When the first edition of Tokyo City Guide appeared, people marveled at the mass of information it made available about seemingly every conceivable activity and interest it was possible to indulge in in Tokyo, from where to buy a shakuhachi or a kite or a writing brush to a list of the best art galleries along the Tokyo waterfront, from a short list of the most interesting Love Hotels to the best place to go to practice kyudo (Japanese archery). There was a long list of movie theaters, with their addresses and telephone numbers, recommended English-speaking dentists, and pages of maps, which in Tokyo are essential if you want to find anything without surveying the local population. It detailed, somewhat airily, the difference between the neighborhoods - for example: "As a district Shibuya fits somewhere between the wildness of Shinjuku, the kids of Harajuku, and the sophistication of Roppongi," and it gave reassuring advice to the newcomer: "Stations can be confusing, especially the larger ones and especially during the rush-hour sea of commuters. Don't panic." It was like having a kindly Old Tokyo Hand at your elbow.

The new edition follows the format of the first edition, so mirrors the advantages and disadvantages of the first. Aside from the book's being a sure bet for rapid obsolescence (already the wonderful selection of sakes in the basement of Seibu Yurakucho is no more and Gold, the disco, and Sushi Bar Sai have pulled up stakes), there's plenty of room for healthy argument, of course, about the book's recommendations. (What? No listing under ramen joints for Ebisu Ramen, otherwise known as Kozuki Ramen, outside of which there is always a line? And how is it possible to list the Asakura Chosokan, otherwise off-puttingly known as the Asakura Sculpture Museum, without mentioning the magical garden within?)

But the most noticeable disadvantage of the book stems directly from its including so much raw data: there is little discussion of the differences between places listed because there is just no room, even though the book runs to 363 tightly printed pages. We are, for example, given this about the Hiramatsu restaurant in Hiroo: "Not a personal favorite, but loved by many. Expensive and elegant. Lunch about 5,000 yen, dinner for 12,000 yen." The comment on Bunkamura, the Tokyu Corporation culture palace, is equally plodding: "Various exhibitions, some of high quality."

The new Tokyo City Guide, as the old one, is best thought of as a lightly annotated Tokyo Yellow Pages, with a carefully worked-out section on Tokyo Walks appended. In this, it will serve the Tokyo resident well. It is not, however, a book for the armchair traveller in Cleveland who wonders vaguely what sort of a city Tokyo is. He will just have to come to see for himself.

Reviewed by Sandor Belfry

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