Books and documentaries on Japanese history and culture

SkyTurnsRed

Hey all,

Lately I've been having an itch to dive into the history of Japan and learn more about the country and the culture. I have been checking a few books out, but for any Japan buffs in here: are there any books or documentaries in particular that you would recommend? I'm really open to just about anything.

MagicToaster

Okinawa: The History of an Island People was a fantastic read! It takes you through the historical development of the country, from the creation of the Ryukyu Kingdom to what is modern day Okinawa.

It focuses specifically on Okinawan issues, though. It's very specific to that southern area. It's somewhat lengthy, but very thorough and well written.

ceres

I am going to throw in a fictional work, probably one of my favorite books of all time: The Makioka Sisters, by Tanizaki Junichiro. It's basically Japanese Little Women set during the tail end of the China Incident and World War II , and while I know that doesn't sound like much it touches upon issues ranging from feminism, medicine, old vs. new money, and education in Japan, just to name a few. It is an absolutely amazing book from so many standpoints, and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to learn something about their evolution in Japan.

hadoken

This is not a book, neither is it a documentary, but hopefully you find it useful.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html

The data is a bit old, but it is interesting an interesting read if you want to check out western understanding of Japan, albeit a little bit broad and not very in depth.

Suriko

Empires: Japan Memoirs of a Secret Empire - Covers the entire Tokugawa Period and summarises many of the more notable figures and events. A nice primer to the era, given the well-produced reenactments (a hallmark of the Empires series) and frequent namedrops (so you can look up specific interesting things mentioned).

Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan - A public domain book from 1894, written by an American who visited Japan during the Meiji period. Extremely biased, but an interesting firsthand perspective of the time.

This Scheming World - From Ihara Saikaku, a celebrated author during the Tokugawa Period. A wonderfully witty writer, who produced a few books as well as poems. He captures many of the social issues of the era, principally the shifting class structure within what was supposed to be a rigid society. His books can be a bit hard to get a hold of, though.

SkyTurnsRed

These are great recs so far. Thanks everyone.

SkyTurnsRed

Suriko wrote: »

Empires: Japan Memoirs of a Secret Empire - Covers the entire Tokugawa Period and summarises many of the more notable figures and events. A nice primer to the era, given the well-produced reenactments (a hallmark of the Empires series) and frequent namedrops (so you can look up specific interesting things mentioned).

Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan - A public domain book from 1894, written by an American who visited Japan during the Meiji period. Extremely biased, but an interesting firsthand perspective of the time.

This Scheming World - From Ihara Saikaku, a celebrated author during the Tokugawa Period. A wonderfully witty writer, who produced a few books as well as poems. He captures many of the social issues of the era, principally the shifting class structure within what was supposed to be a rigid society. His books can be a bit hard to get a hold of, though.

Someone else recommended Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan to me as well.