History of Japan

The Most Important People, Places and Events in Japanese History. From Japanese Art to Modern Manga. From Asian Wars to Modern Superpower.

De: Rui Kanda

Narrado por: William Bahl

Now tell us - did you ever like Japan? Do you know anything about its history, or just what you learned from television and anime, in general? That's a good starting point, anyway. If you want to delve deeper into Japanese history, in chronological order, and see the main events that transformed Japan into what it is today, you've just hit the jackpot.

What will you learn from this book? Among others:

• The main stages in Japanese history, from the most ancient, the Jomon period to Imperial Japan. Each of them will be explained so that everybody can understand them, without technical terms that harden the absorption of information.
• Japan during the Middle Ages
• Everything about shoguns, shogunates and all other forms of governance
• The situation in Japan during World War II and after that
• The most important battles between Japan and the United States of America
• The fall of the Empire of Japan
• Japanese politics
• The catastrophic Japanese deflation that ruined the economy for decades on end
• Japanese culture and what makes it so unique in the world
• Valuable information on anime and manga as distinct avatars of Japanese culture
• Tourism in Japan and why it is so important for the economic growth of the state

This book is for you, no matter if you are a student or a professor, or you just want to learn more about Japanese culture and history.

©2017 Lean Stone Publishing (P)2017 Lean Stone Publishing

The definitive work

The “Civil War of Wa,” as it came to be known in Japanese history, was indeed real, as proven by The Record of the Three Kingdoms. This bloody conflict was perhaps necessary in giving Japan the boost it needed in order to evolve. It is quite odd that no archaeological evidence of this war was found in Japan, but that does not mean it did not take place. The most important aspect about Japan during this time is that it became the future of what we see today. The people shifted from a mentality of hunters and gatherers and grew “domestically,” in the sense that they became increasingly more sedentary. If the two documents mentioned above are genuine, then this paradigm shift also initiated a long civil war between the multitudes of clans on the peninsula. There was a clear-cut distinction between social ranks now. Common people, for instance, were buried separately, not with the social elite (the various leaders of the different clans). The Japanese started to live in proper houses and subsequently formed several communities/villages. Moreover, these communities led to the formation of particular clans. These clans waged war against each other more than in one occasion, most of the times spurring conflicts that lasted for hundreds of years. In 250 AD, the Yaoyi period reached its end, ushering in the Kofun period, which belongs to a cluster of groups known as the Yamato.

Brief, but informative

Brief, but informative. This book is good for anyone who wants a concise introduction to Japanese history and culture.

Everybody knew, and everybody was wrong.

Yes, I think It will be a good match. I sense that I will match with the instructor's acculturation of Japanese.

I am a southerner but have been exposed to Japanese language and Japanese culture for over 30 years.

The instructor uses english with a Japanese grammatical construct, and hand expressions that seem Japanese to me based on my experience with my Japanese instructor in my chef career.

I have similar physical expression that is Japanese when talking english with my Japanese business associates.

I hope to learn fluency in Japanese I so I can express verbally the culture the I am already introduced to.

Fascinating and measured

Course is really usefull. It explains Japanese slowly and comprehensibly, with enough time to practice without need of pausing (at least for me, and iam not speed learning type). So iam really happy that i decided to start this course.

Great to listen to in the car

A wonderful and detailed survey of Japanese history and modern times. Ranging from warriors to theater to religion, Japanese culture is made relevant.

A thorough walk through Japan

The Yaoyi period can be best described by a surge in metallurgy and a continuous social development. It is during this time that the Japanese people starts living in communities (in the modern sense) and builds houses with wood and rocks. The cultivation of rice was in bloom and ensured a quite impressive livestock to the tens of thousands of people that co-existed on the peninsula. Of all the stages of ancient Japanese history, none has been as controversial as the Yaoyi. Researchers are still at a loss in respect with reaching a consensus on when exactly this period began and when it ended, as well as on who were the Yaoyi people, because their physiognomy was relatively different than that of the Jomon people. The Yaoyi culture was considerably more varied than that of the Jomon. They had tools made out of iron, ceramics, a more developed pottery and rice, which accounts for the demographic growth from thousands to millions. The fact that the population was introduced to iron tools (especially agrarian ones) led to a better management of food, as well as of the community. The population, as we’ve seen, continued to grow to incredible numbers towards the late period of the Jomon period. Agriculture played a crucial role in making this possible.

Great all around

I got this course expecting it to be largely a history (which is what I was looking for) but there was much additional information on various cultural aspects spread across Japanese history. Not what I was expecting, but an excellent series regardless.

Fascinating view of historical Japan

Thoroughly enjoyed learning about Japanese culture and Globalization. Greater understanding of this intersection and its effects.

Culture and history intertwined

A very entertaining course. I have always been fascinated with the westernization and modernization of Japan.

I love how Bahl has taken the whole theme of globalization and incorporated that into the narrative of Japanese civilization and culture.

Prof is clear about a constructive humanly-possible plan...

Good to understand how American see Japan

In the 21st century, we can talk retrospectively about superpowers, kingdoms, and empires. We can immediately recognize the greatest countries in the world. With all these, the vast majority of people do not have a clue why a particular state was once an empire. How did it came to be a gigantic landmark not only in the context of its own history but in the history of humankind as a whole? Today, the mere sound of the word “Japan” summons images of samurais, the anime that have taken the entire world by storm, the Japanese writing that seems alien language to an outsider, geishas and the rather modest Japanese traditional houses, with their frugal furnishings. But there is so much more to this country than anyone could ever imagine. For starters, traces of human inhabitance in Japan go as far as the Paleolithic period, so approximately 40,000 years ago. At some point during history, Japan was completely isolated from the rest of the world. The Japanese did not appear any less peculiar to Europeans than the Amerindian peoples found in South America by the Spanish. It was clear that they possessed a culture so different and rich in comparison with anything the Europeans had seen until then.