In similar vein, when a friend recommended Diana Durston's Old Kyoto: A Guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants, and Inns I thought it would surely be completely out of date, but actually, most of it was not even though it's been many years since the latest edition was released.

I think because she focused on very traditional businesses, the kind that are handed down within the family.

And for me, it wasn't just the specific recommendations, but the history and understanding of culture that the book gave me too. I wouldn't have been without it.

And I loved that the ryokan I'd already booked by the time my copy of this book arrived was listed!

I forgot to mention that my copy of Gateway to Japan arrived yesterday. Got it on Amazon for about 10 bucks -- and I'm impressed at how new it looks (for being used.)

Got a lot of reading to do this weekend! :)

I've been looking at this guidebook from 1903 available free to download at OpenLibrary.
While totally out of date, it has a wealth of cultural information and is quite interesting in its description of the major sights and advice for travel in that day.
It make modern day travel seem quite easy. http://openlibrary.org/works/OL16621...llers_in_Japan

Any suggestions for best phone apps for this?

I'm finding www.japan-guide.com very useful as well.