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Japan: The Story of a Nation
This text chronicles the evolution of premodern (early A.D. to 1850), modern (1850-1945), and postwar (1945-1989) Japanese civilization from imperial rule through the death of Emperor Hirohito. Professor Reischauer, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, explores the roots and development of the military dictatorship that brought Japan into World War II, the dubious leadership of its emperor, and the effects of the postwar American occupation.
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First published January 1, 1970
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About the author
Edwin O. Reischauer
91 books10 followersEdwin Oldfather Reischauer was an American diplomat, educator, and professor at Harvard University. Born in Tokyo to American educational missionaries, he became a leading scholar of the history and culture of Japan and East Asia. Together with George M. McCune, a scholar of Korea, in 1939 he developed the McCune–Reischauer romanization of the Korean language.
Reischauer became involved in helping create US policy toward East Asia during and after World War II. President John F. Kennedy appointed Reischauer as the United States Ambassador to Japan, where he served from 1961 to 1966. Reischauer founded the Japan Institute at Harvard University in 1973 and was its founding director. It was later named in honor of him.
Reischauer became involved in helping create US policy toward East Asia during and after World War II. President John F. Kennedy appointed Reischauer as the United States Ambassador to Japan, where he served from 1961 to 1966. Reischauer founded the Japan Institute at Harvard University in 1973 and was its founding director. It was later named in honor of him.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 6, 2008
This history by Edwin Reischauer, is an immensely readable book. Reischauer not only presents the history of the island nation with clear ideas and language, he also presents it with a certain panache and an incredible understanding.
The author was born in Japan to missionaries and grew up in the language and customs of Japan. Throughout his life he wasdevoted to studies of the East and especially Japan, teaching at Harvard and eventually becoming U.S. Ambassador to Japan in the Kennedy/Johnson administration.
He takes us on a journey from the beginning of Japan, to the mid-seventies, explaining the prevalent historical and cultural forces that shaped the country. And he does not over-explain. In one chapter, talking about Japan going into a depression he explains one of the causes (and I paraphrase) "...and the country decided to try to get back on the gold standard at exactly the wrong time."
Now a lot of authors would have tried to explain that in economic terms, but Reischauer wisely does not do this. He is writing a popular history of Japan, not an economic thesis. He leaves that to his suggested reading list, to point the way for anyone wanting more information.
His explanations of Japan include economic, political and social, and he intermixes these to create a whole portrait of the land and its people. The book is especially good in examining why they became so militarized prior to WW II, really looking at the causes of their colonization of China and entry into the war.
He has a tremendous understanding of this nation of the people, and yet he does not let that cloud his disdain for their brutality during that time. He is clearheaded about this subject, but does look at how it came to be.
This book is a great introduction to Japan, for those wanting to understand this sometimes difficult to understand nation.
The author was born in Japan to missionaries and grew up in the language and customs of Japan. Throughout his life he wasdevoted to studies of the East and especially Japan, teaching at Harvard and eventually becoming U.S. Ambassador to Japan in the Kennedy/Johnson administration.
He takes us on a journey from the beginning of Japan, to the mid-seventies, explaining the prevalent historical and cultural forces that shaped the country. And he does not over-explain. In one chapter, talking about Japan going into a depression he explains one of the causes (and I paraphrase) "...and the country decided to try to get back on the gold standard at exactly the wrong time."
Now a lot of authors would have tried to explain that in economic terms, but Reischauer wisely does not do this. He is writing a popular history of Japan, not an economic thesis. He leaves that to his suggested reading list, to point the way for anyone wanting more information.
His explanations of Japan include economic, political and social, and he intermixes these to create a whole portrait of the land and its people. The book is especially good in examining why they became so militarized prior to WW II, really looking at the causes of their colonization of China and entry into the war.
He has a tremendous understanding of this nation of the people, and yet he does not let that cloud his disdain for their brutality during that time. He is clearheaded about this subject, but does look at how it came to be.
This book is a great introduction to Japan, for those wanting to understand this sometimes difficult to understand nation.
September 9, 2019
Japan: The Story of a Nation seems a hard book to mess up. The topic is tailor made for torrential amounts of fascinating reading, and yet it winds up as a disappointment due to the author's questionable handling of the material.
The book was written by former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer. The opening portions are centered on Chinese influence of Japanese culture. Decisions like the adoption of a permanent capital-Heijo-in the eighth century, as well as the embrace of Buddhism and Confucian philosophy, are credited to the influence of China. Governmental and economic changes from the sixth to ninth centuries are also connected to ideals of law with a Sino origin.
At the conclusion of the ninth century, Reischauer indicates that Japan became increasingly desirous to establish their own, non-Chinese-influenced institutions. One example of this desire to begin breaking away from this past was the adoption of a Japanese syllabary, which, ironically, was based partially on Chinese characters. This way of communicating language was divided into two different forms, the katakana and the hiragana.
The author labels the late 10th and early 11th centuries as “the golden age of the first flowering of Japanese prose.” He points out that it was largely female Japanese who penned these writings.
From here the book delves into a straightforward recounting of the shogun-driven eras in Japanese history. It would have been nice to read a more in-depth work written to explore the intricacies of these periods, but an unexplained rush to discuss modern Japan renders this an impossibility.
The analysis of the rise of feudalism in medieval Japan is one section where this brevity does not do justice to a complicated subject. The fact that feudalism arose nearly three hundred years later in Japan than it did in Europe caused the two to have a different flavor, though not an entirely different substance, from one another.
The Confucian orientation of Japanese feudalism is said to have given it a more moralistic tone, while the Roman Catholic-inspired version in Europe gave it a more legalistic under girding.
But while they might not have been called knights, Japan did develop a warrior class of their own. Japan also had a landed bakufu, a group which was clearly higher on the class pyramid. This lord-vassal setup and the almighty nature of agricultural land was an overlap between the European and Japanese forms of feudalism.
One reason given for feudalism's slower development on the island is the lack of external pressures in Japan. The power of the shogunate, and the manner in which this system eclipsed the daimyo and the power of the emperor (ultimately reducing the individual on the throne to little more than a figurehead) was a subject which could have resulted in the penning of volumes.
The intrigues which occurred during the Fujiwara period (858-1160)-named for a family line of that name-could have used more exploration. The Kamakura shogunate follows on the heels of this period, and the book goes through this with warp speed.
The battle over loyalties is a recurring theme in these eras, a situation accentuated by a decentralized form of rule in which local bonds combat with commitment to the titular capital. At one point in the 1400s, the country even has a “northern” and “southern” imperial court due to a conflict within the ruling class. This results in the capital being moved to Kyoto, where it remained for 500 years, and it kick starts the Ashikaga (Muromachi) period. It is during this stretch of time that the Onin War takes place.
The Ashikaga period is painted by the book as being marred by constant warfare due to an inability to centralize governmental power. Despite frequent chaos, Japan is able to grow economically during this period thanks to foreign trade and technological development.
One theme frequently returned to is the manner in which Japan’s isolation shaped its development. Its protection from foreign conquest for centuries allowed it protection from the sorts of upheavals which consistently roiled European nations. The interruption of the attempted Mongol invasion in 1274 was the closest the island nation came to being overrun before the second world war nearly seven hundred years later.
The ending of the Ashikaga period begins a time which sees Japan turning inward. The Tokugawa period inaugurates tremendous persecution of once-welcomed Christian missionaries. This persecution included torture and massacres, and it was a glaring example of Japan’s suspicion of the Western world and its desire to be a insular nation-state.
The samurai Hideoyoshi’s banning of Christianity in 1587 led to a major crackdown beginning at the turn of the seventeenth century (culminating in a massacre of 20,000 Christian peasants in Kyushu castle in 1637-1638 and ending with the number of Christians going from 150,000 in the sixteenth century to nearly zero open adherents).
European traders as a whole were all but banned from the island, and, if the message of isolation was not clear enough, Japanese residents were even barred from leaving the country in 1636. The book indicates that this desire to be separate from the world still has lingering effects on the nation's perception of itself today.
This Tokugawa Period, also known as the Edo Period, could have required several books to be fully summarized. Even the story of the 47 masterless samurai (called Ronin), which takes place from 1701-1703, would have made for a full book’s worth of reading. The reader cannot blame Reischauer for the lack of depth with which many of these side stories are treated, as he merely attempts to write a basic, paint-by-the-numbers history of Japanese development. But the former U.S. Ambassador to Japan can be faulted somewhat for not giving equal time to feudal Japan and the period before World War Two.
In fact, a major complaint about this book is that so much of it is devoted to the post-war period; Part Three on Postwar Japan begins just halfway through! Considering the book only goes through 1980s Japan, this means that fewer than 40 years of history comprise roughly half the book, while the initial half of it is expected to effectively summarize over a millenia worth of Japan’s past. It is unclear why a book pitched as a history of (past and modern) Japan is set up in this imbalanced manner.
There is a look at the rise of militarism in the country during the leadup to World War Two. This of course begins with the invasion of Manchuria and the fight with China, quickly going through the U.S.-led effort to prevent Japan’s desire to establish-by force-the innocuous-named Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The book points out that the Pearl Harbor attack was modeled on the sort of quick strike strategy used during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.
The rolling back of Japanese forces during the island hopping campaigns receive a cursory discussion as nothing but the basics are touched on. Although he understood the justification behind Hiroshima, the author did not seem to be a fan of the dropping of the second bomb on Nagasaki. The section on World War Two takes up barely ten pages, another example of this book skimming through a major part of Japan’s history at the expense of analyzing present day developments.
The debates between political parties over American postwar occupation policies and the development of a Self-Defense Force receive special attention, as does struggles for Japan to find its way in the modern economy. Again, it seems these receive more analysis than many elements of feudal Japan.
The battles between reactionary forces and big business (the zaibatsu) on the one hand, and reformers who tended to be more leftward on the other, are a topic of postwar analysis. The awkward Japanese position in Cold War politics was unenviable. During this time, Japan seemed entirely at the mercy of American foreign policy makers. These were individuals who might not always have had Japan’s best interests at heart, but were nonetheless all but running many aspects of Japan's internal affairs in the decade or two after 1945. This made for complex maneuverings when it came to their own doings with nearby countries like Korea, Vietnam, and China.
The country's economy is painted as enough of a success story to become a source of discomfort in the West by the time the ‘80s roll around. Although too much of the space is devoted to it, Japan: The Story of a Nation presents a fair-minded look at modern Japan. It does not bash the country for its policies, instead explaining why they were adopted in light of complicated economic relationships.
This is a so-so read for someone just dipping their toe into Japanese history. It is more commendable as a look at recent developments in the country. A different resource needs to be sought out if a rich portrait of the shogun, daimyo, emperors, and samurai is what a reader is after. The book certainly qualifies as nothing special.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
The book was written by former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer. The opening portions are centered on Chinese influence of Japanese culture. Decisions like the adoption of a permanent capital-Heijo-in the eighth century, as well as the embrace of Buddhism and Confucian philosophy, are credited to the influence of China. Governmental and economic changes from the sixth to ninth centuries are also connected to ideals of law with a Sino origin.
At the conclusion of the ninth century, Reischauer indicates that Japan became increasingly desirous to establish their own, non-Chinese-influenced institutions. One example of this desire to begin breaking away from this past was the adoption of a Japanese syllabary, which, ironically, was based partially on Chinese characters. This way of communicating language was divided into two different forms, the katakana and the hiragana.
The author labels the late 10th and early 11th centuries as “the golden age of the first flowering of Japanese prose.” He points out that it was largely female Japanese who penned these writings.
From here the book delves into a straightforward recounting of the shogun-driven eras in Japanese history. It would have been nice to read a more in-depth work written to explore the intricacies of these periods, but an unexplained rush to discuss modern Japan renders this an impossibility.
The analysis of the rise of feudalism in medieval Japan is one section where this brevity does not do justice to a complicated subject. The fact that feudalism arose nearly three hundred years later in Japan than it did in Europe caused the two to have a different flavor, though not an entirely different substance, from one another.
The Confucian orientation of Japanese feudalism is said to have given it a more moralistic tone, while the Roman Catholic-inspired version in Europe gave it a more legalistic under girding.
But while they might not have been called knights, Japan did develop a warrior class of their own. Japan also had a landed bakufu, a group which was clearly higher on the class pyramid. This lord-vassal setup and the almighty nature of agricultural land was an overlap between the European and Japanese forms of feudalism.
One reason given for feudalism's slower development on the island is the lack of external pressures in Japan. The power of the shogunate, and the manner in which this system eclipsed the daimyo and the power of the emperor (ultimately reducing the individual on the throne to little more than a figurehead) was a subject which could have resulted in the penning of volumes.
The intrigues which occurred during the Fujiwara period (858-1160)-named for a family line of that name-could have used more exploration. The Kamakura shogunate follows on the heels of this period, and the book goes through this with warp speed.
The battle over loyalties is a recurring theme in these eras, a situation accentuated by a decentralized form of rule in which local bonds combat with commitment to the titular capital. At one point in the 1400s, the country even has a “northern” and “southern” imperial court due to a conflict within the ruling class. This results in the capital being moved to Kyoto, where it remained for 500 years, and it kick starts the Ashikaga (Muromachi) period. It is during this stretch of time that the Onin War takes place.
The Ashikaga period is painted by the book as being marred by constant warfare due to an inability to centralize governmental power. Despite frequent chaos, Japan is able to grow economically during this period thanks to foreign trade and technological development.
One theme frequently returned to is the manner in which Japan’s isolation shaped its development. Its protection from foreign conquest for centuries allowed it protection from the sorts of upheavals which consistently roiled European nations. The interruption of the attempted Mongol invasion in 1274 was the closest the island nation came to being overrun before the second world war nearly seven hundred years later.
The ending of the Ashikaga period begins a time which sees Japan turning inward. The Tokugawa period inaugurates tremendous persecution of once-welcomed Christian missionaries. This persecution included torture and massacres, and it was a glaring example of Japan’s suspicion of the Western world and its desire to be a insular nation-state.
The samurai Hideoyoshi’s banning of Christianity in 1587 led to a major crackdown beginning at the turn of the seventeenth century (culminating in a massacre of 20,000 Christian peasants in Kyushu castle in 1637-1638 and ending with the number of Christians going from 150,000 in the sixteenth century to nearly zero open adherents).
European traders as a whole were all but banned from the island, and, if the message of isolation was not clear enough, Japanese residents were even barred from leaving the country in 1636. The book indicates that this desire to be separate from the world still has lingering effects on the nation's perception of itself today.
This Tokugawa Period, also known as the Edo Period, could have required several books to be fully summarized. Even the story of the 47 masterless samurai (called Ronin), which takes place from 1701-1703, would have made for a full book’s worth of reading. The reader cannot blame Reischauer for the lack of depth with which many of these side stories are treated, as he merely attempts to write a basic, paint-by-the-numbers history of Japanese development. But the former U.S. Ambassador to Japan can be faulted somewhat for not giving equal time to feudal Japan and the period before World War Two.
In fact, a major complaint about this book is that so much of it is devoted to the post-war period; Part Three on Postwar Japan begins just halfway through! Considering the book only goes through 1980s Japan, this means that fewer than 40 years of history comprise roughly half the book, while the initial half of it is expected to effectively summarize over a millenia worth of Japan’s past. It is unclear why a book pitched as a history of (past and modern) Japan is set up in this imbalanced manner.
There is a look at the rise of militarism in the country during the leadup to World War Two. This of course begins with the invasion of Manchuria and the fight with China, quickly going through the U.S.-led effort to prevent Japan’s desire to establish-by force-the innocuous-named Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The book points out that the Pearl Harbor attack was modeled on the sort of quick strike strategy used during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.
The rolling back of Japanese forces during the island hopping campaigns receive a cursory discussion as nothing but the basics are touched on. Although he understood the justification behind Hiroshima, the author did not seem to be a fan of the dropping of the second bomb on Nagasaki. The section on World War Two takes up barely ten pages, another example of this book skimming through a major part of Japan’s history at the expense of analyzing present day developments.
The debates between political parties over American postwar occupation policies and the development of a Self-Defense Force receive special attention, as does struggles for Japan to find its way in the modern economy. Again, it seems these receive more analysis than many elements of feudal Japan.
The battles between reactionary forces and big business (the zaibatsu) on the one hand, and reformers who tended to be more leftward on the other, are a topic of postwar analysis. The awkward Japanese position in Cold War politics was unenviable. During this time, Japan seemed entirely at the mercy of American foreign policy makers. These were individuals who might not always have had Japan’s best interests at heart, but were nonetheless all but running many aspects of Japan's internal affairs in the decade or two after 1945. This made for complex maneuverings when it came to their own doings with nearby countries like Korea, Vietnam, and China.
The country's economy is painted as enough of a success story to become a source of discomfort in the West by the time the ‘80s roll around. Although too much of the space is devoted to it, Japan: The Story of a Nation presents a fair-minded look at modern Japan. It does not bash the country for its policies, instead explaining why they were adopted in light of complicated economic relationships.
This is a so-so read for someone just dipping their toe into Japanese history. It is more commendable as a look at recent developments in the country. A different resource needs to be sought out if a rich portrait of the shogun, daimyo, emperors, and samurai is what a reader is after. The book certainly qualifies as nothing special.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
February 16, 2022
If you don't know anything about Japanese history this could be a good starter book, although the title is incorrect because only one-third of the book is about the history of the country, while the rest is more about the political developments that led to WWII and the many changes in Japanese society after the end of the war, roughly until 1990.
The author knew his Japan inside out, and although he does a good job at summarising the "first" thousand years in the country's history, he never manages to make it sound even remotely exciting. The tedious narrative gets even more tedious in the "modern" part, where he writes chapter after chapter about every single political election, the parties that won, which percentage they got, and the name of all the elected PMs. Important, but for sure I don't remember any details of that. It's that sort of notionist history so very much despised nowadays, even more so because this is not a school book.
What I learned and found interesting is about the troubled relations with the US (sort of not with you/not without you, kind of situation) and that there was a communist party even in Japan. Other interesting things, repeated throughout the book are the uniqueness of Japanese history and the constant pull between tradition and innovation that even nowadays are parts of the country's peculiarity.
The author knew his Japan inside out, and although he does a good job at summarising the "first" thousand years in the country's history, he never manages to make it sound even remotely exciting. The tedious narrative gets even more tedious in the "modern" part, where he writes chapter after chapter about every single political election, the parties that won, which percentage they got, and the name of all the elected PMs. Important, but for sure I don't remember any details of that. It's that sort of notionist history so very much despised nowadays, even more so because this is not a school book.
What I learned and found interesting is about the troubled relations with the US (sort of not with you/not without you, kind of situation) and that there was a communist party even in Japan. Other interesting things, repeated throughout the book are the uniqueness of Japanese history and the constant pull between tradition and innovation that even nowadays are parts of the country's peculiarity.
December 18, 2024
Parecía imposible pero se logró
November 18, 2011
There is an art to writing history that is both brief and accessible, and it is a shame that Edwin Reischauer is no longer alive to demonstrate his considerable proficiency in both respects by updating his seminal work on Japan's enthralling history.
Japan: The Story of a Nation is a quick way that anyone could gain a strong basic knowledge of Japan from its origins as one of the last areas of the globe settled by mankind to its stunning ascent from a regional backwater to an international power during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, Reischauer's appreciation of brevity (a quality too often lacking among many historians) does not diminish the scholarly foundations of the book. Reischauer research was complete and his appreciation for detail is only emphasized by the book's discretion where its length and scope are concerned.
Reischauer's treatment of the post-war occupation of Japan by the United States deserves special note. Despite being raised in Japan, serving in the U.S. Army during the Second World War, and later as the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Reischauer presents an admirably fair treatment of the impact and nature of the occupation period. He accredits the occupation with endorsing or planning many reforms that were not likely to be implemented by a purely native government, but he specifically explains that the ultimate success of many policies was due to original American directives being modified and implemented by Japanese authorities. He also explains how some of the occupation's policies-while well-intentioned-were ultimately impractical and would echo through American-Japanese relations for decades afterwards.
Japan is starting to show its age more than the first time I picked it up more than ten years ago. Reicshauer's account ends in 1980, leaving the picture of a Japan that is undisturbed by the economic and political rise of China or the economic hardships of its "Lost Decade" during the 1990s, and it is flavored with a teleological and linear history than is currently favored by the historical community. While more modern developments may require additional reading, I cannot see many better alternatives for an introduction into the basics of Japanese history than what Reischauer's scholarship can still offer more than twenty years after his death.
Japan: The Story of a Nation is a quick way that anyone could gain a strong basic knowledge of Japan from its origins as one of the last areas of the globe settled by mankind to its stunning ascent from a regional backwater to an international power during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, Reischauer's appreciation of brevity (a quality too often lacking among many historians) does not diminish the scholarly foundations of the book. Reischauer research was complete and his appreciation for detail is only emphasized by the book's discretion where its length and scope are concerned.
Reischauer's treatment of the post-war occupation of Japan by the United States deserves special note. Despite being raised in Japan, serving in the U.S. Army during the Second World War, and later as the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Reischauer presents an admirably fair treatment of the impact and nature of the occupation period. He accredits the occupation with endorsing or planning many reforms that were not likely to be implemented by a purely native government, but he specifically explains that the ultimate success of many policies was due to original American directives being modified and implemented by Japanese authorities. He also explains how some of the occupation's policies-while well-intentioned-were ultimately impractical and would echo through American-Japanese relations for decades afterwards.
Japan is starting to show its age more than the first time I picked it up more than ten years ago. Reicshauer's account ends in 1980, leaving the picture of a Japan that is undisturbed by the economic and political rise of China or the economic hardships of its "Lost Decade" during the 1990s, and it is flavored with a teleological and linear history than is currently favored by the historical community. While more modern developments may require additional reading, I cannot see many better alternatives for an introduction into the basics of Japanese history than what Reischauer's scholarship can still offer more than twenty years after his death.
February 19, 2021
The first 50% of the book is the story of Japan from the beginning of time till the end of the word war II. The next 5% of the book deals with the period of occupation of Japan from 45 to 53. After that got quite tedious and started to feel like a different book. It felt more like a quick play by play for the political developments for the next 30 years. The more familiar the author was with the period the more wordy the book. I really enjoyed the first 55% and learned quite a lot. But the rest? I wish I could use this time to read some other book.
December 8, 2019
This is a very interesting book though definitely from the mindset of someone from the 60s or 70s. His use of the term “mongoloid” at the beginning was a bit disconcerting. Despite that though one can tell that the author has a deep and abiding respect for Japan.
It was a very informative read but I’ll be honest in saying I stopped reading after WW2, I just didn’t find the story to be too compelling after that, and he spends about 100 pages on it.
It was a very informative read but I’ll be honest in saying I stopped reading after WW2, I just didn’t find the story to be too compelling after that, and he spends about 100 pages on it.
August 5, 2023
It's a scholarly work more than a popular read. It's can be struggling to read at times but I'm glad to have read it once.
April 23, 2024
Great and readable account of Japanese history written by an American diplomat and one of the key figures of Japanese study in America.
January 30, 2022
Storia del Giappone è un libro a tratti interessante che però tende a soffermarsi in maniera eccessiva, a mio parere, su pochi aspetti evidentemente ritenuti cruciali dall'autore, ovvero politica ed economia nipponiche nel ventesimo secolo. La prima parte del volume in effetti è molto interessante, trattando della storia giapponese dalle origini fino all'Ottocento. Gli aspetti affrontati sono i più vari e il libro riesce a dare una visione d'insieme coerente, scorrevole, senza cadere nel nozionismo. La seconda parte, molto più lunga, ha invece questo difetto. In particolare l'autore ritiene necessario raccontare minuziosamente le vicende politiche degli anni Sessanta fino agli Ottanta, riempiendo pagine su pagine di nomi di politici, di partiti che si formano e scompaiono, riportando anche le percentuali raggiunte e i seggi conquistati in parlamento. Purtroppo nella mia memoria non rimarrà niente di tutto ciò. Non posso negare che la mia conoscenza della storia giapponese sia aumentata, ma avrei preferito una trattazione di più ampio respiro, in grado di restituire una visione d'insieme piuttosto che una serie di nozioni difficili da ricordare.
January 11, 2023
Spoiler alert: this is a boring book.
The section on ancient history (first 1000 years) is an accurate timeline but pretty dry, just a faithful list of events recounted without flair. The sections on post-WWI onward are more interesting, but the author doesn't hide his conservative bent - he seems to find leftist organizing threatening and equates it to antidemocratic disorder. He shames the west for belittling Japan and being racist (which is true) but in the same breath lauds Japan as being superior to Africa (surely every country in the continent is the same!) and other non western (read: poor (read: lesser)) nations. But, well, this was written in the 80s. He's an American diplomat and Harvard professor, though he grew up in Japan and received honors from the Japanese government.Take it with a grain of salt, I guess.
It gave me a lot to go on in terms of further reading, and seems like a decent crash course in the dominant narratives of japanese history and culture.
The section on ancient history (first 1000 years) is an accurate timeline but pretty dry, just a faithful list of events recounted without flair. The sections on post-WWI onward are more interesting, but the author doesn't hide his conservative bent - he seems to find leftist organizing threatening and equates it to antidemocratic disorder. He shames the west for belittling Japan and being racist (which is true) but in the same breath lauds Japan as being superior to Africa (surely every country in the continent is the same!) and other non western (read: poor (read: lesser)) nations. But, well, this was written in the 80s. He's an American diplomat and Harvard professor, though he grew up in Japan and received honors from the Japanese government.Take it with a grain of salt, I guess.
It gave me a lot to go on in terms of further reading, and seems like a decent crash course in the dominant narratives of japanese history and culture.
March 30, 2025
After traveling to Japan I wanted to know more about the history. This book did a good job my critique being that it RUNS through prehistory to WWI and then drags through 1950-1989 ( how are we skipping over centuries and then describing the win percentage of every post WWII election). Also there was some serious glossing over of Japanese imperialism but overall I found it a good history for only a few hundred pages and last edited 40 years ago.
January 26, 2023
After a recent trip to Japan, I was looking for a book that would tie together the bits of history I had learnt on my travels. This book did an excellent job at just that, but it is more heavily focused on events since World War 2, and I would have just liked a little more balance with the history of Japan prior to that.
June 14, 2017
One of the basic books for any learner of Japanese language and culture
January 21, 2022
A brief but detailed look into Japan, it's people and history from an outsider. A decent read.
October 24, 2015
Questa sintesi della storia giapponese è scritta in maniera scorrevole e in modo da coinvolgere il lettore. A parte la descrizione piuttosto dettagliata dei fatti storici, il libro è ricco di analisi e spiegazioni e riesce pienamente nel suo scopo di presentare il mondo giapponese a noi occidentali, un affare non certo facile. Ottimo come prima lettura, stimola approfondimenti.
January 26, 2012
An excellent and easily read history of Japan through the 60s. A great book if you don't like extremely "textbook" style history.
October 24, 2014
This started off so well and then meandered toward the end. Snooze.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews