LOCAL FOCUS Vol. 1

Local Focus is a series of guidebooks featuring the charming towns of Japan and highlights their unique natural environments and one-of-a-kind cultures and communities. It is a convenient and handy all-in-one English guidebook to make non-Japanese possible to explore Japan more efficiently and meaningfully as if they had a local guide with them.

Vol.1 features the historic town "Kamakura" and "Enoshima Island" which is connected to Kamakura by a bridge.

They both

・are located only an hour train-ride from Tokyo

・are the venues for the sailing competitions at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

・have beaches and hike trails.

・have history rich with Samurai and Zen  

・have a unique culture of old and new

Local Focus is for those who

•enjoy exploring small towns  

•avoid crowded, touristy spots    

• step off the beaten path    

•value well-crafted arts and time-tested traditions        

•prefer smoke-free dining

•prefer organic, all natural food

•prefer vegetarian or vegan food

Local Focus features;

•205 pages in full color

•over 100 places to visit selected by the production team

•easy to read maps

•at a glance icons for "English menu available" "Vegetarian or vegan menu available" "Take credit cards" "Barrier free" etc.

•history, culture, food, local communities and more

How did the production team select the places?

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, or introducing the must-sees, -dos, and –eats, where they take their guests from overseas, or recommend to traveling friends.

Production Team (arigatoubooks)

Local Focus is created by a team of local freelance editors, writers, photographers and designers who love nature, culture, and community of the area we live, and made up of both local Japanese and non-Japanese members; to create this guidebook, our non-Japanese speaking members identified what was necessary to assist foreign travelers who can’t speak the language, while our Japanese members compiled their insider information. This was then compiled into a graphically pleasing and user-friendly practical guidebook that will enable any visitor to have an authentically rich travel experience without the need to learn Japanese or have any local contacts. 

We avoided any kind of sponsorship from the featured sites so that we could introduce them with a fully unbiased approach and perspective.
website: www.localfocus.info