Looking for the Lost: Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan by Alan Booth

Something that seems lost these days are great English-language travel books about Japan. I do not mean guides — those come out a plenty on a regular basis. I mean travel narratives. There have been a few food based ones.

Booth's death was such a great loss. His keen observations during his odd and wonderful walks around Japan, collected in this volume, capture so much of a way of life that has likely passed.

He is always honest, sometimes cranky, and always noticing exciting little details.

One of my favourite lines in this was his describing Nikko Shrine as "so crammed with colourful and exotic fiddle-faddle" that its proximity to Tokyo is the sole reason it is popular.

It is well worth joining Booth on these three adventures.