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23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 Brilliant!!!! Aug 19, 1998
I can't remeber how many times I've read this book, the first being when I was living in Japan but not yet speaking the language and I almost gave up on my classes there and then. Even though Alan Booth made his epic trip at a time when foreigners were still relatively rare in Japan, some of his experiences are still conceievable today. A must-read for anyone who's interested in Japan/travel/other cultures; my favourite episode involves the conversation with an inn keeper, in fluent Japanese, detailing the reasons why Booth can't stay there "We don't havce beds, only futon/ we don't eat meat and you foreigners can't eat raw fish/ we don't have knives and forks" etc etc, all of which are rebuffed in perfect Japanese. Finally the aged inn keeper says "But we don't speak English!" Having had many equally frustrating experiences, I could only laugh, as I did many times during this book. On a sad note, Alan Booth died several years ago while still in his 40's- I felt like I had lost a partner in crime, as well as being cheated of further insights on the country I sometimes loved... just read it!
29 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 A very accurate description Aug 02, 2001
By Linda Oskam
"dutch-traveller"
The late Alan Booth was married to a Japanese woman, spoke fluent Japanese and had lived in Japan for quite some time when he decided to walk all the way from the north to the south of the country. He walked gruelling distances (up to 40 kilometers a day with a heavy backpack) and slept in real Japanese ryokans, eating Japanese food, soaking in Japanese baths and drinking Japanese drinks. The ultimate Japan experience.I read this book while travelling through Japan and it described exactly what I was experiencing. I did not speak a word of Japanese (this in stark contrast to the author). People were very friendly and helpful, but you always felt the distance they were keeping because to Japanese foreigners are really strange. Alan Booth has at times hilarious accounts in the book of ryokan-owners who do not want to give him a room because "he does not speak Japanese" (the conversation is in Japanese), "a foreigner cannot sleep on a futon" (he has one at home), " a foreigner will not like Japanese food" (he has been living and eating in Japan for a long time) and 1001 other fake reasons. On the other hand he meets lots of very friendely people who overcome their xenophobia and help him along. The book mainly focusses on the first part of his hike. At the end of the book the account of the trip becomes too intermittent for my taste: I wanted to learn more about the southern part of the country. If you decide to travel to Japan, read this book, it will make you understand better what is happening to you. And if you do not travel to Japan, read it anyway because it a wonderful account of a hiking-trip through a very special country.
22 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Entertaining & Insightful Jan 24, 2000
By Todd Bass
"The Roads to Sata" is a foreigner's (British) account of his 2,000 mile walking journey from the country's northernmost to southernmost tip along the, mostly rural, Japan Sea side of the country in the early 1980s. What makes the book especailly enjoyable is what Mr. Booth brings to the table: fluency in Japanese; a familarity with the country and its culture from having lived there for half his life; a wry wit and an observant, thoughful mind. Most of the narrative deals with Mr. Booth's encounters with Japanese from all walks of life along the road and in the inns and bars he visits. Having lived in the country and revisted it on numerous occassions the book generated quite a bit of nostalgia for me and I also enjoyed Mr. Booth's take on the country and its society. If you've never been to Japan and you're looking for a book to help you get a real feel for the Japanese people you couldn't do much better than this book.
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
Simply wonderful Sep 13, 1998
I was lucky enough to receive my copy of this book from his wife. Reading the book, though, told me volumes more about the man than any person could. Yes, the book is a wonderful epic of a journey along the length of Japan. But more than that, the book (to me) was about the inner journey of man trying to find his place in culture that views outsiders as ... outsiders. It's a telling tale, similarly encountered by those who have traveled the distant corners of the world and the challenges they face trying to bind the different fabrics of world culture into one piece of harmonious tapestry. If you manage to get a hold of them, his articles for his Asahi column (That's All Folks) written in the months before his death(due to cancer) is as revealing and thought-provoking as this book.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
best first-hand insight into the real japan I've ever read Aug 23, 1998
By SteveJones (gdx39@dial.pipex.com)
This is a humorous and haunting book....humorous because Booth had a true observers touch for detail, personal observation and contrast. Haunting, because it was one of the last things he must have written in his short life. When I picked the book up, I had no idea the author was my old schoolfriend. We lost touch at university 30 years ago. It was the same Alan. Individual, witty and single minded. It was also Japan as I've experienced it: the real people and the cultural mix that is both familiar and alien. This is an insight into a face of Japan that is harder to find with each year. It's also a fitting memorial to a dedicated and unusual man.
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