The Snydemail bag - Japan guidebooks

On Ken P. D. Snydecast #168: Rising Snyde Dana and Ken talked about lots of different things.

Here is the description from asitecalledfred.com:
KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #168: Rising Snyde - Ken & Dana return with talk of a trip to the Far East, exhaustion, Godzilla, and social networking failure.

At the end of that Dana mentioned a need for a specific guidebook.

Recently a response arrived. It contained some cool links and info I thought we would all enjoy:

Hi Dana,

You asked about a guidebook for Japan similar to the ones that Rick Steves has written about Europe. I've never been to Japan myself, though I did live nearby in Taiwan for a couple of years after college. Before I left the US I found a guidebook co-written by Rick called "Asia Through the Back Door." It may be out of print now, but you can find new and used copies on Amazon, and probably on eBay as well. It isn't a city-by-city, site-by-site guidebook so much as a general book of suggestions for travelers in Asia.

http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-Asia-Through-Back/dp/1562611097

For travel guides to Japan specifically there are publishers like Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, etc.

Last summer on BoingBoing.net Mark Frauenfelder posted about some of the cool places he visited in Japan - specifically museums memorializing bizarre and cool aspects of Japanese culture. I think that you might like a few of them:
http://boingboing.net/2010/08/18/my-favorite-museum-i.html

http://boingboing.net/2010/07/21/what-happened-to-the-1.html

http://boingboing.net/2010/07/26/a-visit-to-spirited.html

This other piece from BoingBoing might interest you, too:

http://boingboing.net/2010/09/22/idle-idol-the-japane.html

Wherever you end up going in Japan I hope that you have a great time and report back about it on the Snydecast.

Sincerely,

Ron G. from Georgia