-------- Original Message --------
Subject: maps of japan pt2
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 14:11:08 +0200
From: Brendan Whyte <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
More Information on maps in Japan.
The Super Mapple Street Directory of Tokyo and surrounds (mentioned yesterday) can be
seen at http://www.mapple.co.jp/publ/sm.html
Mapple also produce excellent hiking maps at 1:50,000 scale.
These can be seen at http://www.mapple.co.jp/publ/yama.html
There are about 60 sheets in the series, covering all the main hiking areas of Japan.
They are printed on plasticised paper, so are water/tear-proof, and are superior to the
standard topo map series because they have shaded relief, altitude tints, detial bus
routes and bus stops (useful to access trialheads etc), and highlight trackswith times
for ascent/descent printed on the map next to each trail segment. They also highlight
the placenames (in kanji) that you will find on trial markers en route. Parking,
toilets, hot springs etc are also featured. And being designed for hiking, they cover
each major area in a single sheet, so no need for 4 normal topo sheets as with many
areas I wanted to visit!
The Nikko area, with its world heritage temples is on map 13, "Nikko". It is 50k scale
with a 300k regional map in similar style on the back, which also shows the sheet lines
for nearby maps in the series.
Hakone area SW of Tokyo is sheet 29
Mt Fuji area is sheet 31.
Each sheet comes with an illustrated trails booklet in Japanese in a cardbord folder.
Price is Y800 each.
An excellent bilingual map of the Tokyo region is "Bilingual Map of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Area" by Shonbusha available in good bookshops across Japan.
ISBN 4-398-83006-5, price Y819.
This features the greater Kanto district at 500k, Tokyo metro area at 100k, Fuji at
200k, Hakone and Nikko areas at 100k and Kamakura at 25k all on a doublesided sheet.
Altitude tints depict relief, prefecture and lower admin boundaries, urban areas,
roads, rail (JR and private differentiated), ferries etc. All in English with smaller
Kanji underneath each name, and a glosary of Japanese geographic terms. A booklet index
of placenames and points of interets in English (followed by Kanji) is included.
contact:
Shonbusha Publications
3-1 Koji0machi
Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
102-8238 JAPAN
ph (03)-3556-8111
Shonbusha (who appear to be a division of Mapple), also do an excellent bilingual "Rail
map of Tokyo Area". This is doublesides, with English on one side and kanji on the
other (a bit strange, as both could have been fitted on the same map on one side, which
would make life a bit easier).
This features JR lines, bullet train lines (shinkansen), private railways, subways,
monorails and all stations.
It is a typical schematic map of the system from the Odawara/Hakone area in the SW to
Nikko in the N. Lines are colour coded the same as on the maps on the walls at each
station. Lines are named, under-construction lines shown, and connections betwen
adjacent but differently-named stations shown.
There is an accompanying booklet in the map folder, in Japanese only, showing
individual lines and stations as straight lines.
Y714, ISBN 4-398-72008-1
Shonbush'a other bilingual titles are:
Road Atlas Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Atlas
Bilingual Map of Japan
Tourist Map of Kyoto
Bilingual Map of Tokyo
For Japanese railways for the whole country, the best map I could find was again
Shonbusha/Mappel, but in Japanese only.
ISBN 4-398-72007-3 price Y800. This map is a ocncertina foldout from a folder into
which it is glued. ON one side it features schematic diagrams of all ferry routes,
domestic air routes, intercity buses, schematic diagrams of city rail/metreo systems
On the fornt side it features the railway systems, schematically, but fairly
realistically geographically-speaking. Mountain ranges are shown, lakes and rivers, and
cable cars and funiculars, besides JR and private railways, monorails, etc, agian with
apparently all stations. For areas not served by rail or ferry, bus routes are shown.
Finally, for Yokohama, there is a excellent tourist map, available in many language
editions (Russian ,German, French, English, Chinese...]
Published by Yokohama Convention and Visitors Bureau, it is available free from a
number of rail stations and tourist sites. or contact the Bureau at
1st floor, Sanbo Centre, 2 Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-0023, JAPAN.
ph (045)-211-1202 fx (045)-221-2100/(045)-641-7485
www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/english/tourism
map on front sidede with insets, major buildings, etc, and map of greater Yokohama,
reverse has details on museums, hotels and sites, prices, opening hours, contact
details etc.
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Dr Brendan Whyte
Geography Department
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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