Comic and Coffee Table Books on Japan

In addition to Tokyo on Foot, I picked up Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen in the Teen department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (a Librarian had to help me find it...).  It's another graphic version of a Tokyo guidebook and it's great because its chapters cover all the things I'm interested in: Food, Houses, Onsen and Parks, Shrines and Temples and Shopping.  And because it is written for young people without much money its recommendations are "spot on", as the British (whom the Japanese revere) would say.

A few of her tips:
About homes:
'One thing you won't find is an oven!  They just aren't common in a Japanese kitchen.  [oh, oh, Fernando can't bake bread...]

"Most Japanese homes don't have central heating, so devices like the heated carpet and kotatsu are very handy to keep everyone warm. "  BUT she also says "Winter in Japan is quite mild (at least compared to winters in America's Northeast)".

"Another thing you won't see in most homes is a clothes dryer."  [Despite having all that RAIN!]

About trains:
"One thing you have to remember is that while Japanese trains are wonderful, they do NOT run 24 hours!"  (as if we were staying out late at night...)
On the other hand, most combini (convenience stores) are open 24 hours, despite some being 7-elevens...

About hotels:
"Vending machines with beer are something we've seen in every hotel we stayed in [yay], and often the hotels are close to combini too [our is above one].  Usually, the rooms will include slippers and nightgowns/nightshirts, so packing night clothes isn't even necessary!"

I also picked up a coffee table photography book called Tokyo megacity.  I didn't expect much from it but the text is surpisingly informative and it profiles many neighborhoods, beginning with the low city (Shitamachi).  Shitamachi includes Asakusa (asaksa), Ueno, Yanaka, Akihabara and Tsukiji (tskiji) and was where the merchants and artisans lived and is one of the older sections of the city.  The author calls the Tokyo style of architecture "slash and burn" and there is very little in the city that is ancient, also in part due to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the U.S. firebombing of 1945.

The Upper City (Yamanote) to the west of the Imperial Palace was where the daimyo and their samurai resided but with the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s I think a lot of them went home.  The author of Tokyo megacity, Donald Richie, divides the area into the Mid City and the High City, probably alluding more to the height of the buildings than to the height of the land.  Our first hotel in Tokyo will be in Shinjuku which is in the "High City" but at least we aren't staying in Shibuya or Harajuku which are the young people's hangout.  I don't want to feel too ancient...