A History of Japan

Revised Edition

By: R. H. P. Mason, J. G. Caiger

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.   

Also included is an in-depth analysis of the Japanese religion, Japanese arts, Japanese culture, and the Japanese people from the sixth century BC to the present. This contemporary classic, now updated and revised, continues to be an essential work in Japanese studies.  

A History of Japan, Revised Edition includes:  

• Archaic Japan - including Yamato, the creation of a unified state, the Nana Period, and the Heian period.  
• Medieval Japan - including rule by the military houses, the failure of Ashikaga rule, Buddhism, and the Kamakura and Muroachi periods.  
• Early modern Japan - including Japanese feudalism, administration under the Tokugawa, and society and culture in early modern Japan.  
• Modern Japan - including the Meiji era and policies for modernization, from consensus to crisis (1912-1937), and solutions through force.  

This contemporary classic continues to be a central work in Japanese studies and is a vital addition to the collection of any student or enthusiast of Japanese history, Japanese culture, or the Japanese language.

©1997 R. H. P. Mason and J. G. Caiger (P)2018 Tantor

Great re pre 19th century, but

Great re pre 19th century, but weak after that. strong on art, religion, literature etc

Toe-koo-guh-wuh

I like how it’s constructed but it took me multiple repeated rewinds to understand he was mispronouncing Tokugawa so painfully it made my teeth ache

Underwhelming?

A trove of interesting facts, but it feels incomplete. The narrator has a good cadence, but his Japanese seems severely lacking. I listened to the Great Courses series of lectures on Japan before this, and I feel I was much better able to pay attention to that.

Content great - pronunciation not so much

The narrator’s erratic japanese word pronunciation - and complete lack of a director or production guidance on the matter - didn’t destroy the book for me. It definitely detracted.
Words like Tokugawa were read as “To-KUU-ga-wa”.
Ka-bu-KEEEY. There are countless other examples.
It led me to distrust his pronunciation of words I didn’t know and question words I did know when his pronunciation actually matched.
Good in depth writing. Perspectives I hadn’t considered. Loved the writing. Narration was great EXCEPT for erratic Japanese word/place name/etc pronunciation. And it’s such an easy fix.
It’s as irksome as listening to a book on George Washington and hearing it said over and over and over as “Wa-SHEENG-tun.

Dull and uninformative

The problem with this book is the author clearly cares more about japanese art and poetry than he
does about Japanese history. Japanese civil wars, nobunaga who seemed to be their version of Julius Ceasar, their wars with korea? He will spend less time on any of these subjects than he will on explaining Japanese kabuki theater. You won't learn anymore about Japanesee history than if you go read about it on Wikipedia and it will be done in a tenth of the time.

The narrator was fine, but couldn't do much as the content itself read like a textbook going by the numbers with little actual interest or passion. Which based of the introduction that is exactly what it is

Good Synopsis on Japan’s History.

I have been studying the history and culture of Japan quite extensively for about two years now, and this book is a great start for anyone curious about the history of Japan. This audiobook hits all of the key points in Japanese history from the Jomon era, to the modern era. Anyone interested in garnering a greater understanding of the history of this unique and wonderful nation should add this audiobook to their library.

'A Cultural History of Japan' is more accurate

Voice actor was amazing, and if you wanted to know about the culture in...alot of detail I highly recommend it. But that's already half the problem.
If he/she had been honest and just called it 'A Cultural History' I wouldn't be writing this. Because that would've been perfectly accurate.
It constantly fell into 'you know'-isms for everything historical after the 1400s. And if you wanted to really learn about that, I wouldn't recommend it.
Honestly I'm less disappointed they didn't talk about the Onin war and that really interesting history, much more that no one seems to want to.

great book

Derek Perkins is an awesome reader. The story stays interesting. This is a great book.

More a reference volume than an audio book.

The book is useful as a broad introductory overview of Japanese history, and would help newcomers identify specific topics for further study. Despite my interest in the subject, I struggled through this book. Originally published in 1979, the language is unnecessarily wordy and awkward. The book comes to an abrupt close after the post war reconstruction. I think this book would make a very handy reference volume for would-be students of Japanese history and culture. As an audio book, it can be challenging to follow.

Very good

Informativo as history books are supposed to be. Good way of showing the múltiples aspects of Japan.

Japan

There aren't many audio books or even books on Japanese history in English. This is one of the few that encompasses the totality of Japanese history. As such it is a bit Japan-lite. There is little detail on early Japanese history particularly the Tokugawa reign. It is a bit better on more recent history from the 1920s onwards but again it is a bit sparse on analysis. Overall a good introduction to Japanese history but more detail would have been better.

Japanese History Overview

Good detailed overview of Japanese History. Interesting and certainly increased my knowledge of the country.

Fascinating

It's a really good introduction to a fascinating culture.But it's a bit like by winder and full of names and dates.