[Historyboy]

Hi there

If you're feeling like you need a challenge, the cambridge history, covering several volumes is quite comprehensive. And very expensive. I'm half way through the first volume.

John halls history of Japan gives a dated but relatively condensed summary. But hall has an agenda which seems to guide his narrative -as any historian will.

For me, though, one of the most insightful and helpful books I've read is earhart's 'Japanese religion, unity and diversity.' think it gives a helpful background.

If you're interested in modern Japanese culture, you might want to check out 'a geek in japan'. Whilst I haven't read it, I follow the related blog and find the posts interesting.

There are a gazillion books out there about Japan, and increasingly china, so you may want to take a toe dip into Wikipedia to see where your interests lie and focus on those specifically.

Enjoy!