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Cambridge Concise Histories
A Concise History of Japan (Cambridge Concise Histories) Paperback – February 26, 2015
To this day, Japan's modern ascendancy challenges many assumptions about world history, particularly theories regarding the rise of the west and why the modern world looks the way it does. In this engaging new history, Brett L. Walker tackles key themes regarding Japan's relationships with its minorities, state and economic development, and the uses of science and medicine. The book begins by tracing the country's early history through archaeological remains, before proceeding to explore life in the imperial court, the rise of the samurai, civil conflict, encounters with Europe, and the advent of modernity and empire. Integrating the pageantry of a unique nation's history with today's environmental concerns, Walker's vibrant and accessible new narrative then follows Japan's ascension from the ashes of World War II into the thriving nation of today. It is a history for our times, posing important questions regarding how we should situate a nation's history in an age of environmental and climatological uncertainties.
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First published February 26, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
June 1, 2023
Long Haul
A well-structured general introduction to the history of Japan.
I would recommend it to whoever would like to somehow skim through the main historical, cultural and natural landmarks of this extraordinary country. The author gives due consideration to the active interaction between the Japanese society and its natural environment across the ages. Many historical events do not appear so much as arbitrary landmarks as the outcome of complex relations between nature as a whole and mankind, especially as industrialization develops.
Thanks for this instructive reading, Chadi.
Other recommendations:
The Book of Tea
In Praise of Shadows
Runaway Horses
Le Japon
Les japonais
Japan at War: An Oral History
Soundtrack
A well-structured general introduction to the history of Japan.
I would recommend it to whoever would like to somehow skim through the main historical, cultural and natural landmarks of this extraordinary country. The author gives due consideration to the active interaction between the Japanese society and its natural environment across the ages. Many historical events do not appear so much as arbitrary landmarks as the outcome of complex relations between nature as a whole and mankind, especially as industrialization develops.
Thanks for this instructive reading, Chadi.
Other recommendations:
The Book of Tea
In Praise of Shadows
Runaway Horses
Le Japon
Les japonais
Japan at War: An Oral History
Soundtrack
November 19, 2018
My main thing that I did not like about this book is that it covers the material very quickly which is an entirely unfair criticism, because it is a "concise" history. It does in fact do a good job of covering the highlights from the historical period. I have never read a book about Japanese history, but as it turned out through one way and another, I knew most of the history in the book anyway.
My real main problem with the book is with some of the analysis in the book. In particular, Walker labels the Tokugawa shogunate as the Early Modern Period. That to my mind is totally wrong headed. Walker labels it the Early Modern Period because it has increased commercial prosperity, political centralization and increased urbanization. That's true of the Early Modern Period in Europe, but its also true of the 15th Century the Early and Mid R0man Empire and so on. The Early Modern Period is instead characterized by the development of most of the ideas that form the Modern Period - Scientific Method, Industrialization, Modern Finance, Capitalist Theory, Linking Science to technological development, modern democratic theory, human rights, systematization of all knowledge, and on and on and on. None of this characterizes Japan. This is very important because one can describe the history of the world from 1500(ish) to at least 1945 as the development in the West of modern ideas and there subsequent use to dominate the world. That explains much of the history of every major country in the world - except Japan! When Walker explains why Japan was never colonized he compares it to Brazil! Not, say, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, etc. It is probably the least illuminating example he could possibly have picked. (He gets that wrong too by the way -the entire emphasis is put on disease, the fact that the indigenous people were more than 3000 years behind in military science is dismissed and travel time from Europe is ignored.) Alone of all the cultures that the Europeans encountered, Japan managed to resist them and when that proved impossible, join them. The book does nothing to explain this.
Finally, the book emphasizes the environment. While the introduction of environmental history into the history of nations is a good thing, this is often overdone in this book. For instance, the social impact of 2 million people dying in WWII gets less attention than the killing of the animals in the Tokyo zoo! Somewhere towards the end he calls Heidegger a giant of thought or some such thing, so that's the problem in that he suppose he's coming out of that kind of bullshitty-pseudo- analysis.
I've been more negative than I meant to be. The account of events and changes is good. It is the why of them which is poor and that's not of course the emphasis of a survey book.
My real main problem with the book is with some of the analysis in the book. In particular, Walker labels the Tokugawa shogunate as the Early Modern Period. That to my mind is totally wrong headed. Walker labels it the Early Modern Period because it has increased commercial prosperity, political centralization and increased urbanization. That's true of the Early Modern Period in Europe, but its also true of the 15th Century the Early and Mid R0man Empire and so on. The Early Modern Period is instead characterized by the development of most of the ideas that form the Modern Period - Scientific Method, Industrialization, Modern Finance, Capitalist Theory, Linking Science to technological development, modern democratic theory, human rights, systematization of all knowledge, and on and on and on. None of this characterizes Japan. This is very important because one can describe the history of the world from 1500(ish) to at least 1945 as the development in the West of modern ideas and there subsequent use to dominate the world. That explains much of the history of every major country in the world - except Japan! When Walker explains why Japan was never colonized he compares it to Brazil! Not, say, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, etc. It is probably the least illuminating example he could possibly have picked. (He gets that wrong too by the way -the entire emphasis is put on disease, the fact that the indigenous people were more than 3000 years behind in military science is dismissed and travel time from Europe is ignored.) Alone of all the cultures that the Europeans encountered, Japan managed to resist them and when that proved impossible, join them. The book does nothing to explain this.
Finally, the book emphasizes the environment. While the introduction of environmental history into the history of nations is a good thing, this is often overdone in this book. For instance, the social impact of 2 million people dying in WWII gets less attention than the killing of the animals in the Tokyo zoo! Somewhere towards the end he calls Heidegger a giant of thought or some such thing, so that's the problem in that he suppose he's coming out of that kind of bullshitty-pseudo- analysis.
I've been more negative than I meant to be. The account of events and changes is good. It is the why of them which is poor and that's not of course the emphasis of a survey book.
July 1, 2021
There's a lot of good to this, but the author also feels completely free to editorialize on some materials in ways that make me not trust his interpretation of factual events as much as I could. (Why do you have any opinion on why Lady Gaga ever carried a Hello Kitty purse, dude? What does this have to do with you?)
December 21, 2021
Very concise indeed. Easy to read.
July 20, 2022
Ik zag een youtube video van 9 minuten die duidelijker was
January 7, 2024
Its not a waste of time to a newcomer but it could also be better. The book aims to provide both a concise history but also an environmental perspective. I am not necessarily against this, I enjoy environmental history a lot. But in this book I think it is overambitious and ends up detracting from the main point. The economic boom and lost decades are brushed past very quickly whereas as the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and its related issues are dealt with in some detail. Again, this is not uninteresting, but when I pick up a "concise history" I want to know the essentials of a countries history and what brought it to its present point. Japans economic boom and the lost decades deserve a lot more space in this regard, whereas the opinions of Japanese philosophers about the Tohoku earthquake, while interesting, dont need to take up space in this particular book.
The author should have written two books, a concise history and an environmental history. I also feel that within chapters there can be quite a bit of jumping between timepoints and I prefer more linear year by year (or as close as you can get to that) historical retellings. In this regard I found myself a bit lost at times, though that could also be in part because I was listening on a PDF reader and didn't have the book in my hand.
The author should have written two books, a concise history and an environmental history. I also feel that within chapters there can be quite a bit of jumping between timepoints and I prefer more linear year by year (or as close as you can get to that) historical retellings. In this regard I found myself a bit lost at times, though that could also be in part because I was listening on a PDF reader and didn't have the book in my hand.
October 10, 2022
Unfairly reductive paraphrase: "The real tragedy of WWII was how many trees the Japanese cut down for their war effort. Also possibly Nanjing."
April 26, 2023
Ég myndi frekar vilja horfa á livestream af fólki að deyja en að lesa þessa bók aftur. Og ég þurfti að lesa hana útaf áfanga í hí þannig ég borgaði fyrir að láta pynta mig.
Read
June 5, 2024my rating of this books entirely depends on whether I pass my exam tomorrow
January 22, 2024
As profoundly tempted as I am to give this book 1 star, I'll give it two for it's thoroughness. This book felt more like the Walker wanted to write a book about climate change, but got shot down by his publisher and told to write a history of Japan instead. While certainly an issue, I doubt the average reader is coming to this book in search of an ecological sermon. It takes only half of the dull book to reach post-Tokugawa times, and the author allots the rest of the book to modernity. The final chapter itself is entirely about one topic alone, and you guessed it, it's climate change. The more interesting sections are well researched and thorough, hence the second star, but overall the entire tome reeks of self-righteous academia.
April 16, 2022
Concisely expanded narrative of Japan
Meiji Restoration of mid 19th century is most important phase of Japanese History.
Outline:
The Birth of the Yamato State, 14,500 bce – 710 ce
The Courtly Age, 710–1185
The Rise of Samurai Rule, 1185–1336
Medieval Japan and the Warring States Period, 1336–1573
Japan’s Encounter with Europe, 1543–1640
Unifying the Realm, 1560–1603
Early Modern Japan, 1600–1800
The Rise of Imperial Nationalism, 1770–1854
Meiji Enlightenment, 1868–1912
Meiji’s Discontents, 1868–1920
The Birth of Japan’s Imperial State, 1800–1910
Empire and Imperial Democracy, 1905–1931
The Pacific War, 1931–1945
Excerpts from the work,
Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901), one of the key Figures for Modernization of Japan.
Fukuzawa entertained lofty dreams of shattering the chains of backward Confucian practices and travelling the world in order to discover what made the Western world tick.
Fukuzawa believed that the Japanese needed to refashion their temporal perspective and their understanding of what terms such as ‘civilization’ and ‘history’ actually meant.
In a series of publications, Fukuzawa refined how Japanese should view the past and future. He argued that human civilization, whether in Japan or England, progressed from ‘barbarism’, ‘primitive chaos’, and ‘semi-civilization’, to full-blown ‘civilization’. History, for Fukuzawa
Traditionally, historians assert that Europe’s ascendancy resulted from a unique amalgam of historical developments, such as competition among small European states, the Enlightenment, the Protestant work ethic, the scientific revolution with its technological breakthroughs, or the birth of capitalism.
Revisionists now claim that it was good geographic fortune. But the rapid injection of silver and sugar, cultivated in the New World, into the veins of Europe’s economies and bodies also explains how Europe transformed from a global backwater into a collection of states that competed for world supremacy.
Japan never became a European colony or adopted European ecology. As a Portuguese missionary observed, ‘The Japanese are much braver and more warlike’ than other peoples of Asia
Historians used to see the period between 1542 and 1640 as Japan’s ‘Christian century’, and indeed Christianity proved an important element of the cultural package brought to Japan by first the Portuguese, and later European missionaries, explorers, travellers, and conquerors.
The Tokugawa Peace endured for well over two centuries. Early on, however, cracks began to disfigure the edifice of Tokugawa rule. Cracks both internally & externally.
The arrival of American Commodore Matthew C. Perry in July 1853 at Uraga near Edo brought this domestic turmoil to a head.
Perry forced Japan to open their ports.
Japan acquiesced to Perry’s demands, and signed unfair Harris Treaty of 1858.
In response to ‘unequal treaties’ and fueled by the radical politics of imperial nationalism, Japan began embarking on radically new forms of state building in the Meiji years, ones that put the small island country on near parity with the Great Powers.
The cultural encounter with the US and Europe sparked an intensely nationalistic response, characterized by the ‘revere the emperor’ movement.
The development of sciences in early modern Japan, particularly the influence of ‘Dutch learning’, thus created another source of cracks in the edifice of Tokugawa authority.
On the battlefield of knowledge surrounding the body, understanding human anatomy through dissection became the focus of many physicians interested in European medicine.
Whereas Neo-Confucian medicine had favoured a conservative, non-interventionist approach to the body, Dutch learning offered a more revolutionary scientific gaze, one that probed inside the body.
The Meiji Restoration has led to an unprecedented political transformation in Japan. The Meiji Restoration brought ‘civilization and enlightenment’ to Japan, rapidly advancing the country by virtually all modern or industrial metrics,
Japan won over decisively in Sino-Japanese War 1895, and
Russo-Japanese War (1905), that propelled Japan as a Major World Power.
Other works on Japanese History:
Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.
Somebody Else's Century: East and West in a Post-Western World.
Modern Japan: A Very Short Introduction
by Christopher Goto-Jones
Meiji Restoration of mid 19th century is most important phase of Japanese History.
Outline:
The Birth of the Yamato State, 14,500 bce – 710 ce
The Courtly Age, 710–1185
The Rise of Samurai Rule, 1185–1336
Medieval Japan and the Warring States Period, 1336–1573
Japan’s Encounter with Europe, 1543–1640
Unifying the Realm, 1560–1603
Early Modern Japan, 1600–1800
The Rise of Imperial Nationalism, 1770–1854
Meiji Enlightenment, 1868–1912
Meiji’s Discontents, 1868–1920
The Birth of Japan’s Imperial State, 1800–1910
Empire and Imperial Democracy, 1905–1931
The Pacific War, 1931–1945
Excerpts from the work,
Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901), one of the key Figures for Modernization of Japan.
Fukuzawa entertained lofty dreams of shattering the chains of backward Confucian practices and travelling the world in order to discover what made the Western world tick.
Fukuzawa believed that the Japanese needed to refashion their temporal perspective and their understanding of what terms such as ‘civilization’ and ‘history’ actually meant.
In a series of publications, Fukuzawa refined how Japanese should view the past and future. He argued that human civilization, whether in Japan or England, progressed from ‘barbarism’, ‘primitive chaos’, and ‘semi-civilization’, to full-blown ‘civilization’. History, for Fukuzawa
Traditionally, historians assert that Europe’s ascendancy resulted from a unique amalgam of historical developments, such as competition among small European states, the Enlightenment, the Protestant work ethic, the scientific revolution with its technological breakthroughs, or the birth of capitalism.
Revisionists now claim that it was good geographic fortune. But the rapid injection of silver and sugar, cultivated in the New World, into the veins of Europe’s economies and bodies also explains how Europe transformed from a global backwater into a collection of states that competed for world supremacy.
Japan never became a European colony or adopted European ecology. As a Portuguese missionary observed, ‘The Japanese are much braver and more warlike’ than other peoples of Asia
Historians used to see the period between 1542 and 1640 as Japan’s ‘Christian century’, and indeed Christianity proved an important element of the cultural package brought to Japan by first the Portuguese, and later European missionaries, explorers, travellers, and conquerors.
The Tokugawa Peace endured for well over two centuries. Early on, however, cracks began to disfigure the edifice of Tokugawa rule. Cracks both internally & externally.
The arrival of American Commodore Matthew C. Perry in July 1853 at Uraga near Edo brought this domestic turmoil to a head.
Perry forced Japan to open their ports.
Japan acquiesced to Perry’s demands, and signed unfair Harris Treaty of 1858.
In response to ‘unequal treaties’ and fueled by the radical politics of imperial nationalism, Japan began embarking on radically new forms of state building in the Meiji years, ones that put the small island country on near parity with the Great Powers.
The cultural encounter with the US and Europe sparked an intensely nationalistic response, characterized by the ‘revere the emperor’ movement.
The development of sciences in early modern Japan, particularly the influence of ‘Dutch learning’, thus created another source of cracks in the edifice of Tokugawa authority.
On the battlefield of knowledge surrounding the body, understanding human anatomy through dissection became the focus of many physicians interested in European medicine.
Whereas Neo-Confucian medicine had favoured a conservative, non-interventionist approach to the body, Dutch learning offered a more revolutionary scientific gaze, one that probed inside the body.
The Meiji Restoration has led to an unprecedented political transformation in Japan. The Meiji Restoration brought ‘civilization and enlightenment’ to Japan, rapidly advancing the country by virtually all modern or industrial metrics,
Japan won over decisively in Sino-Japanese War 1895, and
Russo-Japanese War (1905), that propelled Japan as a Major World Power.
Other works on Japanese History:
Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.
Somebody Else's Century: East and West in a Post-Western World.
Modern Japan: A Very Short Introduction
by Christopher Goto-Jones
September 24, 2021
Hay una especie de “escondida obviedad” que se desprende de las páginas de casi cualquier buen libro de historia, así sea sólo una historia general que en unos cuantos cientos de páginas debe hacer caber la historia completa de un país que, como en este caso, la tiene larga, y que es el hecho en principio obvio de que, aparte las peculiaridades, los matices, los distintos tonos y variados ritmos en que trascurre el acontecer histórico en cada región, en general, en todas partes, la gente sigue siendo la misma, y su historia apenas algo distinta a la de los otros.
Pese al aura algo mágica con la que todavía a veces se le suele retratar en esta parte del mundo, idealizándola de plano, o, claro está, denigrándola en grado sumo, resulta que al final Japón es un poco como en todas partes (¿obvio, no?), y resulta que ni es una nación particularmente espiritual o apegada a la naturaleza ni una tierra de samuráis encorbatados planeando conquistar el mundo mientras asesinan ballenas… o no sólo eso.
El cuento es largo de contar, y el autor de esta Historia de Japón, Brett Walker, nos hace ver cómo esta pequeña nación insular en el extremo asiático (y no la enorme China ni la deslumbrante India), con su peculiar geografía, su relativo aislamiento y ese curioso sincretismo del que han dado muestras desde el mismo inicio de su historia, acabó convirtiéndose en una potencia a nivel mundial, y para bien de algunos y para mal de todos llegó a ponerse al tú por tú con los grandes imperios occidentales llegado el siglo XX.
Aparte la nostalgia, la recreación ensoñadora y quizá la sola tradición, el Medioevo japonés no parece un lugar o tiempo particularmente agradable, de hecho, es espantoso, y no sólo para las personas de a pie, que desde antes, y durante y también después de los interminables conflictos bélicos, tuvieron que partirse el lomo cada día y morir luego de cualquier forma mientras los orgullosos señores de la guerra se disputaban el poder en tanto, poco a poco, e inevitablemente, conformaban el Estado.
Un punto en particular que el autor resalta a todo lo largo del libro, y al que de hecho le dedica un capítulo completo al final, es el impacto medioambiental, la forma en que las acciones humanas han afectado indirecta y cada vez más directamente en el clima y hasta geografía del mundo, y de Japón sobre todo, pues como nación que es al mismo tiempo altamente industrializada y confinada a un grupo no muy grande de islas, ha sufrido en carne viva las consecuencias de su desarrollo desbocado, intransigente, feroz, y que llegó a su culmen en el hoy conocido como Triple Desastre de Fukushima, cuando un terremoto creó luego un tsunami y además una falla en el reactor nuclear de aquella planta costera, contaminando por quien sabe cuántos siglos aquella tierra hoy despoblada.
Por desgracia, el malhadado siglo XX japonés, aparte sus muchos anteriores méritos y, aparte también previas empresas de conquista, sigue pesando mucho todavía, en gran parte porque, a diferencia de la Alemania post-nazi, que cuando menos acabó reconociendo sus culpas y abiertamente intentó enmendarse, el Japón posterior a la Guerra del Pacífico jamás ha reconocido semejante responsabilidad, hasta la fecha sigue sin dar una disculpa a las naciones invadidas, Corea y China en particular, y, lo que es peor, así como en tantas otras partes, han surgido más bien grupos de revisionistas históricos que hacen todo lo posible por exculpar a su país, convierten a los dementes militares que desencadenaron la guerra en héroes y las tragedias ajenas en “complots” en su contra, prolongando un ambiente de antioccidentalismo visceral y racista, tan tristemente parecido al revisionismo histórico y racismo occidentales.
En fin.
Para ser honestos, debo decir que la imagen que queda al final del libro es más bien negativa, quizá porque el autor se enfoca en los aspectos socio-políticos y militares, que en todas partes y en todo tiempo serán por fuerza algo sombríos, sin detenerse demasiado en la esfera cultural o social-folklórica, lo que resulta en un retrato medio pesadillezco de lo que para la mayoría de la gente debió ser vivir en la Era de las cortes, o en la Edad Media, o en el asfixiante shogunato Edo, o la mortal época Showa que por poco acaba para siempre con el país.
Los países, por fortuna, no son sólo sus gobernantes y su política, sus guerras y conflictos sin fin y, como escribe el autor al final del libro, la mayoría de los japoneses está en contra de la caza de ballenas y en su vida ha probado su carne, ni cree que el emperador sea divino o su país especialmente escogido por los dioses, sólo intenta llevar su vida lo mejor posible, trabajando muchísimo, sin armar mucho alboroto, y de hecho, quizá hasta deberían trabajar un poco menos y alborotar más, pues a nadie (salvo a los zaibatsus y políticos) les hace falta que se maten trabajando esperando ganar quién sabe qué, mientras unas cuantas compañías explotan hasta el agotamiento sus limitados recursos naturales y contaminan el mundo entero, que como karma les responde con impredecibles supertifones y aumentos del nivel del mar, y que nadie más que ellos saben lo que implica.
[Nota: como en el otro libro de esta serie, Historia de Rusia, de Editorial Akal, esta edición está repleta de erratas, son en verdad tantas que resulta molesto, ¿es que nadie se toma la molestia de darle una última simple lectura a la edición final? Digo, la edición se hace hoy día a computadora, ¿qué no?]
Pese al aura algo mágica con la que todavía a veces se le suele retratar en esta parte del mundo, idealizándola de plano, o, claro está, denigrándola en grado sumo, resulta que al final Japón es un poco como en todas partes (¿obvio, no?), y resulta que ni es una nación particularmente espiritual o apegada a la naturaleza ni una tierra de samuráis encorbatados planeando conquistar el mundo mientras asesinan ballenas… o no sólo eso.
El cuento es largo de contar, y el autor de esta Historia de Japón, Brett Walker, nos hace ver cómo esta pequeña nación insular en el extremo asiático (y no la enorme China ni la deslumbrante India), con su peculiar geografía, su relativo aislamiento y ese curioso sincretismo del que han dado muestras desde el mismo inicio de su historia, acabó convirtiéndose en una potencia a nivel mundial, y para bien de algunos y para mal de todos llegó a ponerse al tú por tú con los grandes imperios occidentales llegado el siglo XX.
Aparte la nostalgia, la recreación ensoñadora y quizá la sola tradición, el Medioevo japonés no parece un lugar o tiempo particularmente agradable, de hecho, es espantoso, y no sólo para las personas de a pie, que desde antes, y durante y también después de los interminables conflictos bélicos, tuvieron que partirse el lomo cada día y morir luego de cualquier forma mientras los orgullosos señores de la guerra se disputaban el poder en tanto, poco a poco, e inevitablemente, conformaban el Estado.
Un punto en particular que el autor resalta a todo lo largo del libro, y al que de hecho le dedica un capítulo completo al final, es el impacto medioambiental, la forma en que las acciones humanas han afectado indirecta y cada vez más directamente en el clima y hasta geografía del mundo, y de Japón sobre todo, pues como nación que es al mismo tiempo altamente industrializada y confinada a un grupo no muy grande de islas, ha sufrido en carne viva las consecuencias de su desarrollo desbocado, intransigente, feroz, y que llegó a su culmen en el hoy conocido como Triple Desastre de Fukushima, cuando un terremoto creó luego un tsunami y además una falla en el reactor nuclear de aquella planta costera, contaminando por quien sabe cuántos siglos aquella tierra hoy despoblada.
Por desgracia, el malhadado siglo XX japonés, aparte sus muchos anteriores méritos y, aparte también previas empresas de conquista, sigue pesando mucho todavía, en gran parte porque, a diferencia de la Alemania post-nazi, que cuando menos acabó reconociendo sus culpas y abiertamente intentó enmendarse, el Japón posterior a la Guerra del Pacífico jamás ha reconocido semejante responsabilidad, hasta la fecha sigue sin dar una disculpa a las naciones invadidas, Corea y China en particular, y, lo que es peor, así como en tantas otras partes, han surgido más bien grupos de revisionistas históricos que hacen todo lo posible por exculpar a su país, convierten a los dementes militares que desencadenaron la guerra en héroes y las tragedias ajenas en “complots” en su contra, prolongando un ambiente de antioccidentalismo visceral y racista, tan tristemente parecido al revisionismo histórico y racismo occidentales.
En fin.
Para ser honestos, debo decir que la imagen que queda al final del libro es más bien negativa, quizá porque el autor se enfoca en los aspectos socio-políticos y militares, que en todas partes y en todo tiempo serán por fuerza algo sombríos, sin detenerse demasiado en la esfera cultural o social-folklórica, lo que resulta en un retrato medio pesadillezco de lo que para la mayoría de la gente debió ser vivir en la Era de las cortes, o en la Edad Media, o en el asfixiante shogunato Edo, o la mortal época Showa que por poco acaba para siempre con el país.
Los países, por fortuna, no son sólo sus gobernantes y su política, sus guerras y conflictos sin fin y, como escribe el autor al final del libro, la mayoría de los japoneses está en contra de la caza de ballenas y en su vida ha probado su carne, ni cree que el emperador sea divino o su país especialmente escogido por los dioses, sólo intenta llevar su vida lo mejor posible, trabajando muchísimo, sin armar mucho alboroto, y de hecho, quizá hasta deberían trabajar un poco menos y alborotar más, pues a nadie (salvo a los zaibatsus y políticos) les hace falta que se maten trabajando esperando ganar quién sabe qué, mientras unas cuantas compañías explotan hasta el agotamiento sus limitados recursos naturales y contaminan el mundo entero, que como karma les responde con impredecibles supertifones y aumentos del nivel del mar, y que nadie más que ellos saben lo que implica.
[Nota: como en el otro libro de esta serie, Historia de Rusia, de Editorial Akal, esta edición está repleta de erratas, son en verdad tantas que resulta molesto, ¿es que nadie se toma la molestia de darle una última simple lectura a la edición final? Digo, la edición se hace hoy día a computadora, ¿qué no?]
July 14, 2022
This book states outright that it tries to tell the concise history of Japan through the lens of climate change. It does do that, and tries to connect what the people in the major historical eras did to the land and how it affected the country during those eras and after. It also offers up criticism of the colonialist tendencies of the country and how it not only affected the people and cultures they dominated but the land they inhabited.
I had a lot of knowledge of the Early Modern Japan to the present day, but my knowledge of the time before was murky at best, so it was great to hear an overview of that long history.
As and aside, I am a huge fan of the newish Tomb Raider trilogy, and to hear that Himeko and Yamatai, the main big bad and the setting for the first game, are real just blew me away. Both my nerd sides were happy hearing of this.
I had a lot of knowledge of the Early Modern Japan to the present day, but my knowledge of the time before was murky at best, so it was great to hear an overview of that long history.
As and aside, I am a huge fan of the newish Tomb Raider trilogy, and to hear that Himeko and Yamatai, the main big bad and the setting for the first game, are real just blew me away. Both my nerd sides were happy hearing of this.
May 1, 2025
A well structured and thought out book. Not too much of a slog to get through and I learned a few things after finishing it.
Well done Brett L Walker!
Well done Brett L Walker!
February 3, 2016
"In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, political authority migrated outward into the provinces and away from the centre. If the Kyoto court, prior to the twelfth century, managed to consolidate authority in the ritsuryo bureaucracy, then with the advent of samurai governance influence became more decentralized and more feudal in nature. As the political authority and military might of the Ashikaga bakufu (1336-1578) waned, alliances external to the state began to take shape, between powerful samurai families, well-armed Buddhist monasteries, and even Kyoto neighbourhood associations." (66)
"Finally, [medieval] Japan also witnessed the birth of the Muromachi aesthetic, which drew from continental and indigenous forms to create a ruthlessly simple beauty that captures the rawness of Japan's medieval years." (82)
"During the Ming dynasty, silver had started replacing paper currencies and the Single Whip Reform tax policies of 1581 meant that taxes could no longer be paid in kind, but rather were paid in silver. As a consequence, nearly all Ming revenues were collected in silver of one form or another. Ironically, just as Ming officials began these reforms, output from silver mines in China began declining. Consequently, New World mines picked up the slack, with Dutch arms merchants and English and Italian financiers gainfully serving as middlemen. It is believed that approximately three-quarters of New World sliver found its way to China." (92)
"Historians used to see the period between 1542 and 1640 as Japan's 'Christian century,' and indeed Christianity proved an important element of the cultural package brought to Japan by first the Portuguese, and later European missionaries, explorers, travellers, and conquerors. ... [T]he initial encounter with Europeans at Tanegashima and elsewhere sparked Japan's first global century, where Japanese peddled arms in Southeast Asia, planted potatoes from the New World, exported silver to Ming China, and experimented with new technologies ranging from firearms and navigational aids to astronomical theories and glass lenses." (100)
"After Hideyoshi's 'Sword Hunt,' his freezing of the social order, the Korean invasion, and other policy decisions, the once-fluid social and geographic milieu of the medieval world had crystallized, and precious few could follow his path upward. Social, political, and geographic immobility became hallmarks of early modern stability, or what eventually came to be called the 'great peace.'" (119)
"Unlike the first wave of Meiji reforms, which endorsed a wholesale adoption of Western ideas and institutions, the second wave pushed Confucian retrenchment, or a re-emphasis on those 'Eastern ethics' central to Japan's imperial nationalism." (170)
"Increasingly, Japan began to realize that the new international order was a racially dominated one, and the fledgling Japanese empire would struggle to find a seat at the table of the Great Powers. In some respects, these international events precipitated a China pivot, wherein Japan began to redouble its focus on the continent by articulating new connections to its Asian neighbours. Ever since the Russo-Japanese War, Japan had become a model for independence in Asian nationalist circles." (223)
"Finally, [medieval] Japan also witnessed the birth of the Muromachi aesthetic, which drew from continental and indigenous forms to create a ruthlessly simple beauty that captures the rawness of Japan's medieval years." (82)
"During the Ming dynasty, silver had started replacing paper currencies and the Single Whip Reform tax policies of 1581 meant that taxes could no longer be paid in kind, but rather were paid in silver. As a consequence, nearly all Ming revenues were collected in silver of one form or another. Ironically, just as Ming officials began these reforms, output from silver mines in China began declining. Consequently, New World mines picked up the slack, with Dutch arms merchants and English and Italian financiers gainfully serving as middlemen. It is believed that approximately three-quarters of New World sliver found its way to China." (92)
"Historians used to see the period between 1542 and 1640 as Japan's 'Christian century,' and indeed Christianity proved an important element of the cultural package brought to Japan by first the Portuguese, and later European missionaries, explorers, travellers, and conquerors. ... [T]he initial encounter with Europeans at Tanegashima and elsewhere sparked Japan's first global century, where Japanese peddled arms in Southeast Asia, planted potatoes from the New World, exported silver to Ming China, and experimented with new technologies ranging from firearms and navigational aids to astronomical theories and glass lenses." (100)
"After Hideyoshi's 'Sword Hunt,' his freezing of the social order, the Korean invasion, and other policy decisions, the once-fluid social and geographic milieu of the medieval world had crystallized, and precious few could follow his path upward. Social, political, and geographic immobility became hallmarks of early modern stability, or what eventually came to be called the 'great peace.'" (119)
"Unlike the first wave of Meiji reforms, which endorsed a wholesale adoption of Western ideas and institutions, the second wave pushed Confucian retrenchment, or a re-emphasis on those 'Eastern ethics' central to Japan's imperial nationalism." (170)
"Increasingly, Japan began to realize that the new international order was a racially dominated one, and the fledgling Japanese empire would struggle to find a seat at the table of the Great Powers. In some respects, these international events precipitated a China pivot, wherein Japan began to redouble its focus on the continent by articulating new connections to its Asian neighbours. Ever since the Russo-Japanese War, Japan had become a model for independence in Asian nationalist circles." (223)
May 30, 2020
I am a little disappointed in this book. It is not meant as an introduction to Japanese history - as it fails to properly introduce many terms of Japanese history, such as Bakufu, Shogun etc. I had a vague idea of these terms and could make sense of them with generous help from Wikipedia.
A bigger disappointment was that this book failed to give me an insight into the uniqueness of Japan. The superiority of Eurpean arms, science, technology, systems of government etc. became apparent to Asian countries from 18th century, as many of them ate the humble pie before the Europeans. Many rulers and leaders of the East launched their own programs to learn from the West and to modernize. Japan was the only Asian country that succeeded in this venture as early as nineteenth century. in 1905 it defeated the mighty Russia in battle. It was the only non-Western nation to play a major role in the second world war. After the devastation of the war it rose like Phoenix from the ashes and became an economic superpower.
Even culturally Japan is very different from other Asian countries. Most Asian envy the western countries for the level of civic discipline and courtesy. Japan is one that is ahead of most western nations in these respects - in sharp contrast to say, its neighbor China. The book does not shed any light on how and why Japan developed these virtues.
A bigger disappointment was that this book failed to give me an insight into the uniqueness of Japan. The superiority of Eurpean arms, science, technology, systems of government etc. became apparent to Asian countries from 18th century, as many of them ate the humble pie before the Europeans. Many rulers and leaders of the East launched their own programs to learn from the West and to modernize. Japan was the only Asian country that succeeded in this venture as early as nineteenth century. in 1905 it defeated the mighty Russia in battle. It was the only non-Western nation to play a major role in the second world war. After the devastation of the war it rose like Phoenix from the ashes and became an economic superpower.
Even culturally Japan is very different from other Asian countries. Most Asian envy the western countries for the level of civic discipline and courtesy. Japan is one that is ahead of most western nations in these respects - in sharp contrast to say, its neighbor China. The book does not shed any light on how and why Japan developed these virtues.
July 12, 2020
No small feat condensing the history of a complex and richly-textured country like Japan into just 300 pages. The author succeeded. As the nature of the task would indicate, the presentation is highly summarized in form. As a result, the reader will find that, when confronted with periods of the country’s history with which they are already acquainted, they are able to leaf through the pages more quickly. However, throughout the book, the author covers topics outside the usual “who deposed whom at what battle” which may be new and hence are engrossing. Of especial interest was the evolution of the country’s ecological balance through the deforestation of the Tokugawa era or the mining/intensified agriculture of the Meiji Enlightenment, not to mention the post-war transformation into a global economic power. Additionally, the historical antecedents to the localized nature of Japanese social and cultural life are well explained.
For a first time explorer of the rich history of this special country, I strongly recommend this book. More experienced readers may find it a useful table top reference book.
For a first time explorer of the rich history of this special country, I strongly recommend this book. More experienced readers may find it a useful table top reference book.
September 14, 2018
As with most brief histories, this text is covering hundreds of years in extremely short chapters. The author does a serviceable job at condensing political, military, economic, and environmental history into a pretty readable overview.
If I have an objection to anything in the text it is mostly the amount of space that is spent on environmental issues. There are some (relatively) large segments of the text that are dedicated to this, and while I find it interesting in general, I found the amount of time given to it in a generalist text like this to be outsize relative to some of the other major events in the country's history.
Still though, at its length it is hard to quibble much with the end result. It serves its purpose and is readable and well-organized.
If I have an objection to anything in the text it is mostly the amount of space that is spent on environmental issues. There are some (relatively) large segments of the text that are dedicated to this, and while I find it interesting in general, I found the amount of time given to it in a generalist text like this to be outsize relative to some of the other major events in the country's history.
Still though, at its length it is hard to quibble much with the end result. It serves its purpose and is readable and well-organized.
May 18, 2019
This book is exactly what it says it is. It is a concise history of Japan. If you dont know anything about Japanese history and you are interested in it, this is a great book. I loved how it did not shy away from the important women in Japanese history and how the environment affects the country on an elevated level. I learned so much but I will probably need to read it again to really absorb all the material.
August 28, 2018
An ok overview, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the highlights if you forced me to. It misses a storyline and rarely tells you _why_ something happened. The author almost spends more time describing manga comics than World War 2. The addition of the environmental angle is an applaudable attempt, but clearly bolted on.
May 1, 2016
This was not concise one bit. The time periods and facts were all a jumbled messed that it confused me and the other students.
February 16, 2016
Belabours the environmental points and perhaps in places a bit too concise.
July 10, 2023
A very decent choice for someone who wants a quick overview of Japanese history from ancient times to the present. This is a respectable attempt at producing a concise history of Japan, and the author is clearly well-informed and, at times, provides some really insightful analysis. I learned a lot and I don't regret reading it.
For sure, one major quirk of this book is the author's fixation on the environment/climate change, and his desire to weave that topic throughout the entire history he presents. I'm actually a little surprised that the editors let him engage this subject as much as he did. It's not that I don't think climate change isn't an important issue, or that I think the environment isn't worthy of our consideration, it's just that in a concise history, where space is really at a premium, it strikes me as a tad eccentric to be dedicating space to these issues in the context of discussions of medieval Japan. He actually dedicates the entire last chapter to this issue, and again, it's an important topic, I'm just not sure a brief introduction to the entire history of Japan is the appropriate forum to expound upon these views (and here to add to my frustration, I didn't actually feel Walker had very much that was new or interesting to say on the subject, it really seemed like this is either a long-standing interest (and if so, go write a book on it!), or maybe it's something he's recently been turned onto, but either way, he's indulging his interests at the expense of providing the best possible introductory history. One or two sentences in the introduction would probably have sufficed to communicate his thoughts on the issue).
Aside from that, one other minor quibble I had with the book was how it covered - or didn't cover-Japan's relations with neighbouring countries during it's imperial/fascist phase. Although perhaps slightly peripheral to the core purpose, I couldn't help but feel like some important points were being glossed over (like Japanese colonization of Taiwan or Korea) while lots of fairly obscure and minor points were included.
To be sure, there are some very interesting points covered here and I really do believe Walker is a highly knowledgeable and excellent scholar of certain aspects of Japan (and indeed I'll probably read his other book on the conquest of Hokkaido), but I think that perhaps this project could have been executed a little differently.
For sure, one major quirk of this book is the author's fixation on the environment/climate change, and his desire to weave that topic throughout the entire history he presents. I'm actually a little surprised that the editors let him engage this subject as much as he did. It's not that I don't think climate change isn't an important issue, or that I think the environment isn't worthy of our consideration, it's just that in a concise history, where space is really at a premium, it strikes me as a tad eccentric to be dedicating space to these issues in the context of discussions of medieval Japan. He actually dedicates the entire last chapter to this issue, and again, it's an important topic, I'm just not sure a brief introduction to the entire history of Japan is the appropriate forum to expound upon these views (and here to add to my frustration, I didn't actually feel Walker had very much that was new or interesting to say on the subject, it really seemed like this is either a long-standing interest (and if so, go write a book on it!), or maybe it's something he's recently been turned onto, but either way, he's indulging his interests at the expense of providing the best possible introductory history. One or two sentences in the introduction would probably have sufficed to communicate his thoughts on the issue).
Aside from that, one other minor quibble I had with the book was how it covered - or didn't cover-Japan's relations with neighbouring countries during it's imperial/fascist phase. Although perhaps slightly peripheral to the core purpose, I couldn't help but feel like some important points were being glossed over (like Japanese colonization of Taiwan or Korea) while lots of fairly obscure and minor points were included.
To be sure, there are some very interesting points covered here and I really do believe Walker is a highly knowledgeable and excellent scholar of certain aspects of Japan (and indeed I'll probably read his other book on the conquest of Hokkaido), but I think that perhaps this project could have been executed a little differently.
April 28, 2024
I respect anyone who attempts to write a concise history about a country, since it is an incredibly challenging undertaking. Additionally, concise obviously means a lack of detail in many places, so it is to be expected, that years of conflict and complex developments are reduced to a few sentences and footnotes.
With that in mind, it wasn't surprising that this book sometimes had a very high pace. That is not what I minded. What I minded was the fact that Walker decided to put an extensive focus on the subject of environmental issues and climate change. Don't get me wrong, of course shifts in climate and environment are part of history - they have a deep and fundamental influence on societies and their development.
In this way, I was not opposed to include it and even thought it is an interesting idea. However, as a result, Walker brushed over certain important historical events at a rapid pace while dedicating a lot of space to environmental developments such as the extinction of the Japanese wolf. Sure I get it, the eradication of the wolf can be seen as a shift in Japanese thought towards nature, but is this really so important, that an event like Nanjing or the war crimes carried out in Korea are reduced to a few phrases on the side?
In this way, it felt, like the topic of this book was somewhat split. I wished Walker would have written a book dedicated to Japan's history with a clear focus on nature. To be fair, as an overview it still works, even though there are better books on the topic. But if you want to have an overview with a little more focus on societal and environmental changes, this might be worth a look.
With that in mind, it wasn't surprising that this book sometimes had a very high pace. That is not what I minded. What I minded was the fact that Walker decided to put an extensive focus on the subject of environmental issues and climate change. Don't get me wrong, of course shifts in climate and environment are part of history - they have a deep and fundamental influence on societies and their development.
In this way, I was not opposed to include it and even thought it is an interesting idea. However, as a result, Walker brushed over certain important historical events at a rapid pace while dedicating a lot of space to environmental developments such as the extinction of the Japanese wolf. Sure I get it, the eradication of the wolf can be seen as a shift in Japanese thought towards nature, but is this really so important, that an event like Nanjing or the war crimes carried out in Korea are reduced to a few phrases on the side?
In this way, it felt, like the topic of this book was somewhat split. I wished Walker would have written a book dedicated to Japan's history with a clear focus on nature. To be fair, as an overview it still works, even though there are better books on the topic. But if you want to have an overview with a little more focus on societal and environmental changes, this might be worth a look.
January 29, 2021
Ho letto “Storia del Giappone”,in versione digitale, di Kenneth Henshall l’anno scorso, ma ho deciso di acquistare in cartaceo questo volume al doppio scopo di consolidare la lettura passata e rinforzare i concetti tramite la ripetizione e di avere un libro a portata di mano da consultare fisicamente in caso di bisogno (magari la revisione di un periodo specifico).
Per la recensione in sé, il libro è decisamente breve. Chiaro, conciso, diretto, con un occhio sempre al tema ambientalistico, molto caro all’autore. Ho preferito la lettura di Storia del Giappone, leggermente meno conciso e con una prosa più accattivante (anche se quello l’ho letto in italiano e questo in inglese).
Per la recensione in sé, il libro è decisamente breve. Chiaro, conciso, diretto, con un occhio sempre al tema ambientalistico, molto caro all’autore. Ho preferito la lettura di Storia del Giappone, leggermente meno conciso e con una prosa più accattivante (anche se quello l’ho letto in italiano e questo in inglese).
August 21, 2021
A serviceable survey of Japan's history. He sometimes chooses the obvious examples, but I appreciate some of his more critical takes (eg. emphasis on Emishi, Meiji colonialism in Hokkaido, labour issues, etc). However, the book promises "posing important questions regarding … environmental and climatological uncertainties" but does not fully deliver on this. Rather than an "ecological history" this is more of a standard history where each chapter has a section seemingly tacked on near the end with some environmental point. I would totally read a purely "ecological history" of Japan, and I hope publishers let Brett Walker write one someday.
October 10, 2020
This book proves how hard it is to do a concise history of a country as old and complex as Japan. Although I do feel like I have a good overview, but at times it was a lot of dates, names, and battles, along with a healthy dose of environmental concerns, which could be pretty dry. Throughout the book, I'd wished there'd been more talk of art and culture. For instance, when the book came to the modern age, it was so refreshing to start hearing about manga and anime.
What this book did give me, is a good idea of what periods and figures I'd like to read more about.
What this book did give me, is a good idea of what periods and figures I'd like to read more about.
October 5, 2024
This book includes a healthy dose of environmental history, the author’s specialty. These parts are some of the best sections of the book but take up a substantial chunk of this ‘concise’ history. The book is also strong on the social history of Japan. However, the book also jumps around in time quite a bit, making the chronology a little hard to follow sometimes. Overall, I slightly preferred Mason’s “History of Japan” which I thought was stronger on the art and culture. Still, I haven’t found a great one-volume history of Japan…
October 13, 2024
Book is what it claims to be: a concise history of Japan. Great starter for someone eager to understand history of Japan.
My only issue is the focus on "climate change" at the end of the book. While it's undisputable Japan was always influenced by its geographical position and it might have had impact on some historical events I don't think it should be in anyway included as chapter of such book. It's enough we are fed this every day though every possible channel. Book on history should be about history.
My only issue is the focus on "climate change" at the end of the book. While it's undisputable Japan was always influenced by its geographical position and it might have had impact on some historical events I don't think it should be in anyway included as chapter of such book. It's enough we are fed this every day though every possible channel. Book on history should be about history.
June 29, 2020
To condense 2,600 years of recorded history into one book is no small task. Professor Walker does it effortlessly and with panache in this tour de force by including many references to important books, cultural elements, and environmental concerns. I cannot imagine acquiring a clearer picture of the vastness of Japanese history up to the present from any other book. I learned so much. Bottom line, this book certainly points one in the right direction for a deeper understanding of Japan.
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