History
Mark Twain reportedly said, "The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes." Reading about the history of Japan does not exactly explain the Japan of today, nor does Japan's history accurately predict the Japan of tomorrow. But for anyone genuinely interested in Japan, reading at least one general history of Japan is a must.
The African American Encounter With Japan and China: Black Internationalism in Asia, 1895-1945 by Marc S. Gallicchio Paperback
280 pages
Antiquity and Anachronism in Japanese History by Jeffrey P. Mass Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback)
The Bakufu in Japanese History by Jeffrey P. Mass, William B. Hauser Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback)
Between Tokyo and Moscow: The History of an Uneasy Relationship, 1972 to the 1990s by Joachim Glaubitz Hardcover
The Book in Japan: A Cultural History from the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century by Peter F. Kornicki Paperback
498 pages
A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations by Conrad Schirokauer Paperback
A Brief History of Japanese Civilization by Conrad Schirokauer Paperback
The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan Vol 1 by Delmer M. Brown Hardcover
Cambridge History of Japan Vol 2 Hardcover
The Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan Vol 3 by Kozo Yamamura Hardcover
The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan Vol 4 by John W. Hall Hardcover
The Cambridge History of Japan: The Nineteenth Century Vol 5 by Marius B. Jansen Hardcover
The Cambridge History of Japan: The Twentieth Century Vol 6 Peter Duus Hardcover
Choshu in the Meiji Restoration by Albert M. Craig Hardcover
Study of the Meiji Restoration through that of the state of Choshu, emphasizing the vitality of traditional values in Japan's early reaction to the West.
The Clash: A History of U.S.-Japan Relations by Walter Lafeber Hardcover
The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History by Gary D. Allinson Hardcover 320 pages
Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II by Yoshiaki Yoshimi, Suzanne O'Brien (Translator) Hardcover
240 pages
Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History Janet E. Hunter Paperback
Conflict in Modern Japanese History by Tetsuo. Najita Paperback
Court and Bakufu in Japan: Essays in Kamakura History by Jeffrey P. Mass Paperback
A Cultural History of Postwar Japan, 1945-1980 (Japanese Studies) by Shunsuke Tsurumi Hardcover
Development of Kamakura Rule, 1180-1250: A History With Documents by Jeffrey P. Mass Hardcover
The Economic Development of Japan 1868-1941 (New Studies in Economic and Social History) W. J. Macpherson Paperback
The Emergence of Modern Japan: An Introductory History Since 1853 by Janet Hunter Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback)
The Emperor's Codes: The Breaking of Japan's Secret Ciphers by Michael Smith Hardcover
336 pages
Codebreaking during WWII.
The Eyes of Power: Art and Early Tokugawa Authority by Karen M. Gerhart Paperback
208 pages
Factory Girls: Women in the Thread Mills of Meiji Japan by E. Patricia Tsurumi Hardcover (Also available in Paperback)
Foreign Business in Japan Before World War II (The International Conference on Business History, No 16) by Takeshi Yuzawa, Masaru Udagawa Hardcover
Foreign Correspondents in Japan: Covering a Half-Century of Upheavals from 1945 to the Present by Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan Hardcover
320 pages
Various authors write about assigned decades like breaking news stories. Contents include: the Korean War years, the Vietnam era, and the cold war era.
The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan by Christopher Benfey Paperback
352 pages
When the United States entered the Gilded Age after the Civil War, argues cultural historian Christopher Benfey, the nation lost its philosophical moorings and looked eastward to “Old Japan,” with its seemingly untouched indigenous culture, for balance and perspective. Japan, meanwhile, was trying to reinvent itself as a more cosmopolitan, modern state, ultimately transforming itself, in the course of twenty-five years, from a feudal backwater to an international power. This great wave of historical and cultural reciprocity between the two young nations, which intensified during the late 1800s, brought with it some larger-than-life personalities, as the lure of unknown foreign cultures prompted pilgrimages back and forth across the Pacific.
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix Hardcover
784 pages
A charged political biography that presents a portrait of a man far more shrewd, activist, and energetic than previously thought.
Historical Dictionary of Osaka and Kyoto by Ian Martin Ropke, Jon Woronoff (Editor) Hardcover
A History of Japan by James Murdoch Hardcover
A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower by Kenneth G. Henshall Paperback
320 pages
History of Japan by J. G. Caiger, R. H. Mason Paperback
History of Japan by Kaempfer Hardcover
History of Japan: 1615-1867 Vol 3 by George Sansom Hardcover
History of Japan: Compiled from the Records of the English East India Company at the Instance of the Court of Directors (Studies in Japanese History) by Peter Pratt Hardcover
A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower by Kenneth G. Henshall Paperback
320 pages
Easily digestible overview for general readers.
History of Japan to 1334 by George Sansom Paperback
History of Japan, 1334-1615 by George Sansom Paperback
History of Japan, 1615-1867 by George Sansom Paperback
The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years' War, 1931-1945 by Peter B. High Hardcover
544 pages
Details how Japanese directors, scriptwriters, company officials, and bureaucrats colluded to produce films that supported the war effort.
Japan: A Concise History by Milton W. Meyer Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback)
Japan: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary by Don Starr Paperback
Japan: A Documentary History: The Dawn of History to the Late Tokugawa Period Vol 1 by David J. Lu Paperback
Japan: A Documentary History: The Late Tokugawa Period to the Present Vol 2 by David J. Lu Paperback
Japan: A Short Cultural History by G. B. Sansom Paperback
Japan: A Short History by Albert C. Ganley Paperback
Japan: A Short History by Mikiso Hane Paperback
192 pages
Concentrates on social history: the shifting realities of women, workers and minorities.
Japan: An Illustrated History by Shelton Woods Paperback
200 pages
Japan: Beyond the End of History (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies) by David Williams Paperback
Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times (Michigan Classics in Japanese Studies, No 7) by John Whitney Hall Paperback
Japan: Its History and Culture Fourth Edition by W. Scott Morton Paperback
336 pages
Written in a continuous narrative form, its scope stretches from the nation's earliest known civilization to the present.
Japan Emerges: A Concise History of Japan from Its Origin to the Present by Steven Warshaw Paperback
Japan Examined: Perspectives on Modern Japanese History by Harry and Conroy, Hilary Wray Paperback
Japan Since 1945: The Rise of an Economic Superpower (Studies in Contemporary History) by Dennis B. Smith Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback)
Japan's Foreign Relations, 1542-1936: A Short History by Roy Akagi Hardcover
Japan's Orient: Rendering Pasts Into History by Stefan Tanaka Paperback
Japan's Postwar History by Gary D. Allinson Paperback
Japan: A Documentary History Vol 2 by David J. Lu Paperback
Japanese Capitals in Historical Perspective: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo by Nicholas Fieve Hardcover
Japanese Castles 1540-1640 by Stephen Turnbull Paperback
Japanese History and Culture from Ancient to Modern Times: Seven Basic Bibliographies by John W. Dower, Timothy S. George Hardcover
Korean Impact on Japanese Culture: Japan's Hidden History by Jon C. Covell, Alan C. Covell Hardcover
The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu by Ryotaro Shiba, Juliette Winters Carpenter Paperback
256 pages
The story of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913) the 15th and last shogun of Japan. With isolationist Japan coming under increasing foreign pressure to open its bolted doors and civil war threatening from within, Yoshinobu lived, schemed, and ruled during a time of great historic consequence.
Mapping Early Modern Japan: Space, Place, and Culture in the Tokugawa Period, 1603-1868 by Marcia Yonemoto Hardcover
240 pages
Charts the emergence of a new geographical consciousness in early modern Japan through texts, cultural practices, and intellectual processes--including maps and mapmaking, poetry, travel writing, popular fiction, and encyclopedias.
Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History by John W. Hall, Jeffrey P. Mass Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback )
The Meiji Restoration and the Rise of Modern Japan (Turning Points in World History) by Monique Avakian Paperback
The Modern History of Japan. by William G. Beasley Paperback
Modern Japan (World History Series) by Don Nardo Hardcover
Modern Japan: A Brief History. by Arthur E. Tiedeman Paperback
Modern Japan: A Social History Since 1868 by J. E. Thomas Paperback
The Monkey As Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney Hardcover
Narrative of the Expedition to the China Seas and Japan, 1852-1854 by Commodore M. C. Perry Paperback
560 pages
Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald Macdonald and the Opening of Japan by Frederik L. Schodt Hardcover
448 pages
(Also available in Paperback)
Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan by Ivan Morris Paperback
Noh' or Accomplishment: A Study of the Classical Stage of Japan by Ernest Fenollsa Hardcover
272 pages
Old Kyoto: A Short Social History by John Lowe Hardcover
96 pages
Oxford Economic History of Modern Japan by Takafusa Nakamura Paperback
600 pages
This volume covers the first half of the twentieth century.
Personality in Japanese History (Michigan Classics in Japanese Studies ; No. 13) by Albert M. Craig, Donald H. Shively Paperback
Postwar Japan As History by Andrew Gordon Hardcover
(Also available in Paperback)
Power Across the Pacific: A Diplomatic History of American Relations With Japan by William R. Nester Hardcover
The Quest for Kibi and the True Origins of Japan by Michael S.F. Gorman, Akio Nakamura Hardcover
Rising Sun Victorious: The Alternate History of How the Japanese Won the Pacific War by Peter G. Tsouras (Editor) Hardcover
240 pages
Military historians examine what would have happened if the Japanese had conquered India and knocked Britain out of the Pacific War; or if Japanese landings in Australia had severed the strategic link between the US and its Southwest Pacific base.
Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands by Mark J. Hudson Paperback
352 pages
(Also available in Hardcover)
Samurai! by Saburo Sakai Paperback
304 pages
The story of Saburo Sakai, one of the few Japanese pilots to survive WWII.
The Samurai: A Military History by Stephen Turnbull Paperback
The Silver Drum: A Japanese Imperial Memoir by Princess Chichibu, Dorothy Britton (Translator) Hardcover
210 pages
Autobiography of Princess Chichibu, born in 1909 into the Japanese Imperial family, who became Emperor Hirohito's sister-in-law.
Sources of Japanese Tradition by William Theodore De Bary Paperback
520 pages
Long-awaited revision of a classic 1958 edition contains a wide selection of source readings on history, society, politics, education, philosophy, and religion. New additions include: readings on early and medieval Shinto and on the tea ceremony, readings on state Buddhism and Chinese political thought influential in Japan, and o sections on women's education, medieval innovations in the uses of history, and laws and precepts of the medieval warrior houses.
Telling Lives: Women's Self-Writing in Modern Japan by Ronald P. Loftus Hardcover
310 pages
This collection of translations looks at the self-writing of five Japanese women who came of age during the decades leading up to World War II. Each illustrates the importance of gender in Japan's historical development and reveals what a disruptive force it could be.
A Traveller's History of Japan (Traveller's History) by Richard Tames Paperback
Windows on the Japanese Past: Studies in Archaeology and Prehistory by Richard J Pearson Hardcover
The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family by Sterling Seagrave Hardcover
400 pages
Bit of a conspiracy theory volume that sets out to "expose the collusion and corruption that have been at the heart of the postwar Japanese economic miracle."
A Yankee in Hokkaido: The Life of William Smith Clark by John M. Maki Hardcover
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