Did what I was hoping it would do, but didn't rise above to become an unexpected pleasure or an absolute favourite. There was a fairly decent ratio of text to pictures (I'm not a big fan of the full-page photo with 1 sentence kind of book), and I learned about many aspects of Japan. This would have been a wonderful introduction to the topic, but I've been boning up on it for my upcoming trip, and by the time I'd finished the book, little was new to me. So nice for beginners, but Japanophiles will learn little extra.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )