When I lived in Tokyo for a month and a half in 1993, I bought this book and ate at 5 or 6 of the restaurants Rick Kennedy recommends. They were all excellent. The Italian restaurant he recommended remains the best I have visited to date in any part of the world. Mr. Kennedy brings you to neighborhoods and places you would not necessarily have run into, and helps you to find the hidden gems therein. Even after I returned, I would read this book for fun because the atmosphere that Mr. Kennedy evokes as he writes reminded me of the places I had visited and lived. It is a great book, and I am sorry to see it is out of print, as I am going back to Tokyo to see some of the soccer World Cup games and was looking forward to seeing what other jewels Mr. Kennedy had found.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in life in general in Japan. I loved every bit of it and enjoyed the strange but interesting truth about life in Japan. Author adopts Tokyo as his home and learns to love what he got there and forget about what he missed there. I grew up in Asia and live in the US and have been to Japan and his comparison of living there as opposed to US is astonishingly honest and truthful. He writes beautifully about the issue of space, culture, and everyday etiquette, cross between the industrial and the rural Japan like a storyteller. If you are someone who grew up outside Japan and are going to live there, you must read this. If you also want to know what life in general in Japan is, this is a great book. Author is trying not only to live there and raise his family but also to love the place he chose to live in. Lively, entertaining book.

Great insight into the workings of old independent labels. I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I hope the publisher will bring out a Vol. 2. Next time, the writers could do some even smaller ones!

The interview with Fred Foster, the Monument Records man, is worth the price of this book alone. Some good reporting and analysis and a book worthy of owning. I learned a lot about a label in my backyard, Gennett Records in Richmond.

Reading this book has given me a new appreciation of the struggles of independent record company owners over the years. The chapter on King Records is worth the price of the book. The writers have carefully researched some important labels, picking their favorites--Gennett is very fascinating to me personally. I hope that a record company will release some old material based on this book. I hope the writers will consider a sequel.

I agree with Rick Kennedy that this is a story worth telling. Certainly it is an unlikely one. Out in the fields of Richmond, Indiana, in small wooden warehouse next to a railroad track, the Gennett studio laid down the first pops and scratches of recorded jazz. It's been said that, on some of these coveted 78s, you can hear trains in the background.

The Gennetts didn't set out to be pioneers. They were trying to make a living and maintain the family's piano business. Somehow over time many of the early jazz legends converged at this small studio, among them King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Hoagy Carmichael, and Bix Beiderbecke. In the CD age, it is especially fascinating to read about some of the early techniques of recording. This book should find some appeal among jazz fans and readers of Indiana history.

In this eminently readable book, Kennedy manages to provide the reader with an overview of the early history of the whole recording industry while also providing a view of successful Midwestern entrepreneurship---and that is just the background laid for this fascinating topic.

I had heard about those "incredible Gennett sides" for many years, and acquired several samples of Gennett records around 15 years ago. In many cases the unknown or obscurely known artists turned in amazing performances that anticipated where jazz and popular music would be several years in the future---in the later 30's and 1940's. I often wondered how these performances failed to come to the attention of the larger American listening audience. After reading this book, I feel that I have an understanding.

Learning the history of the company that pioneered recorded jazz was the enjoyable and enlightening result of reading this book. The incredible history of this American popular music form and its legitimacy as a recorded music encompasses the entire history of the Midwestern and Southern United States during the first quarter of the 20th century. Kennedy's book will soon have you absorbed in that history.

While the topic is certainly the genesis of Jazz music recording, the reader will soon discover there is much more to it. Highly recommended to anyone interested in American cultural history!

To even some of the most seasoned travellers to Japan, Tokyo is, as is on a global perspective, a convenient transit point. A hub for individuals jetting off to Asia, America, or even to more picturesque locales in Japan.

Our impression of Tokyo is commonly that of a post-war urban sprawl firebombed of traditional architecture by B29s. Not so, Rick Kennedy asserts.

In this handy little travel booklet (one assumes its size is not coincidental), you see the charms of the city gradually revealed to you. From the obscure and esoteric art of kohdo (or incense appreciation), to a day of indoor skiing, this book has enough to keep you occupied for a good two weeks. One wishes that an edition for kyoto is in the works.

The "adventures" - 39 in all - are mainly walking tours based on a theme. The touristy stuff is here, like the wee hours at Tsukiji Market, but expect also to find the hole-in-the-wall tempura joints and nomiyas.

Recommended, if you are in Tokyo with time to spare, not for the person with a 2 day stopover.

Having this book on a recent trip to Tokyo was like having a personal tour guide who appreciates the funky and beautiful in this crazy city. The Adventures include both walking tours and destinations, some cover the tourist spots and some are far from the mainstream. His coverage of the tourist spots will give you a unique view of them, but also try some of the more quirky destinations.

I realised quickly that I wanted to carry this book with me every day. I followed 6 or 7 Little Adventures and each one was memorable. My favorite was the Old Tokyo neighborhoods near Ueno, followed closey by Asakusa and Minka-en.

I would recommended this book highly to anyone visiting Tokyo. It's an overwhelming city and this book will take some of the stress out of tackling it. The author's insights are fun and the directions and maps are easy to follow (or as easy as can be hoped for in Japan!). I just hope Mr Kennedy keeps updating this book because Tokyo is such a rapidly changing city. There was at least one instance where I did not see a shop that was supposed to be on a route, but there was a huge new building under construction in the general area.

If you visit, live or even are just curious about Tokyo, Little Adventures is a truly wonderful guide. I bought it on a whim, but it was invaluable when deciding what to do on my first visit to Japan. It's fascinating reading even if you never visit! With such a wide variety of trips, there will surely be many things that will interest you.

I admit I have a special happiness for this book. One of the happiest days of my entire life was a visit to Minka-en, because of this book's description. That day is one of the most peaceful, happy, and memorable memories of my entire life. It was worth 100 times the price of this terrific guide. Thank you, Rick Kennedy!

Little Love Song is a wonderful book to give to anyone you care about, regardless of gender, age, or relationship. Through beautiful and vivid imagery and lyrics, it shows the simple nature of love. Most wonderful is the ending.

If you are a casual visitor to Tokyo, you can safely skip this book. The only useful thing in this "guidebook" are long lists of restaurants, bars and bathhouses, most of which are not ordered by area, but by type. None of the places listed are accompanied by maps. So unless you absolutely must eat at what the author considers Tokyo's best French restaurant, and are willing to fork out a fortune in cab fares to locate the place, give this book a miss.

Tokyo Q ... is an English language web site that covers the cultural scene in Tokyo. This book pulls together many of the reviews and listings published over the years.

It's a small book. The listings do not attempt to be comprehensive, and don't cover the mainstream hotels and restaurants you'll find in the typical guidebooks. It tries to be the guide your friend who's lived in Tokyo for 10 years would write, sharing his favorite places.

There's a photo of a sketch map in the center of the book which explains the neighborhoods of central Tokyo. On a recent business trip, I found this the single most useful two pages in any guidebook (and I bought several). I still needed the others to get around, but now I had a perceptual map of what I was doing.

If you're just going on business, you can probably skip this book. If you have a few days to explore, it's probably worth picking up. Don't miss Rick Kennedy's book, Little Adventures in Tokyo, which is essential for an exploratory newbie.

This little book won a spot in my bag every day I was in Tokyo, and that is the best of compliments when you are out exploring a city all day and want to travel light. I used it mostly for restaurants and it never steered me wrong. I quickly tossed my copy of Zagat Tokyo because it is biased to the most expensive places, TokyoQ has excellent listings in all price ranges organised by type of food. Dining is a huge part of the Tokyo experience and it's worth seeking out great restaurants. A couple of the places I chose from this book were a bit out of the way but well worth it.

Directions are not always given, which annoyed me until I accepted the fact that the only way to find an address in Tokyo is to find a police box and ask. Apparantly giving directions really is the main purpose of the Tokyo police.

I enjoyed the attention given to modern Architecture, an other main component of the Tokyo experience. I also loved the little sketch of neighborhoods, not a road map but more of a personality map. The sento section is much more extensive than I found elsewhere and an experience not to be missed.

TokyoQ is not an all-inclusive guide book, but it does an excellent job of filling in the gaps left by the others.