History of Japan: Revised Edition Revised Edition, Kindle Edition

by Richard Mason (Author), J. G. Caiger (Author)

44 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0804820974

ISBN-10: 080482097X

Why is ISBN important?

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Buy

$12.72

eBook features:

Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
Page numbers are just like the physical edition
Length: 428 pages
Word Wise: Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

Available on these devices:

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

includes VAT

Digital List Price: $17.23

Print List Price: $18.95 Save $6.23 (33%)‎

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

See all 11 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$12.72

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$500.00

Paperback

"Please retry"

$16.10

$11.69

$3.85

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$16.16

$9.90

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

—

$9.99

A classic of Japanese history, this book is the preeminent work on the history of Japan.

Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume, complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-cold War period and collapse of the Bubble Economy in the early 1990's. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.

Also included is an in-depth analysis of the Japanese religion, Japanese arts, Japanese culture and the Japanese People from the 6th century B.C.E. to the present. This contemporary classic, now updated and revised, continues to be an essential text in Japanese studies. Classic illustrations and unique pictures are dispersed throughout the book.

A History of Japan, Revised Edition includes:

Archaic Japan—including Yamato, the creation of a unified state, the Nana Period, and the Heian period.
Medieval Japan— including rule by the military houses, the failure of Ashikaga Rule, Buddhism, and the Kamakura and Muroachi Periods periods.
Ealy Modern Japan—including Japanese feudalism, administration under the Tokugawa, and society and culture in early modern Japan.
Modern Japan—including The Meiji Era and policies for modernization, from consensus to crisis (1912-1937), and solutions through force.

This contemporary classic continues to be a central book in Japanese studies and is a vital addition to the collection of any student or enthusiast of Japanese history, Japanese culture, or the Japanese Language.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Roger J. Davies

92

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Boye Lafayette De…

85

Kindle Edition
$6.58
William Elliot Griffis

31

Kindle Edition
$0.99
Marius B. Jansen

28

Kindle Edition
$18.98
Brett L. Walker

19

Kindle Edition
$18.49
John Keay

105

Kindle Edition

Product details

File Size: 4544 KB
Print Length: 428 pages
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; Revised edition (August 30, 2011)
Publication Date: August 30, 2011
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B005LPUEPK
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,949 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #53 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Asian American Studies
- #75 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Asia > Japan
- #121 in Books > History > Australia & Oceania > Oceania

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

Be the first video

Your name here

Customer reviews

Write a customer review

See all 44 customer reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Sloth

More confusing than informative

June 27, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Having read a pretty good overall history of Japan, I wanted to find another book that briefly covers its entire timeline as a review. This book does not do the job well. The writing style is extremely dry and the author often uses double negatives or run on sentences. It's like reading a graduate dissertation. The content is also very lacking. Mason zooms past sections without providing enough history, or gives some small topics way too much focus. For example, he has pages devoted to Nara poems (just the translated poems) which he doesn't explain the significance of, but barely mentions the Tale of Genji. There's also many sections where he fails to impress the importance of the topic because of the convoluted style he writes in. Concepts that can be easily explained in a paragraph are dragged out for pages, it all feels a bit elitist. For a not as dry, compact, informative, and CONCISE overview, I suggest Kenneth G. Henshall's A History of Japan.

26 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Ben

Superb, but revisionist

April 7, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Let me first start out by saying that I greatly enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in a thorough understanding of Japanese history.

The book deals with its subject in a chronological order, with an emphasis on important people and events. These highlights are in turn fleshed out by a comprehensive analysis of what historians consider to be the underlying causes for change. In addition, a running commentary is made on the intelectual and cultural developments of each periode, particularly within Buddhism, which facilitated change. All of this is presented in a compressed yet accessible style, leaving the reader not only with a clear understanding of what happened, but also why it happened. Anecdotes and excerpts from novels and plays also give the text a colourful and enjoyable feel.

So why just three stars?

While the book is incredibly detailed when it comes to Japan’s internal history, the history of its colonial empire and actions during the Pacific war are purposfully vague. Korea, at the time of the invasion, is refered to as a ‘backwards country’, and the worst thing the Japanese did during World War Two was appearantly forcing older Indonesians to use Japanese Standard time rather than local time. Indeed, the author flat out refers to the execution of Japanese war criminals as a ‘dubious arraignment’. These things runs contrary to all other records of the era.

Japan’s history is more than the Pacific War. To focus unduly on its actions during that war would give a slanted view of its history, but so does ignoring them outright. For all its merit, this book whitewashes a difficult time in human history, and that makes it a bad history book, no matter how well written it otherwise is.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

John Garcia

A mostly concise, very informative read on Japanese history.

November 10, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Note: The context of my reading of this book was in that of a class room setting, so some information may have been made more clear after lecture and not because of the book itself.

In "A History of Japan: Revised Edition" the whole of a. Japan's history is covered up to the 1950s. From the original historical references of ancient Chinese scribes to the imperial documents of the Meiji period and beyond, this book manages to cover quite a lot of ground in a little bit of time, and it manages to do so with a nearly concise telling. I say nearly concise because the book tends to get bogged down in a generous procession of name-dropping and the occasional fluffed bit information. The authors are not attempting to pad their book by any means, so rest assured the price you pay is certainly worth the information you receive, just be prepared for reread a few sections in an attempt to filter out superfluous information and cut through the occasional fluff. Documents and references are provided for each chapter via footnotes, so you skeptics can fact check the fine work of these historians. Overall it was a great educational experience, despite the sparse moments of information overload. I highly recommend reading it, if you're at all interested in Japanese history.

Likes:
-Reliable information
-Concise and well laid out chapters

Dislikes:
-A spot of fluff here or there
-A lot of naming dropping, past the point of necessity sometimes and to the point of confusion.

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Bruce K

If you like lots of facts

December 31, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

If you like lots of facts, and little to no dubious extrapolations or conclusions, then you will like this book.

My nephew is living in Japan, and thus my inerest in learning more about the origins and development of this ancient civilization.

One thing I did not expect, was how this history has helped me to understand the long history of the complex and conflicted relationship between Japan, Korea and China.

Three stars because the style is a little dry and professorial, compared to my favorite history authors, and might be a turn-off for younger readers.

One person found this helpful

Comment

January 10, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I was born and educated in Japan. I knew the history. I found it very well written.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Emilio

It covers more than military/political

September 17, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

What I most liked about this book is that is does not cover only military/political history, but also arts, religion, poetry, architecture, theater, and many other aspects of Japanese society that are essential to understand this country.

It is a great book for those who want to enter in this world. Now I feel I have the basics about the country for a more detailed study.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

MAW

I purchased this book because of an upcoming trip to Japan and I not only learned a good bit of the country's history

April 16, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fascinating and very well written. I purchased this book because of an upcoming trip to Japan and I not only learned a good bit of the country's history, but also gained more of an understanding of the people of Japan.

Comment

May 10, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Very comprehensive and well written. A little more detail than I really needed in some of the early chapters but an excellent review of Japanese history.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Not Helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: History of Japan: Revised Edition

Set up a giveaway

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Brett L. Walker

19

Kindle Edition
$18.49
Roger J. Davies

92

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Jonathan Clements

3

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Boye Lafayette De…

85

Kindle Edition
$6.58
K. Henshall

18

Kindle Edition
$14.74
Rui Kanda

14

Kindle Edition
$2.99

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.

Would you like to report poor quality or formatting in this book? Click here

Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here

Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Click here

History of Japan: Revised Edition Revised Edition, Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Customer reviews

Filter by popular topics in reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Most recent customer reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

History of Japan: Revised Edition Revised Edition, Kindle Edition

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Customer reviews

Filter by popular topics in reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Most recent customer reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Customers who viewed this item also viewed