Discovering Japan Beyond The Guidebooks

Japan is a country with a rich heritage and many interesting places to visit. Whether you want to live, do business, or simply travel around Japan, knowing something about Japanese language and culture will make your life easier. Japan’s daily life may be difficult to penetrate for an outsider but for those willing to delve deeper into Japanese culture, there are many resources in the library that can help you take on this task.

Japanese culture and customs: 

Many Japanese cultural characteristics differ markedly from those in the West, so before you go you might want to take a look at a few of these books to help navigate these differences. The Etiquette Guide to Japan talks about some of the cultural differences you may encounter when travelling to Japan. Cultureshock! Japan: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette talks about all the cultural rules of Japan and what differences you should expect to find if you work or travel in Japan. Bending Adversity : Japan and the Art of Survival shows how cultural survival strategies have enabled Japan to prosper in the postwar world and build a stable society. In addition, there are some useful websites that explore these cultural differences. The facingtherisingsun.com blog talks about some of the cultural details and peculiarities that many travel guides may miss.

Japanese pop culture: 

One of the best reasons to travel to Japan is the pop culture, fashion, manga (comics) and video games that you will find in Tokyo and other Japanese cities. If you want to learn about all the new trends in Japan, Tokyo Geek’s Guide is an up-to-date guide to all the odd and interesting aspects of Japan’s (specifically Tokyo’s) pop culture, including maid cafes, fashion stores, cosplay conventions and game centers. Tokyo Fashion City is a detailed guide to Tokyo's trendiest fashion districts and the places that are the best for shopping and people watching.

The Japanese language:

Probably the toughest thing for any foreigner traveling to or living in Japan is breaking through the language barrier. If you want to read a Japanese newspaper or a Japanese manga in the original, the Japanese kanji (characters derived from the Chinese writing system) can pose a formidable challenge.  The library has many resources that will assist you. The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook helps you deal with a whole host of situations that might come up in Japanese travel and daily life. If you want to get deeper into the Japanese written language, you can try the Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course, which helps you memorize the most important kanji you need to read Japanese. Finally, Japanese the Manga Way offers a painless way of learning aspects of Japanese grammar through excerpts from many of Japan’s popular manga series.

If you are looking for good Japanese language web resources, you can try the highly regarded online dictionary Jisho.org. The language blog Tofugu.com not only gives you ways to become fluent in Japanese, but also gives you travel and culture tips to help enrich your experience of Japan.

Getting around: 

Japan has a reputation as an expensive county, but if you know a few tricks you can travel around Japan even on a budget. Japan has one of the best train systems in the world, and you can travel affordably around Japan using a rail pass. Japan by Rail will tell you about all the places you can possibly visit by train, using the shinkansen (high speed train) and all the other trains of the Japanese rail system.

In addition, you can check out the following web resources. Hyperdia provides access to Japanese rail and bus timetables so you can plan ahead. The official Japan Rail Pass site talks about the benefits of the pass and where to get an exchange order for a rail pass in the United States. This rail pass will allow you to take most trains on the JR (Japan Rail) network, including even some of the shinkansen trains.

- Michael K., West Windsor Branch