Florence, Mason, et. al. Hiking In Japan. Melbourne, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2001.

(Amazon, Lonely Planet)

This was a lovely guide in Lonely Planet tradition. It's got a section on history, flora and fauna, etc. followed by a good guide.

Japanese hiking guides tend to focus on some fairly arbitrary (well, traditional) lists of peaks, but this one bucks that tendency. It's more what I'd expect out of a good hiking guide in the US: Thorough and up-to-date textual descriptions of trails, customized topographic maps of the trails, solid advice on the difficulty of the trails and the hazards along the way, and a few enticing pictures.

Some of the Amazon reviewers note that the hikes probably won't stretch the fittest of hikers --the sort more likely to be going to Japan for enough hiking to make good use of the book. I suppose that's the case, but for expatriates living in Japan or for tourists that want hikes where they're going but aren't there to hike, it's a great guide.

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