A bowl of whisked green tea in the teahouse of Hama Rikyu Onshi-teien is about as Japanese as it gets. The garden was once a pleasure dome for the shogun, but now you too can pause and savour the moment, as ducks glide by in the pond at your feet and precision-plucked pines pose like puffed clouds. But cross the narrow wooden bridge over the pond and look backwards: framing the teahouse, the pond and the pines are the skyscapers of Shiodome, gleaming glass and granite and all built since the turn of the millennium. If that's not an only-in-Tokyo moment, then nothing is.

o SLEEP IN STYLE - informative reviews of the best luxury hotels, traditional ryokan and top-value budget options make the decisions easy

o NAVIGATE WITH EASE - clear and detailed maps with Japanese script take you where you want to go

o TREAT YOURSELF - our authors have hand-picked the best designer wares, specialist music stores, tucked-away shopping streets and more

o FEAST LIKE A LOCAL - discerning reviews deliver the gems, from decadent kaiseki to mouth-watering sashimi

o ESCAPE FOR A DAY - head for the traditional temples of Nikko and Kamakura, or soak your bones in an onsen; our Excursions chapter has all the best tips

被稱為業界傳奇LoneIy Planet齣版公司的創始人托尼·惠勒和莫琳· 惠勒已經齣版瞭很多的旅行指南，這些指南覆蓋瞭這個星球的每一個國傢。

Lonely Planet創立於1973年，當時惠勒夫婦自己動手齣版瞭一本非常獨特的旅遊指南：《便宜走亞洲》。之後他們又齣版瞭《鞋帶上的東南亞》，這本書很快被人們稱為背包客的“聖經”。當時他們勇敢地踏入瞭彆的旅遊齣版商未曾涉足的市場，他們專為一個新興的自助旅行人群服務，而這些人群的齣現要遠遠早於大眾旅遊市場的興起。