If you have any intention of travelling to Japan, look at this book. We spent two weeks in Japan not just in Tokyo and Kyoto But also hiking in the mountains along the old Nakasendo road between the two cities. The photographs portray the more intimate parts of Tokyo, the juxtaposition of high rise and ancient culture. In Kyoto we were lucky enough to meet the grandson of a famous Jaoanese garden designer Shigemori and had a private tour of his private residence and garden. Trekking in the mountains revealed a quite different aspect of Japan, one of a quiet rural idyll where even the forests seemed to be tended and managed to prevent erosion and allow people to walk there safely. The villages were more reminiscent of alpine villages in Switzerland except that the wooden chalet like houses had Japanese screens and were surrounded with cloud trees and miniature pine trees.