Japan in Summer

About this book

Summer Japan is two countries in one day — white beaches and cool high valleys in the morning, fireworks and lanterns and open-circle dances at night — and this is the guidebook to both. Two hundred summer-only places and experiences in one uniform, practical format: 60 fireworks viewing guides, 60 beaches and island escapes, 40 highlands, gorges and cool escapes, and 40 summer foods, seasonal sights and experiences you join rather than watch. Every entry gives the typical window, the place, what makes it possible only in summer, and how to handle the heat, the rain and the crowds.

The Sumida and Nagaoka fireworks from the right bank. Yonaha Maehama's seven kilometres of white sand, the Kerama and Ogasawara islands, Kamikochi under the Hotaka peaks, Mt Fuji in its short climbing season, flowing noodles in a Kyoto ravine and eel on the Day of the Ox. Every window is given honestly as the typical year, and every entry carries its check date — because summer is weather, and a good guide says so.

Companion to Matsuri (the festivals themselves, across the year), Japan Through the Year (annual customs), Hanami & Momiji (blossom and autumn colour) and Japan in Winter (winter-only experiences): those books cover what Japan celebrates and watches. This one covers where summer itself takes you.

Written and created in Japan by Japanese author Aki Wakamatsu. Published by Takikawa TOKOTOKO Kids LLC, a Japanese publisher in Hokkaido, Japan. Authentic Japanese content, carefully made in Japan — not mass-produced.