"Perfect timing," I thought when I picked up this guide book, barely two weeks before a trip I was planning out of Tokyo. I flipped to the index to look for my destination: Mashiko, a pottery town close enough for a day trip from Tokyo. Nothing. The only listings for its prefecture, Tochigi, were Nikko and Utsunomiya, at a scant two paragraphs each. I looked some more. No Ibaraki. Nothing in Chiba outside of the airport. In fact, only one of the last five places I'd visited outside of Tokyo was in there.
If there's one thing that reading "Japan By Rail" brings home, it's how much of Japan is off the beaten track -- JR track, that is. While those familiar with Japan will find too much of what they know missing, for the book's intended audience -- the first-time traveler with a Japan Rail Pass in her pocket -- it is a find.
The volume is well-researched and full of compelling historical details, recent events and trivia. Zarifeh searches out train lines with old steam engines, tram lines and other sites of transportation lore. In addition to basic climatic, historical and cultural information, there is also a special chapter on Japan's rail history.