LOCAL FOCUS—A Japan Guide to Nature, Culture, and Community, Vol. I: Kamakura and Enoshima is the first in a series of guidebooks featuring the charming towns of Japan,highlighting their unique natural environments and one-of-a-kind cultures and communities. It’s a convenient and handy all-in-one English guidebook to offer non-Japanese access to the local community’s experience of Japan more efficiently and meaningfully as if they had a local guide alongside them.

Vol. I features the historic town of Kamakura along with Enoshima, the island connected to the town by a bridge.

Both locations:
・are located only an hour from Tokyo by train
・have beaches and hiking trails.
・have a history made rich from samurai warriors and Zen culture
・have a unique hybrid culture of old and new

LOCAL FOCUS is for those who:
・enjoy exploring small towns
・prefer to avoid crowded, touristy spots
・like stepping off the beaten path
・value well-crafted arts and time-tested traditions
・prefer smoke-free dining
・prefer organic, all-natural food

LOCAL FOCUS features:
・210 pages in full color
・over 100 places to visit hand-picked by the production team
・easy-to-read maps
・at-a-glance icons indicating places with "English menus available," "Credit cards accepted," and "Barrier-free accessibility," etc.
・history, culture, food, local communities, and more

How did our production team make its site selections?
Our production team strongly places value on the nature, culture, and community of the area, and Local Focus is a careful compilation that presents Kamakura and Enoshima as the backdrop for daily living, featuring shops that are part of the everyday life of the production team, introducing the must-sees, -dos, and -eats, where they take their guests from overseas, or recommend to traveling friends. We avoided any kind of sponsorship from the featured sites in order to introduce them with a fully unbiased approach and perspective.


Production Team (arigatoubooks)
LOCAL FOCUS—A Japan Guide to Nature, Culture, and Community, Vol. I: Kamakura and Enoshima is the first of a series of guidebooks created by a team of local freelance editors, writers, photographers and designers who love nature, culture, and community. This first volume was compiled to introduce the production team’s local area. To create these guidebooks, non-Japanese speaking team members identify the information necessary to assist foreign travelers who can’t speak the language, while the Japanese speaking members pool their insider resources. This data is then compiled into graphically pleasing and user-friendly practical guidebooks that enable any visitor to have an authentically rich travel experience without the need to learn Japanese or have any local contacts.