Just In Tokyo

My copy of Just In Tokyo arrived this week, and I’ve read it from cover to cover.

The book is a new travel guidelette from prolific web impresario Justin Hall. Written in much the same style as his web writings about Japan, Hall covers the basics of travel to Tokyo in a quick and entertaining fashion.

It’s a new sort of travel book this: it’s not as ponderous as the travel essays of people like Paul Theroux, not as granola comprehensive as the Lonely Planet books. And it certainly ain’t no Fodors.

The book is more a incomplete practical précis of Tokyo from the perspective of what Hall calls an urban nomad. Which means that you learn about everything from where to find the good “capsule hotels” to how to deal with food that has the consistency “of snot” (one of Hall’s favourite food words).

If you have a passing interest in visiting Tokyo, or even just in understanding more about it through the eyes of someone younger, braver and more sexed than the usual travel writer, this would be a good place to start.