(Part 3) Best japanese history books according to redditors
We found 675 Reddit comments discussing the best japanese history books. We ranked the 291 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
This is a book I’ve read a couple times and a great place to start:
Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II (Asian Voices) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1538102692/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_tdJ7BbFV1D8F2
There's also a book about the plans that covers both sides. Some fun (not really) takeaways:
> theres no well documented evidence of it
My dude, it's fucking endless. You're the only one who doesn't understand this.
You can start here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/japanese-war-crimes/introductory-essays.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/japanese-war-crimes/select-documents.pdf
http://www.historynet.com/japanese-war-crime-trials.htm
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21226068
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201805/13/WS5af7a51ea3103f6866ee8008.html
http://faculty.virginia.edu/setear/students/japanwc/LinkPage2.htm
https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/stolenyears/ww2/japan/warcrimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVRBPGe2k94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCXIXY1ljHw
https://www.history.com/topics/japan/nanjing-massacre
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Horrors-Japanese-Crimes-Voices/dp/1538102692
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/japanese-troops-ate-flesh-of-enemies-and-civilians-1539816.html
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199671144.001.0001/acprof-9780199671144-chapter-17
https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~changmin/documents/Sissons%20Final%20War%20Crimes%20Text%2018-3-06.pdf
https://www.guampedia.com/u-s-navy-war-crimes-trials-on-guam/
https://www.uni-marburg.de/icwc/links/links-mit-eigener-beschreibung-icwc/further-information-unit-731-crime-evidence-museum-harbin.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography_of_the_Nanjing_Massacre
Educate yourself. You're ignorant. The war itself was a crime of incredible proportions. Again, Imperial Japan is solely responsible for WWII in the pacific.
> Good thing i havent done those
Those were rhetorical, as you know.
> he didnt admit to anything
He certainly did.
https://vimeo.com/177807214
> I doubt you've ever looked at the "evidence" of nanjing
I have, extensively. And the overwhelming and incredibly firm historical consensus around the world from academics of all cultures, including Japan, is in recognition of the terrible crimes committed by Imperial Japan there.
Of course, that's just the start of the crimes of Imperial Japan - beginning with engaging in the war of aggression itself.
I would like to suggest reading this book along with the other fantastic things already recommended: Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II by Yuki Tanaka. Tanaka tackles some of the biggest issues of Japanese atrocities committed during WWII and examines the shift in Japanese culture from the early twentieth century to when the militarists took control of the Japanese government in the 1930s. I just finished reading it for an East Asia class I'm taking right now. The book is very helpful.
If you're looking for some excellent books on the subject,
The Making of Modern Japan by Kenneth Pyle
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Modern-Japan-Kenneth-Pyle/dp/0669200204
Japan Rising also by Kenneth Pyle
http://www.amazon.com/Japan-Rising-Resurgence-Japanese-Foundation/dp/1586485679/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346004741&sr=1-1&keywords=japan+rising+pyle
I'd just look in the library for at least the first book, it's pretty expensive.
I'm pretty sure it's Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 by G.M. Giangreco. It talks about the U.S. projections for how an invasion of Japan at the end of World War II would have gone, so some people use it as a case for why dropping the bomb was preferable (I haven't read the book so I don't know if the book itself makes this case).
Make that two.
Non-mobile link.
Sort of. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikk%C5%8D-ikki
https://www.amazon.com/Teeth-Claws-Buddha-Monastic-Warriors/dp/0824831233
Hmm, I didn't think it was terrible writing. In-depth and possibly a bit dry to those without an interest in the subject, yes....but terrible writing, no.
The authors of this article and the Combined Fleet website wrote a very thorough and well researched analysis of the Battle of Midway. I read it from cover to cover and didn't think it was terribly written.
Ah well, to each his own.
EDIT: My proclivity for anal retentiveness forced me to link all the things :-D I am now at peace with the world.
Tons! Most notably the "ninja manual" Bansenshukai written by ninjas to pass on their knowledge and handed down generations.
George Samson's A History of Japan, 1334 - 1615 is one I recommend (sure it's dated now though). You should also check out the Samurai Archives Sengoku & Kamakura book list.
Japanese cannibalism in New Guinea was quite ritualistic as it was a group event, according to Prof Yuki Tanaka. It was sometimes done when food supplies had not ran out, but to break taboos and to dehumanize the enemy.
You can watch his input in the BBC documentary [here] (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12du60_bbc-horror-in-the-east-2of2_shortfilms) from 6:30 onwards
Or if you're really interested you can buy his book [here] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hidden-Horrors-Japanese-Transitions-America/dp/0813327180) in which he goes into far more depth.
One Indian PoW, Hatam Ali, witnessed the Japanese eat fellow prisoners alive. Prof. Tanaka quotes him in the book when he testified:
"Later, due to Allied attacks and activity, the Japs also ran out of rations. We prisoners were made to eat grass... At this stage the Japanese started selecting prisoners and every day one prisoner was taken out and killed and eaten by the soldiers. I personally saw this happen and about 100 prisoners were eaten at this place by the Japanese. The remainder of us were taken to another spot 50 miles [away] where 10 prisoners died of sickness. At this place, the Japanese again started selecting prisoners to eat. Those selected were taken to a hut where their flesh was cut from their bodies while they were alive and they were thrown into a ditch where they later died. When flesh was being cut from those selected terrible cries and shrieks came from them and also from the ditch where they were later thrown... we were not allowed to go near this ditch, no earth was thrown on the bodies and the smell was terrible."
When people refer to it as Ritual Cannibalism, it's with regard to the military culture among the soldiers sent to New Guinea. It has nothing to do with Japanese culture.
Interesting. If anyone's read that one or any of the below I would appreciate comments:
The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha: Monastic Warriors and Sohei in Japanese History This seems to be "the classic" martial buddhist book but I had no interest to tackle it as it seems to be portraying a profane materialist interpretation of history. The description you provided for the Sri Lanka book seems similar: use of modern "textual" and "anthropological" tools usually simply means a framework totally lacking in metaphysical knowledge and therefore distinctions and hierarchy of what is important and what's not, and obscure, tainted modernist interpretations like an analysis of "historical circumstances", that includes a lot more suggestive elements than usually admitted to it by "critical schools". Such usually leave the agents or hêgemonikons of history fatally hanging in fatalism or inspire naive equalitarian awes like
"we're all human" or "such were the times!". And how can there be "ethical dialogue" if the premises to understand hierarchies (dharma) are missing?
Jeff Eisenberg has written two books on martial buddhism: Fighting Buddha & Buddha's Bodyguard
The gist here is probably the differentiation between violence and skilled use of force. The first book seems to be of the apologetic type and the latter one more like a regular martial arts manual with buddhist techniques.
What's missing is a kshatriya or royal interpretation of "buddhist" warfare, but I don't expect to see such appearing outside traditionalist circles.
Maybe the Eisenberg books are worth a buy?I would recommend this book:[Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook] (http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Philosophy-Sourcebook-Library-Religion/dp/0824836189)
I used it for a class. It has snippets of various philosophers in a wide variety of areas, so you could start there and if anyone catches your eye, you'd atleast have a name to do further research.
Some people would argue that not all of the writers mentioned are "philosophers," since it includes samurai and religious figures, but there are also more modern philosophers like Nishida.
I enjoyed Edward Drea's Imperial Japanese Army
One of the most interesting things about Midway is that there is also some very good Japanese stuff on it, like,
http://www.amazon.com/Midway-Battle-Doomed-Japan-Japanese/dp/1557504288/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347892398&sr=1-5&keywords=midway
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1857333942/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/177-9617829-2210350?fp=1&pc_redir=1427670796
This perhaps?
I have a couple books about the Meiji period and the Empire of Japan. Their titles are The Japanese Empire, Emperor of Japan, and Japan's Total Empire. And I have one book about the Imperial Japanese military, titled Japan's Imperial Army. The rest of my information comes from a bunch of internet sources like Wikipedia and Britannica.
Well if you're interested in it, why not?
I've read that book. I've never read the source material, but I felt it was a really rough treatment. If you found Heigig's take on it 'opaque' and 'ill-defined' you'll likely find the source material worse. They are working primarily working in an eastern philosophy/buddist context and are importing German idealism into that framework. If you don't like German continental philosophy you won't like The Kyoto school.
It's a VERY narrow field, without pretty much only one institution here you can study it (University of Hawaii). So there just isn't much out there, or many people to really talk to about it. You might be better off looking into it from a religious studies context? I felt I really wouldn't have enough context to make sense of what was going on without some strong conception of Buddhism and it's 20th century interpretations in Japan.
EDIT: This might be [useful] (http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Philosophy-Sourcebook-Library-Religion/dp/0824836189/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=ZKPQ61H3CDYD&coliid=I33K6AS6L18MYV)
If you want to just get a taste of imperial Japan and some pretty interesting firsthand accounts, check out "inventing Japan" by Ian Buruma.
https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Japan-1853-1964-Library-Chronicles/dp/0812972864
If you want to get a bigger view of the condition japan was in before beginning their empire building, check out "Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcastes: The Underside of Modern Japan" by Mikiso Hane
https://www.amazon.com/Peasants-Rebels-Women-Outcastes-Underside/dp/0742525252
If you want an even bigger view of how and why Japan was treated differently from Germany after the war check out, "the wages of guilt" by Ian Buruma
https://www.amazon.com/Wages-Guilt-Memories-Germany-Japan-ebook/dp/B00YLQU0GS
I would recommend these three books if you want to get a better idea of the everyday life of what everyday life was like pre-war, mid-war, post-war.
If you want to get into the psychology of Japanese people, I would recommend "the Japanese self in cultural context" by Takie Sugiyama Lebra
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Self-Cultural-Logic/dp/0824828402/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?keywords=the+Japanese+self&qid=1571829682&sr=8-12
Another interesting book to add after reading these would be, "multiethnic Japan" by John Lie. It points out the ripples of what Japan's empire building brought.
https://www.amazon.com/Multiethnic-Japan-John-Lie/dp/0674013581/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=multiethnic+Japan&qid=1571829847&sr=8-1
Check em out!
Well, there are two problems here, and both relate to the terms ninjutsu and taijutsu, and both are due to people inferring more than what is actually said.
Both are just general terms, and people misuse both. So, ninjutsu is just intelligence gathering techniques. I mean the CIA technically practices ninjutsu, but no one calls it ninjutsu. The English term used most is "Spycraft." During WWII, the Japanese taught indivduals ninjutsu. It was called the Nakano School.
Now, to be a good spy, one should know some hand to hand in case things go really bad. This is where taijutsu comes in. But taijutsu just means "body techniques." Technically, every martial art is this, and it's the equivalent of "fighting method." Nothing special. The Bujinkan has taken the 6 samurai arts that it teaches and called those "ninpo taijutsu" or "Bujinkan Budo taijutsu", which is just their form of arts, no different from saying something like Gracie Jujutsu. Most of the modern school stuff comes from Kukishinden ryu, which stems from a koryu, Kukishin Ryu. TEchnically, you could be a ninja and learn any fighting method you wanted.
The last thing is that none of the modern schools actually state that they teach ninjutsu. They say things like "ninpo taijutsu" or "the fighting art of the ninja." Scrub their websites and you will find that you won't find them saying that they teach ninjutsu. Even Stephen K. Hayes's most well know book, The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art, only talks about "ninjutsu" for 31 of its 156 pages, and even then, it's mostly from a historical perspective. The other books do so in a similar fashion.
In reality, there are better methods today than there were back then. Camouflage used to be a secret technique, but now there are books on it everywhere, and you can learn it from different sources.
> but a something more profound with a lot on the literature, legends, culture, art, history of Japan.
If so, you might want to look for something that's not a guidebook.
This book on modern culture might be an interesting read.
Edit: Ian Buruma's "Inventing Japan" may prove to be a very readable introduction to modern history.
You might find this book interesting: Little Adventures in Tokyo. http://amzn.com/1880656345 Also maybe omideyokocho, ameyokocho, or Nogi shrine.
Yes. There's an excellent book on the matter by Naval War College prof SCM Paine that I'd highly recommend, The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949. There's a lot of history in there that most Americans don't know.
A related book from the same author covering some of the same ground but with a broader focus is The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. The latter's a good read for an Eve player because it's a good primer on the whole "what is grand strategy" question that's good for would-be professionals (Naval War College, remember) and interested amateurs alike. I can't recommend both books highly enough, they're simply excellent and cover the material without ever getting bogged down in minutiae.
I, too, was looking for some really good Japanese history books and in my searches I found that these are among the best: A History of Japan, by George Sansom.
They start with pre-history and go up to 1867. Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond this year is that he had lived too close to events of the Meiji Restoration (1868) for him to develop a perspective that only distance could supply. For later events, The Making of Modern Japan (Amazon), by Marius B. Jansen, another outstanding scholar of Japanese history, would be a good choice. Since this history begins at 1600, there are overlapping accounts of the Edo period, but from two quite different perspectives.
An alternative presented by t-o-k-u-m-e-i:
>The best overview text in terms of presentation and interpretation for 1600 to the present is Gordon's A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.
>The Jansen book is also good, but I (and most of the profs I know) feel that Gordon's interpretation is better
In short, this set is a good buy and is likely to remain a standard text for decades to come.
I've only just recently started reading the first book of the series and I find it very insightful. It starts by describing the geography of Japan and how that shaped and molded the early Japanese and their sensibilities.
Amazon Links:
A History of Japan to 1334
A History of Japan, 1334-1615
A History of Japan, 1615-1867
Google Books Previews:
A History of Japan to 1334
A History of Japan, 1334-1615
A History of Japan, 1615-1867
Author:
Sir George Bailey Sansom
Edit:
The author also has a shorter book published earlier which focuses primarily on culture.
Amazon - Japan: A Short Cultural History
Google Books - Japan: A Short Cultural History
Edit2:
Added an alternative suggestion for the history from 1800 onward given by t-o-k-u-m-e-i.
The only existing English translation of it is actually on Amazon as The Book of Ninja , which is where I got it. Once you get past all of the "details to be transmitted orally", it's actually really useful stuff. There's also a bunch of "recipes" for a number of the tools they'd use for the trade.
My favorite bit of ninja wisdom for successful spywork is basically "don't be a smartass, because your target will get mad at you and not tell you what you want to know." That one actually isn't in the Bansenshukai that I've seen, but it's still good for your protagonist's partner to remember.
I've always found ninjas interesting (not the hyped up hollywood shit but what they really were). This book (http://www.amazon.com/Ninja-Their-Secret-Fighting-Art/dp/0804816565/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373518354&sr=1-1&keywords=the+ninja+and+their+secret+fighting+art) was given to me by a friend, is it total bullshit?
What part is B.S. ? It's all cited. Read the links. I think you are missing the point I'm making. I'm not refuting the technology to make Nuclear energy safe is not possible, it's just highly unlikely to be implemented, for the same reason you mentioned. And that is what makes our current nuclear infrastructure so dangerous. Fukushima is a perfect example. Read this book by two leading experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists if you would like to understand the serious danger of nuclear power mismanagement.
We used these books:
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Modern-Japan-Kenneth-Pyle/dp/1506697445/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Rising-Resurgence-Japanese-Foundation/dp/1586485679/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503379050&sr=8-2&keywords=kenneth+pyle
https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Japan-History-Politics-Social/dp/1118315073/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503379567&sr=1-1&keywords=contemporary+japan
I read him some. I really enjoy the anthology In Defense of Sanity and his novel The Man Who Was Thursday.
In Defense of Sanity is a collection of some of the best essays from G.K. Chesterton, sampling from his larger works and his newspaper columns.
I especially recommend "What I Found in My Pocket"
an amazing book, one of the best I have ever read. The only competitor on the IJN is Shattered Sword which is nominally about midway, but really more broadly about the strengths and deficiencies of the IJN at war.
Second-language learner here; my abilities sound pretty much identical to yours.
If you a) haven't heard of it already and b) can look past the juvenile BS, erin.ne.jp is really good for listening practice. Conversations aren't dumbed down, but not impossible.
For reading practice, I enjoyed 日本との出会い and assuming you're not entirely clueless on kanji (can you read the title) I think it'll help you pick them up super quickly. Tons of vocab as well.
If you'd like a dictionary recommendation, [the Oxford one] is incredibly useful for particles and general usage.
http://www.amazon.com/Midway-Battle-Doomed-Japan-Japanese/dp/1557504288?tag=duckduckgo-d-20
This is a compelling read.
http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-War-1931-1945-Saburo-Ienaga/dp/0394734963?tag=duckduckgo-d-20
Not always well written, sometimes comes across as a polemic, but contains some great sources.
http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Japans-Kamikaze-Foreword-Admiral/dp/B000HZBKEI%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26t
That's all I can think of from the top of my head. I would also reccomend John Costello's *The Pacific War. It's a great synthesis, well sourced, and doesn't treat Burma as a sideshow.
Might I also suggest a crosspost to r/history? They're a helpful bunch.
This already exists. A Homestay in Japan (日本との出会い) is a good example.
> https://www.amazon.com/Fukushima-Nuclear-Disaster-David-Lochbaum/dp/1595589082
“Fukushima- The story of a nuclear disaster”
I think this Book is accurate, even with D. Lochbaum
but i am just a Fukushima Otaku and not a Engineer!
The Last Mission is a really good account of the American bombing missions and the Japanese leadership during the final days of the war.