History, culture of Japan - books reviews

[simpsonka18]

Hi! Recently I've started my new hobby: buying books about Japan and China (actually it was yesterday, I bought my very first book ). It was always a dream of mine to invest money in something like that instead of buying unnecessary clothes and cosmetics. To make a good start I purchased a book by Will Ferguson (it has Hokkaido in title, I have a polish translation so I dunno the english title). It was a spontaneous decision, when I entered the bookstore I didn't even know I would buy something But I really want to know more about Japanese culture and history, actually I want to know everything! I've been thinking about something that contains all of that: like e.g. a veery thick book with entire history of Japan, because my knowledge about it is really poor.
I've been searching through the internet just to confuse myself by loads of titles and contradictory reviews.
Oh and btw do you know atlases with some nice pictures of Japanese landscape, scenery?
Please help!

[dogsbody70]

wouldn' t you be better to concentrate on certain periods in the history of Japan rather than try to get a huge volume that surely could not cover all the periods.

I managed to get quite a few from the library here in UK-- others I purchased on line.

I personally concentrated on the WW2 period.

I have some on Japanese society-- but they are mostly from an outsiders perspective. I did buy a book by a chap who has lived in Japan for many years, but it is more about people he has met during his sojourn there.

I have the ruth Benedict Chrysanthemum and the Sword version-- but then discover that it was not her personal experiences. she was an anthropologist. I have a more recent copy of Japanese society by another outsider-- forget his name.

sorry I would have to look for my own copies. I wanted to understand my japanese friend more.

I do have a couple of books by survivors of the war-- they were young children at the time-- quite heartrending-- also I have a copy of SENSO?
which was a compilation of Japanese survivors letters to the ASAHI SHIMBUN which gives a Japanese perspective of the war. I learned quite a lot from that. I also have a collection of DVD's about the war.

I am sure you will find plenty out there to suit you but unsure about Polish editions.

here is a site about the EDO period. Edo Japan, A Virtual Tour

[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!