Another good read if you time and highly recommended before you ever visit Japan is "Untangling My Chopsticks : A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto" by Victoria Riccardi. I really enjoyed that book tremendously and it came in handy.
DH took me to see this tonight. It was fantastic. I read the book several years ago and was so thrilled to discover it was being made into a movie. I thought it was very well done(as far as sticking to the book). Dh enjoyed it as well, for the scenery if nothing more. He kept saying, "we have to go there!" I went strait to Barnes and Noble after dinner to get the sound track. I love
Yo-Yo Ma!! Great movie!!!!!!