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Traveller's History of Japan Paperback – March 1, 2008

by Richard Tames Comp (Author), Scott Hall (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 11 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 292 pages
  • Publisher: Interlink Publishing Group; 3rd Revised and Updated edition (March 1, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1566564042
  • ISBN-13: 978-1566564045
  • Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.7 x 7.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsGreat, quick, and well-balanced general history
By Mike Clarken on May 24, 1998
Format: Paperback
By title, this book, indeed this series, may put fear into the reader of being a too-general and non-scholarly vast account of a subject matter too complex for any quality to come from the short format. Tames proves these fears wrong almost from the beginning in this indeed scholarly, engaging, and very well-balanced account of the history of one of the most misunderstood nations among today's world leaders. Tames does write a very general account, but "general" can be better understood as "broad" and "far-reaching" in this narritive. Regardless of the period discussed, his approach is rarely too single-tracked. This is a developmental history, and as such, properly includes development of Japanese government, culture, arts and literature, and the cumulative effects of this development onto the subsequent generations of Japanese. Tames does an excellent though suggestive job of relating the development of the Japanese nation to that of its people, and vice-versa. Throughout, except for the beginning, where it is often difficult to make any pre- and early histories come to life, the narritive flows freely with a purpose, and Tames' clear interest in his subject shines through the pages to take the reader with him on the easy, air-conditioned, and quick monorail tour through the safari of Japanese history, which is exactly what it is meant to be. In addition to the narritive is an excellent bibliography with commentary, as well as an entire reference section on everything Japanese from language to food and drink to holidays and their meanings. Especially for ex-pats living in Japan who don't want to be bogged down with anything dry or without connection to their experience, this is a quick, excellent read. It does a great job of subtly explaining the oft-seemingly unexplainables of Japan today.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Great Book for Starters!
By A Customer on February 22, 2004
Format: Paperback
Contrary to the popular opinion here, I enjoyed this book. For some one who does not really know much about Japan, or Japanese history, for that matter, the book is great. It starts off with a short prehistory, followed by the first Yamato state in Japan, followed by the Heian era, and the different shogunal dynasties, such as the Tokugawa and the Kamakura Shogunates. Then, it gives information about the Meiji Period, Japan's time as a power, and its defeat in World War II. It ends with a description of Modern Japan politically, socially, and economically.
One person said that Buddhism gets no treatment. Actually, it does. All of the important Buddhist sects (Tendai, Shingon, Nichiren, Pure Land, and Zen) are mentioned and information given about them. I do have to say, however, that Shintoism gets hardly any treatment.
And I do wisht hat the book gave more pictures and more information about the imperial family. But apart from that, I would get it!
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4.0 out of 5 starsGood but needs supplemental texts or maps.
By C. Collins on November 20, 2006
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is certainly an ambitious book. It attempts to cover thousands of years of Japanese history, as well as explain various aspects of Japanese culture and religion. It is highly readable however the cast of historic characters can become overwhelming.

I will first list the strengths of the book. The book does a very good job of explaining the centralization of Japan under a single Emperor and then the process by which the royal family was relegated (and overwhelmed) to court formality and ritual. A very curious tradition began whereby the Emperor would abdicate to a son or grandson who would then take on the all the responsibilities of court rituals and ceremonies. The abdicating emperor would then become a monk and live in a reclusive palace beside the main ceremonial palace. However, the former emperor would actually control the government while the 'official' emperor would be stuck with hours upon hours of court formality and ritual. A very wise system was thus developed that divided governing from the rituals of governing. The slow movement of power from Kyoto to Tokyo is also well documented. This period is marked by the rise of military dictators, Shoguns, who shared power with the royal family and frequently intermarried with the royal family so that eventually Shogun families had claims to the throne.

The book does a very good job of explaining the differences and similarities between Shinto and Buddhist religions and their combined influence on Japanese culture and spirituality.

The book has a weakness however that should be mentioned. The book does not discriminate well between landmarks and shrines that no longer exists and landmarks and shrines that are open to the public.Read more ›
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1.0 out of 5 starsMore dry than a graduate school level textbook on the topic.
By Amazon Customer on September 27, 2015
Format: Paperback
A "Traveller's History" implies that this is a visitor-friendly quick overview of history in Japan. This could not be further than the truth. On nearly every page the author introduces topics and names under the assumption that the reader is familiar with the topics and concepts. There really isn't any cohesion to the book and it's not a stretch to call it chloroform in print. I'm a post-graduate student and even I found the language complexity to be way over my head. About halfway through the book, I realized that I had no idea what was going on and decided to put it down. Even the chapter on Samurai, which I would have thought would be interesting was confusing, dry and almost unreadable. I don't want to give it one star because this might be a useful guide for a Phd student of Japanese history, but I absolutely hated it. This is definitely NOT ideal for visitors or students (other than post grad students of Japanese history, perhaps).
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