Modern Japan

With their two swords, top-knot haircut, and legendary code of honor, the samurai were the absolute, unquestioned rulers of the country. That all began to change rapidly when the “black ships” of US Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay in 1853.

In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose 63-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix describes what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status.

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

Code of the Samurai is a 400-year-old explication of the rules and expectations embodied in Bushido, the Japanese Way of the Warrior. With a bright, conversational narrative by Thomas Cleary, this book is indispensable to corporate executives, students of Asian culture, martial artists, or anyone sincerely interested in Japan and its people.

The American occupation of Japan holds a singular and problematic place in the histories both of Japan and of American foreign policy. For the Japanese, the occupation marked the transition from war to peace, from authoritarianism to democracy, and from privation to plenty, making it a passage from one of the darkest chapters in Japanese history to one of the brightest.

This epic novel by master writer James Clavell, loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and Anglo-Satsuma War that took place in the late 1800s, is a richly researched, panoramic view of Japan’s budding relationship with the Western powers, its sweeping societal changes, and the political upheaval that followed.

With intelligence and wit, author Jonathan Clements blends documentary and storytelling styles to connect the past, present, and future of Japan, and in broad yet detailed strokes reveals a country of paradoxes: a modern nation steeped in ancient traditions; a democracy with an emperor as head of state; a famously safe society built on 108 volcanoes resting on the world's most active earthquake zone; a fast-paced urban and technologically advanced country whose land consists predominantly of mountains and forests.

LA Times Book Award winner and expert on the past and present Japan, Ian Buruma examines the transformation of a country. Following Japan's history from its opening to the West in 1853 to its hosting of the 1964 Olympics, Buruma focuses on how figures such as Commodore Matthew Perry, Douglas MacArthur, and Emperor Mitsushito helped shape this complex country.

Sanae Takaichi is a prominent Japanese politician and one of the most influential conservative figures in modern Japan. A long-serving member of the House of Representatives and a senior leader within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), she is renowned for her intellect, discipline, and unwavering conviction. Her tenure as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications solidified her reputation for administrative precision and technological foresight, particularly in advancing Japan’s digital transformation and advocating data sovereignty. Known for her principled stance on national ...

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

The authors devoted five decades to the study of world history and philosophy, culminating in the masterful 11-volume Story of Civilization. In this compact summation of their work, Will and Ariel Durant share the vital and profound lessons of our collective past. Their perspective, gained after a lifetime of thinking and writing about the history of humankind, is an invaluable resource for us today.

Having spent centuries in the shadows of its neighbors China and Japan, Korea is now the object of considerable interest for radically different reasons - the South as an economic success story and for its vibrant popular culture; the North as the home to one of the world's most repressive regimes, at once both bizarre and menacing. Korea: A Very Short Introduction explores the history, culture, and society of a deeply divided region.

Without Japan, you probably wouldn't have your car...but how much do you really know about this fascinating country's rich and colorful history? For a country that’s brought us household names as diverse as Nintendo, Toyota, and Sony, shockingly little is known about Japan’s rich and complex history. Like many westerners, you may have a love of Japanese culture and cuisine.

The idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late 17th century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theater, and even comedy. This book gives listeners access to the real samurai as they lived, fought, and served. Much as they capture the modern imagination, the samurai commanded influence over the politics, arts, philosophy, and religion of their own time, and controlled Japan from the 14th century until their demise in the mid-19th century.

"Brian Nishii narrates this imaginative tale set in Japan about the complexities of death, life, and cats...A brief, charming parable." — AudioFile Magazine The international phenomenon that has sold over a million copies in Japan, If Cats Disappeared from the World--now a Japanese film--is a...

This novel, written in 1949, was Osamu Dazai's last work and was unfinished upon his death. It is set in Tokyo just after the war's end. It tells the story of a handsome editor who wants to leave his mistresses and a black marketeer woman who has a thick voice, a big appetite, and great strength but is also stunningly beautiful. It is a cheerful, humorous, and unprecedented novel, so much so that it is hard to believe that it was written by a novelist who was so depressed that he was contemplating suicide. All the reader can do, however, is to imagine the rest of the novel. Annotations [1] ...

調和 Chōwa: Japan's Dance with Tradition and Innovation - Ancient Wisdom for Our Technological Future 🏮 Discover the Secret Balance That Powers the World's Most Fascinating Culture 🤖 What if the answer to our modern dilemma—how to embrace the future without losing our soul—has existed for centuries in Japan? In a Tokyo kindergarten, children bow to a robot before programming it. At Japan's most sacred shrine, priests completely rebuild the entire structure every twenty years—a tradition unchanged since 690 CE. A family sweet shop founded before Columbus discovered America ...

This book is a crime novel, a bizarre mystery, by Edogawa Rampo, published in 1925. A bizarre club is held in "The Red Chamber," which has a fantastic atmosphere. They are tasteless people who are bored with their lives and seek stimulation. One day, a new member of the club tells the story of the murder he committed. What is the method of the man who says he killed 99 people? What happens after he finishes telling the story? Edogawa Rampo's skillful description leads the reader into a mysterious world. It is both fun and frightening. The reader will read it all in one go to the end and be ...

Zen monk Santoka Taneda (1882 - 1940) is one of Japan's most beloved modern poets, famous for his "free-verse" haiku, the dominant style today. This book tells the fascinating story of his life, liberally sprinkled with more than 300 of his poems and extracts from his essays and journals - compiled by his best friend and biographer Sumita Oyama and elegantly translated by William Scott Wilson.

This work is a representative mystery novel by Edogawa Rampo, published in 1926, and fully demonstrates his tastes and preferences. The main character is morbidly obsessed with the illusory images created by lenses and mirrors. Blessed with wealth and not restrained by anyone, he heads towards a horrifyingly unhappy fate. Edogawa Rampo's talent for replacing the illusory beauty created by the light reflected by mirrors and lenses with words is artistic. His insight into human psychology is also wonderful. Readers can read in one go while enjoying his unique worldview.