Gateway to Japan
Gateway to Japan
Welcome to the Gateway to Japan website!
Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition
Legendary travel guide Gateway to Japan, is back, updated and delivered in an all-new Digital Edition. The new eBook is designed to be intuitive, convenient, and accessible.
"Gateway is not simply the best guidebook to Japan - it is the best single guide to any country I've ever visited.” – Jeffrey Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything
"Japan - Kyoto" by Damien Furey is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
THE GATEWAY TO JAPAN BLOG
Introducing Gateway to Tokyo
Just need one chapter of Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition? We are happy to introduce the first of Gateway's individual chapters: Gateway to Tokyo, available now via Amazon Kindle.
Gateway to Toyko's Cover. Image by Marco Verch
The Guide
The Guide
Gateway to Japan is back!
The legendary travel guide has been updated and is now available in a sleek, new eBook design. Get all of the comprehensive information of the original Gateway to Japan, with the convenience of an eBook!
Cities
Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Yokohama--Japan has some of the biggest, busiest cities in the world! Whether you're exploring the latest fashions in Tokyo's Harajuku district, dining in Osaka's energetic Dotonbori, or reflecting upon the beauty of Kyoto's numerous ancient temples, Japanese cities have something to offer everyone!
Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition comes packed with individual guides for all major and many minor Japanese cities. Don't waste your precious time in Japan fumbling with cumbersome signs, maps and sites. Find details about local festivals, sightseeing spots, cuisine, accommodations and so much more! Read more →
Culture
Japan is perhaps unique in the world in maintaining a living connection to its ancient roots while being on the cutting edge of modernity. Where else in the world can you visit "living cultural treasures" who painstakingly preserve exquisite traditional arts while exploring anime, the latest youth fashions and consumer technologies that are paving the way for the future?
Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition includes deep background on the most noteworthy and spectacular cultural experiences in Japan, so you can tailor your travel to match your interests. An indispensable traveling companion for getting the most out of your time in Japan! Read more →
Cuisine
Japan is home to unique and delectable culinary culture. Valuing presentation just as much as flavor, many Japanese dishes look like works of art, delicious, savory works of art! Many traditional Japanese foods, like sushi, ramen, soba, have become popular worldwide, but Japan is full of other, lesser known dishes just waiting to be discovered by the adventurous traveler!
Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition provides its readers with not only restaurant and food recommendations, but also historical context for many of Japan's most beloved dishes. Many believe the best way to experience another country is through the stomach! Read more →
Reviews
Reviews
What people have said about the original Gateway to Japan:
"Most comprehensive guidebook on Japan"
~ Forbes
"Gateway is not simply the best guidebook to Japan - it is the best single guide to any country I've ever visited.”
~ Jeffrey Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything
"This is truly a comprehensive guide to read in advance, use during a trip, and to refer to back home."
~ The Explorers Journal
"Even if you're not inclined to travel, get the book for the front essays on art, castles, history, matsuri, and my favorite chapter title: 'One-hour Japanese.'"
~ Tokyo Journal
The Authors
The Authors
Authors
June Kinoshita
Co-author of the original print editions of Gateway to Japan. She lived in Japan from 1983-86 researching and writing the book with Nicholas Palevsky. After submitting the manuscript, she resumed her career as a science journalist, working as an editor at Scientific American and later as a reporter and special projects editor for Science. June contributed articles to the New York Times magazine and co-developed the PBS series Secret Life of the Brain. She co-founded the Alzheimer Research Forum, a nonprofit web community and N-of-one, Inc., a cancer precision medicine company. June currently serves as Chief Strategic Programs Officer of the FSH Society, a nonprofit focusing on serving patients and developing treatments for facioscapulohumeral (FSH) muscular dystrophy.
Sean Landis
The newest addition to the Gateway to Japan team, Sean Landis is in charge of digitizing and updating June Kinoshita's popular travel guide to create the new Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition. He has lived in Japan several times. The first time as an exchange student in high school and another in university, both times in Kobe. After graduating from the University of Maryland with degrees in Japanese and Government and Politics in 2011, he moved back to Japan, this time to the northern island of Hokkaido, where he taught English in Japanese elementary and junior high schools for 3 years as part of the JET Program. He then moved to Kobe (again!), where he began work on Gateway to Japan, Digital Edition. He now lives in Staunton, Virginia, with his wife where he works as a software engineer.
Of the more than one hundred Edo-period castle keeps, only about 40 survived the Meiji Restoration. In the years after 1868, many of these were pulled down by the fledgling Meiji government or dismantled by local patriots as undesirable relics of feudalism. Because of World War II and other disasters, only twelve genuine castle keeps survive. If you have time to visit just one castle, there’s no debate that it should be Himeji.