thinking that the book seemed heavily focused on shopping districts, and food, and I thought that was maybe where the title’s “like a local” comes in, rather than being geared to tourists with limited time. But as we progress through the book, there are more diverse offerings, like museums, temples and hikes etc. The first half of the book is for Tokyo and is mostly meant to be on foot, with the walks being only a few kilometers each. Whereas the latter half covers the suburbs & side trips, with more cycling options. At the end of the book are lists of the best walks for different indications, (such as ‘top picks’ or cherry blossom season).

So bottom-line: I love the online links and tips from the local ex-pat perspective. I also appreciate the author’s enthusiasm, notably when making suggestions about what sweets to try. For my eventual trip to Tokyo, I will still be plotting out my own google map of sites to visit and doing my own research with other resources. (I always use a few different sources for trip planning). But this book has certainly given me a great head start and made some of my work a lot easier. (Though it would have been even easier if the walks were numbered, so that I could refer back to them easily afterwards.) Also, I will try to check out some of the shopping areas mentioned in the book, for their reflection of Japanese culture (meaning people-watching), which I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise (dismissing them because I am not there to shop). So I am happy to have read this book. Thanks to the author. I won a free copy of the book and am voluntarily providing an honest review. ( )