Product Description
Using qualitative research methods and evidence gathered from interviews, this work explores and highlights contradictions between Japanese immigration and immigrant policies as they relate to ethnic Japanese "returnees." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Interesting view on Japanese immigration policies
Finding good information for research on the Japanese immigration issues has been challenging.Dr. Brody addresses many of the issues involving the Nikeijin and their return to mainland Japan.Her comparative analysis between how Japan and Germany treat returning immigrants was very informative.If you are researching Japanese immigration or just have an interest, I highly recommend this book.

Excellent book on Japanese migration and Brazil
The author's discussion on the theories of labor migration using the push-pull model was very informative.While the book is very specific on Japanese and Brazilian immigration, you will find the book very entertaining. If you are interested in the Nikkeijin, this is the book for you.

This was not my field of expertise, but I enjoyed reading Dr. Brody's book. ... Read more

Product Description
Prince Cuong De, pretender to the Vietnamese throne, was an important and interesting figure in Vietnamese and Asian history, but one that has been 'written out' of Vietnam's history by the communists, and ignored by non-communists. This book, based on extensive original research, including French national archives, where many new, important documents have recently been discovered, traces the life of Cuong De. It explores Cuong De's links to key Japanese leaders, and how he campaigned, in Japan and elsewhere, for his cause. The book provides many fascinating insights on a wide range of historical developments in Asia from the perspective of an interesting and undeservedly neglected figure. ... Read more

Product Description
This book probes into subjects still frowned upon in Tokyo; it explores a few "skeletons in the imperial closet." A half century ago this subject brought authors to prison or death. Using tools such as archeology, stylistic analysis, Japan's sacred scriptures themselves, its imperial line is here traced back to Korean origins, its legitimacy established by an iron sword from Paekche kept inaccessible at Iso-no-Kami) with a gold inscription, which dates Japan's founding ruler from 369 A.D., rather than orthodoxy's 660 B.C.
"Japanese culture," up to the eighth century, derived primarily from Korea--whether it was music, landscape gardening, textiles, ceramics, or major masterpieces of architecture, sculpture, and painting. Top "National Treasures" of Japan either came from Korea or were sponsored by Korean-descended aristocrats, such as the famed Shotoku Taishi, who imported artists and Buddhist priests to the islands.

107 color plates. 43 b/w plates. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Eye-opening
There is already well-supported genetic, linguistic, archeological evidence linking Japan to Korea, but I had not realized the relationship to be so close. We know that Paekche, the Korean Kingdom, and early Japan shared an uncommonly close relationship, and the writer takes great pains to retrace the origins of Japanese by drawing on its historical relationship to Paekche. He tries in particular to fill in the gaping holes and reconcile the inconsistencies in the historical record. Overall, an excellent read. I recommend it for anyone interested in Japanese and Korean history.

Exceptional work!
It's easy to think that Japan and Korea were mostly influenced by Chinese culture by ignorance but by the fact that their language is Altaic-Isolate not Chinese - means Korea and Japan maintained their own unique culture(s) that are different from Chinese despite heavy historical & culutral influence by former Chinese states.

This book explores the area that are different and in fact starting from Japanese Yayoi culture about 2300BP, there were political refugees from various states in Koreaestablised their own sister states in Japan. Around 400AD, Backje lost a big battle against Gokuryo, and started massive refugee migration to the region of Japan where their former Backje political refugees established strong foothold. This lasted for a while. Historical documents shows more than 1-million people escaped to Japan from Backje(South West region in Korea) and they were able to conqure various states in Japan then and able to start Unified Nihon state called Yamato State around 6-7 century.

full of perceptual cues
Isn't it usual to think that Chinese culture rather than Korean culture influenced the ancient Japanese culture?I found no good proofs to support the opinions of the history fiction writer.It is better to read this book unbelievingly.I also recommend to read "Korea and Her Neighbours" written by Isabella Bird, English traveler and writer, first woman member of the Royal Geographical Society.

Interesting Book on an Unknown Subject
Out of the three East Asian civilizations, it appears Japan has gotten the most attention from the West. Japan is neither the oldest or most cultured of the major East Asian civilizations. Little do most people know that the Japanese are probably the biggest cultural borrowers that mankind has ever seen whether it be aping everything Western during the Meiji Restoration or copying the Chinese structure of government during the Taiki Reforms. This book is about early Japanese history and how the Japanese copied the art and culture of Korea in the formative years of the Yamato dynasty. It's a real, but often unacknowledged history that has to be told so the world can put Japanese culture in its correct context when compared to the other ancient East Asian cultures. The book itself is good in most regards, but sometimes it is too dogmatic in its presentation and doesn't provide enough evidence for its early background conclusions. Many pictures to illustrate the author's points. Considering the scarcity of books on this subject, anyone interested in Japan's early past should take a look at this book.

Secret
The author reveals what Japanese do not want to admit. Indeed, Japanese culture is influenced by the Korean culture. This scholary writing based on her extensive research reveals the secret of Japanese history. It is an excellent book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The development of the modern Japanese state described via the history of Japanese art
While it is quite different from western art, Japanese art is no less distinctive and a visual description of the development of modern Japanese culture. In this book, the artwork is presented with a great deal of historical context. Each section begins with a combination of a historical and an art chronology. A great deal of textual explanation is included along with the figures, which is very helpful as it would be very difficult to understand many of the images without it.
The chronology begins with ancient Japan, from the first people who inhabited the islands roughly 4500 B. C. to approximately the year 500 C. E. with the existence of a discernable Japanese civilization. It concludes with the period immediately before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The final section deals with the Meiji restoration, industrialization and the wars of conquest against China and Russia.
From these images, you can see the development of the modern Japanese state, which can easily be dated as having started in 1868. It is a nation that moved from a feudal structure to a modern industrial power in little more than one generation. Fortunately for us all, that change was well chronicled by the Japanese artists and some of their best work has been collected into this book.

from 600 B.C. to 1912
This is a book of incredible research,and art pictures.It is also a fantastic reference on Japan's History.It is divided into sections, so that the reader can follow in details the dates, the events, and the art that developed with time.
It has been a wonderful book for my references, and in teaching my students about Japan.Strongly,strongly recommended.

A big beautiful book....
A hardcover with over 290 some pages full of artwork.From the bells found in tombs to more modern prints done in the early 20th century, this book is a must for either art lovers or lovers of Japan or both!The book not only shows you how the art changed, but how the lives of the Japanese people changed.Their ways of life ANd their beliefs.See prints and paintings and statues of street scenes and nobles and visions of hell. You can't get a better book and there are used ones for sale!BUY IT! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an updated edition of Conrad Totman’s authoritative history of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present day.

Customer Reviews (4)

Comprehensive and accessible
I had the good fortune to use (the first edition of) Conrad Totman's "History of Japan" in a series of introductory Japanese history courses for which I also read large parts of the two works with which it is often compared by other reviewers: George Sansom's three-volume history and the encyclopedic Cambridge history.This let me compare all three works and identify the strengths that each has relative to the others.Although I read the first edition, few major changes seem to have been made in the second edition, the main one being an expansion of the epilogue to discuss pressures associated with the war on terror and invasion of Iraq.

As a one-volume work, Totman's history can't hope to include as much detail as the other two multi-volume histories.However, it nevertheless manages to present a comprehensive and very accessible history of Japan from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century.Unlike the Cambridge history, it is actually affordable, and unlike Sansom's work it includes events following the Meiji Restoration.Totman also spends considerably more time exploring Japanese society and economy than does Sansom, who focuses mainly on political, military and high-cultural affairs.

Totman's main conceit is taking an 'ecological' approach to Japanese history that governs the book's structure even if it doesn't dominate the narrative as a whole.He divides Japanese history into four rough and somewhat overlapping periods, based on the dominant means of production: pre-agriculture, dispersed agriculture, intensive agriculture, and industrial.Each of these periods, he argues, exhibited an early high-growth phase when the spread of new techniques and technologies led to rapid increases in production and population, followed by longer periods of stasis.As a result of this approach, for instance, Totman considers the Meiji Restoration a less crucial transition than the process of industrialization that followed it later in the nineteenth century.

Totman's interpretation is plausible, and I appreciated how he uses it to provide structure to his account, without forcing all aspects of Japanese history to fit into some overarching model.His writing was also quite accessible, and often a pleasure to read.The supplemental tables, glossary, index, annotated bibliography and limited notes were also helpful.Sansom and the Cambridge history may make more complete references, but of the three I found Totman's "History of Japan" the most interesting, accessible and enjoyable to read.

A failed attempt
The basic concept of this book of focusing less on the key people and events of history and more on the environmental, social and cultural impacts is not new and could have produced an interesting and insightful analysis of a country that is still a mystery to most Westerners.However, Totman fails to achieve this. His writing style can be tedious and he seems intent in showing off his impressive vocabulary - he certainly must get the prize for the most use of the word "adumbrate" in a book.

Ironically, therein lies the problem.He sketches over some complex issues,cultural themes and whole periods of history that without an existing deep knowledge of Japanese history and society leaves this reader, at least, more confused than enlightened.His approach of laying a lot of emphasis on the geographic and environmental influences, again, could have been very interesting but it finally degenerates into a rant about the war in Iraq and how destructive and corrupt the Industrialized world is.Rather than a diatribe against the Bush administration, it would have been useful to see an analysis of the factors that have caused the Japanese economy to stagnate compared to Europe and particularly the U.S.

In the end this book really does not give either a helpful overview of the history of Japan nor any insight into its future.

Interesting approach, chaotic results
Totman tries ever-so-hard to liberate his history from traditionalist binaries such as East vs. West and industrial vs. pre-industrial.He does this by examining history from an ecological perspective, examining the interaction between man and the environment.At first, this approach seems to work remarkably well.It is possible, it seems, to deduce pre-historic settlement patterns from the environmental record alone.

Yet, the novelty of his approach begins to break down when he tries to fit all of Japanese history into four distinct stages defined by the ability of the society to extract and process resources (e.g. crops, minerals, forests, etc.).This is just old-style development theory dressed in a new suit.Also, Totman conveniently abandons the ecological model when examining such items as culture, even though he vainly tells the reader that he has not forgotten his approach!When the author has to remind the reader that he hasn't strayed from his theme, it's a sure sign that he has!

The result of all this is a highly fragmented account that is difficult to read without prior knowledge of Japanese history.If I were a professor in this field, it would be an agonizing decision to go back to Sansom's venerable 1960's volume instead of turning to the current scholarship used in Totman.And yet, Totman's book is so difficult to digest that it would probably be worth it.

An outstanding history.
Conrad Totman's A History Of Japan conceptualizes four major "ages" grounded in the material resources that sustained Japanese society: the age of foragers, dispersed agriculturalists, intensiveagriculture, and industrialism. Totman beings with Stone Age society inJapan, and then moves through developments in agriculture, state-building,the blossoming of classical arts and letters, socioeconomic growth andchange, domestic and diplomatic politics, social issues of class, genderand ethnicity, cultural production and the environmental effects ofagricultural activity. A History Of Japan provides detailed coverage of thetwentieth century when Japan grew into a much larger society and its roleon the international science became militarily, economically, andculturally influential. A History Of Japan is a highly recommended,informative, scholarly, comprehensive, and "reader friendly"introduction and historical survey that will be much appreciated bystudents of Japanese history and culture, and has a wealth of material forthe non-specialist general reader seeking to understand the Japan ofantiquity as well as a contemporary and influential society. ... Read more

Product Description
In World War II, over 36,000 American men, mostly military but some civilian, were thrown into Japanese POW camps and forced to labor for companies working for Japan s war effort. At Japan s largest fixed military prison camp, Mitsubishi s huge factory complex at Mukden, Manchuria, more than 2,000 American prisoners where subjected to cold, starvation, beatings, and even medical experiments, while manufacturing parts for Zero fighter planes. Those lucky enough to survive required the efforts of an OSS rescue team and a special recovery unit to make it home alive.

Holmes, who spent two decades tracking down the POWs, shows conclusively for the first time that some Americans at Mukden were singled out for experiments by Japan s infamous biological warfare team. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Our schools should teach this to our kids
Ms. Linda Goetz Holmes has filled in a blank in our history lessons taught at schools. This book reveals some dark side in history that should have been known to all. For too long we have only focused on the stories about innocent victims of the Atom bombs and those civilian Japanese-Americans who have been put inside camps, but left out serious exposure of Japanese war crimes against other Asians and Americans. The fact that the nefarious Unit 731 and its crimes were not yet well-known here speaks out for itself on how much we should be better educated, and much of this was due to the cold war mentality. As things happened too fast and enemies became friends too soon, a great deal of truth has been deliberately covered up and ignored. Thanks to Ms. Holmes (as if the name bears any connection with Sherlock Holmes), now the truth has been discovered eventually.

Expertly researched book about one of the darker chapters of World War II
"Guests of the Emperor: the Secret History of Japan's Mukden POW Camp," by Linda Goetz Holmes, examines one of the darker chapters of World War II history.This is the story of more than 1,500 American prisoners of war who were captured in the opening stages of the Pacific war.Many of these men were captured in the Philippines as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's opening assaults against the Americans in 1941. The Japanese forced these men to march 60 miles across the Philippines - the Bataan Death March was just the beginning of the Hell these men would endure.

The Mitsubishi Corporation needed additional skilled workers for their factories.Against the Geneva Convention, the Japanese culled `skilled' workers from the prisoners in the Philippines and put them on a Hell ship destined for China.The men were forced to live in fetid conditions during the voyage.They joined additional British and Australian prisoners who were shipped from the failed defense of Singapore.From here, these men were transported to the Mukden prisoner camp where the men became slave labor for the Japanese war effort.

There seemed to be no end to the war crimes of the Japanese.While at Mukden, the nefarious Unit 731 came to the camp to subject the men to medical experiments.

Holmes draws on personal interviews from some of the remaining survivors, local Chinese witnesses, and official records from both American and Japanese archives.The stories are complemented with numerous black & white photographs and hand drawings.She did an excellent job of researching and retelling the story of this regrettable chapter of World War II.

I highly recommend this book for readers interested in the Pacific Theater of World War II. ... Read more

Product Description
Every school and public library should update its resources on Japan with this engagingly written and succinct narrative history covering prehistoric times through 1997. This history, based on the most recent scholarship, provides a chronological narrative examining the political, cultural, philosophical, and religious continuities in Japan's long, rich history in an exploration of why the Japanese are who they are today. Unlike earlier histories of Japan, it brings into sharp focus a discussion of women and other previously ignored subjects. It also provides a timeline of events in Japanese history, a glossary of Japanese terms, biographical sketches of important figures, and a bibliographic essay of interest to students and general readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

disappointed
WTF? why in gods name would you charge $40 for the kindle version of this book... because it is so overpriced, i wont even consider buying. you missed out on a sale

arrived quickly
Book arrived quickly. I paid a few more dollars than I could have paid at the on-campus bookstore, but it was worth it for the convenience.

A wonderful primer history
This is a beautiful book on the history of Japan.When I looked at this book, it was because I was looking for a history of Japan (I love studying it), but I didn't want anything huge or too dry (though a little bit of that is to be expected in nearly any history book).So I picked up this volume, and was surprisingly pleased.This version of Japan's history is fairly conscise (only a couple hundred pages), and yet manages to give a pretty detailed rundown of the history.There are larger, even more detailed books on Japan's history (READ: George Samson), but this a wonderful, wonderful primer if you want to have a basic understanding of Japanese history.It goes all the way from ancient days (the Ainu and the migration of today's Japanese into Japan) up to post-World War II and present day.The book is also fairly current (only two or three years old).If you're looking for an history which will provide you with a comprehension of Japanese history in fairly short order, buy this book.Also handy as a reference for people studying Japan. ~ ... Read more

Product Description
Japan was ruled by warriors for the better part of a millennium.From the twelfth to the nineteenth century its political history was dominated by the struggle of competing leagues of fighting men.This volume, comprised of chapters taken from Volumes 3 and 4 of The Cambridge History of Japan, traces the institutional development of warrior rule and dominance.Although samurai influence waned with the development of constitutional government, warrior values remained central to the ethical code of modern Japan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Excellent book on medieval Japan
This book is a must buy for those who are interested in medieval Japan, but can not afford the Cambridge History of Japan. This book consists of a articles written by such luminaries as Jeffrey Mass and John Whitney Hall. Taken together, their articles trace the political history of Japan from the Genpei War to the formation of the Bakuhan system under the Tokugawa. Essentially, it traces the political eveolution of medieval Japan.

Wow what a price!
Don't be shocked of the thickness of the book. I still have my (paperback) copy from '95,and flipped when I saw the price on Amazon.Com. Exellent book,and very deep and thorough information on (Sengoku Jidai era) 16th century Japanese history. This book is for the serious history student,and I mean money no object. Book talks about the military government of Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo Bakufu's.

Serious book on Institutional History of Bakufu (Shogunate)
Warrior rule in Japan is a compilation of essays by well-known authors on history of Japan: Jeffrey P. Mass, Ishii Susumi, John Whitney Hall and Harold Bolitho.This is a serious academic book on history of institutional development of Bakufu (the warrior government, or, as it is widely known, the Shogunate) in Japan from the times of Minamoto Yoritomo through Tokugawa Bakufu).In contrast to books by, for example Steven Turnbull, who wrote extensively on military strategies, tactics, campaigns and concentrated among other things on personalities of samurai leaders, this author goes into the in-depth analysis of the development of Bakufu as an institution and describes governance of Japanese society, gives some insight into economic and judicial powers of its branches.

"Warrior rule" is a serious reading for a serious scholar.Due to abundance of Japanese terms, it is not easy to read.However, without getting an exposure to the subject of this book, it is not possible to understand, what really stood behind many military campaigns and moves famous people of those turbulent times and feel the atmosphere of samurai age.The life of famous daimyo was not 100 per cent war, but also administration, politics, influence, economics, rituals, law and justice.

In addition, Harold Bolitho provides a general outline of the concept of Han, or local government, or the government of a daimyo, his area of administration and source of power and structure of loyalties.One learns here concepts of local samurai, fudai (or hereditary retainers, although this concept is quite described by other authors as well), shugo, jito and other concepts necessary to learn history of this legendary age.

A great thorough Sengoku Jidai book
This is a great alternative for those who wants to get the extensive "The Cambridge History of Japan Vol.3" Most of the contents were culled from the later. I find this book very helpful, and concise. Itoffers alot of good information of the Kamakura Bakufu and the invasion ofthe Mongols. Plus it's priced moderately. A must for students of theSengoku Jidai.

A thorough book
This book is best suited for readers looking into specific topics of the vast Japanese Medieval history. For those, who is looking for another affordable alternative to the excellent "Cambridge History ofJapan" series, I would recommend this book. It devotes a section tothe Mongol Invasion and the Decline and Fall of the Kamakura Bakufu. Thiswas culled from the Cambridge History of Japan and is very informative. Thebook is thorough and it should be among your collection of Sengoku Jidaibooks. ... Read more

Product Description
Prior to and during the Second World War, the Japanese Army established programs of biological warfare throughout China and elsewhere. In these “factories of death,” including the now-infamous Unit 731, Japanese doctors and scientists conducted large numbers of vivisections and experiments on human beings, mostly Chinese nationals. However, as a result of complex historical factors including an American cover-up of the atrocities, Japanese denials, and inadequate responses from successive Chinese governments, justice has never been fully served. This volume brings together the contributions of a group of scholars from different countries and various academic disciplines. It examines Japan’s wartime medical atrocities and their postwar aftermath from a comparative perspective and inquires into perennial issues of historical memory, science, politics, society and ethics elicited by these rebarbative events. The volume’s central ethical claim is that the failure to bring justice to bear on the systematic abuse of medical research by Japanese military medical personnel more than six decades ago has had a profoundly retarding influence on the development and practice of medical and social ethics in all of East Asia. The book also includes an extensive annotated bibliography selected from relevant publications in Japanese, Chinese and English. ... Read more

Product Description

This introductory text presents an extremely clear and well-written account of the political, social, and economic events from the late Tokugawa society of 1800 to the present.

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent History
Duus did an excellent job in writing this book about Japanese History.It is divided into 4 sections:The Fall of Tokugawa Order 1800-1868, The Pursuit of Wealth and Power 1868-1905, Political Change Crisis & War 1905-1945, and Peace Prosperity and Stability 1945-Present.This is a well written, well sourced book with a suffiecient quantity of quality figures and pictures.The only complaint about this book is how Duus overlooked much of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese during WW2, but does give us an excellent view of the war from the civilian populace. ... Read more

Product Description
This study deals with all the aspects of the history of the book in Japan, from the production of manuscripts and printed books to book-collecting, libraries, censorship and readership. It also sets books in the context of Japan's cultural ties with China, Korea and Parhae. The focus is on the history of both texts and physical books. This encompasses not only books in Japanese but also books in Chinese by Chinese and Korean authors, and some Western books as well. It is a reference tool and bibliographic guide for those interested in book studies and particularly for historians of Japanese culture. It is illustrated with examples taken from various collections of early Japanese books in Europe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Authoritative and highly readable
This is a very useful study of the history of the book (defined rather broadly) in Japan.It is well written and makes interesting even topics that at first glance seem inherently dull--the chapter on bibliographies and catalogs, for example.Kornicki combines extensive old-fashioned archival scholarship with a good sense for recent theory on such topics as the death of the author, media technologies, and the shifting history of reading practices. ... Read more

Product Description
Ages 8 to 14 years.This fascinating new book describes how Japan grew from rule by local chieftains to an emperor-led nation with many noble families competing for prominence. Beautiful spreads and full-colour photographs unveil Japan's rich history and the people who struggled to make it their own.Topics include: wet rice cultivation; trade with other cultures, their influence, and isolation in the 17th century; from early pit dwellings to the development of castle towns; nature worship, the rise of Shinto, and Buddhism and Confucianism; life as a samurai warrior; sword making and pottery; herbal medicine. ... Read more

Product Description
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-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 shows 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. Influenced by an unusual combination of the Japanese imperial tradition and a modern scientific worldview, the young emperor gradually evolves into his preeminent role, aligning himself with the growing ultranationalist movement, perpetuating a cult of religious emperor worship, resisting attempts to curb his power, and all the while burnishing his image as a reluctant, passive monarch. Here we see Hirohito as he truly was: a man of strong will and real authority.

Supported by a vast array of previously untapped primary documents, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan is perhaps most illuminating in lifting the veil on the mythology surrounding the emperor's impact on the world stage. Focusing closely on Hirohito's interactions with his advisers and successive Japanese governments, Bix sheds new light on the causes of the China War in 1937 and the start of the Asia-Pacific War in 1941. And while conventional wisdom has had it that the nation's increasing foreign aggression was driven and maintained not by the emperor but by an elite group of Japanese militarists, the reality, as witnessed here, is quite different. Bix documents in detail the strong, decisive role Hirohito played in wartime operations, from the takeover of Manchuria in 1931 through the attack on Pearl Harbor and ultimately the fateful decision in 1945 to accede to an unconditional surrender. In fact, the emperor stubbornly prolonged the war effort and then used the horrifying bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the Soviet entrance into the war, as his exit strategy from a no-win situation. From the moment of capitulation, we see how American and Japanese leaders moved to justify the retention of Hirohito as emperor by whitewashing his wartime role and reshaping the historical consciousness of the Japanese people. The key to this strategy was Hirohito's alliance with General MacArthur, who helped him maintain his stature and shed his militaristic image, while MacArthur used the emperor as a figurehead to assist him in converting Japan into a peaceful nation. Their partnership ensured that the emperor's image would loom large over the postwar years and later decades, as Japan began to make its way in the modern age and struggled -- as it still does -- to come to terms with its past.

Until the very end of a career that embodied the conflicting aims of Japan's development as a nation, Hirohito remained preoccupied with politics and with his place in history. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan provides the definitive account of his rich life and legacy. Meticulously researched and utterly engaging, this book is proof that the history of twentieth-century Japan cannot be understood apart from the life of its most remarkable and enduring leader.

Not surprisingly,this hefty work of scholarship is making waves, as Americans andJapanese reconsider their roles in WWII and its aftermath.By placingHirohito back in the center of the picture and puncturing the mythsthat surround him, Bix has effectively asked the Japanese to come outof their half-century repression of the past and face their wartimeresponsibility. Without doing so, he implies, the monarchy willforever impede the development of democracy. For those interested inJapan's wartime past and its influence on the present, this isfascinating, if lengthy, reading. --Lesley Reed ... Read more

Customer Reviews (72)

Long and Detailed, but Worth the Time
I first looked at this book to help me write a chapter in a textbook. Before long I had ordered my own copy and began the long process of digesting this tome! The chapters are long and the attention to detail can lead to frustration. However, this has corrected my understanding of Japan leading up to, during, and following World War II. I will use the information gleaned to correct every history textbook with which I come into contact that covers this period of history. This is a first-rate work and every history teacher should know something of its contents!

History, but also a tract...
Hirohito, by Herbert Bix, is history but also a tract: Bix is
convinced that Hirohito himself didn't take, or get,
enough blame for events -- the scholars' debate since 1945 has been
whether he was guilty or just a puppet victim like Pu Yi.

Along the way, Bix carefully picks through all sorts of interesting
East-West cultural misunderstandings, particularly regarding groupthink
and peer pressures and reverence for elders & emperors, and weird
Western ideas like "democracy". Some great choice situations get
described, several of them famous: face-offs with generals, grand
policy and wartime decisions.

Yet when he gets to "guilt", Bix is relentlessly Western: he often
attributes powers over other men to a very young Hirohito, in a society
which reveres its elders -- interesting question whether Japanese
elder statesmen & admirals & generals, or a young emperor, would have
received the greater deference in such situations. Bix often asserts
that Hirohito did dominate, then doesn't document it -- a Westerner is
left with the feeling that the evidence for the hanging is somewhat
circumstantial, here.

The book is wonderfully complemented by a movie currently showing: "The Sun", by
Alexander Sokurov -- "A meditation on Emperor Hirohito set at the time
of Japan's World War II surrender, it takes place in a world almost
totally sealed off from reality" --
[...]

The `living deity', like a spider in his web
The author of this Pulitzer-winning bio of Emperor Hirohito had to work without most of the basic tools of his trade. The emperor had written a diary and letters to his family. Neither was open to the writer. Nor were the McArthur files in the US. Alas, this need to work around the center and without key access takes a toll: the sources are generally of the bureaucratic kind.
Bix's main thesis is this: the emperor was a man who had much more influence than he later admitted. He was not the powerless figurehead that McArthur and he himself liked to describe for the benefit of world opinion. In real life, this emperor was an active player until the end of WW2. He became the figurehead that he claimed to have been only after the US occupation. It seems quite clear that he was much involved in the steady escalation of Japan's aggression against China and in the attack on the US and SE Asia.

We follow H's education during turbulent times: his grandfather Meiji waged war against China and Russia, took Taiwan, Korea, and Sakhalin as colonies, and put a foot into Southern Manchuria (taking Port Arthur from Russia).Japan's later expansionism beyond the Meiji frontiers had been seeded in the minds of the militarist elite already during WW1. Expelling the Germans from their Chinese colony was not just a favor to the Brits. China was already targeted to become a Japanese protectorate, and the Russians needed to be pushed out of Manchuria entirely. Moving the Dutch out of their East Indies was another vision. This whole great concept was based on a racist theory according to which the Japanese as the supreme yellow man had to lead the fight against the white man. This required a sphere of dominance: Asian Monroeism.

H was trained in a contradictory three-pronged way: he had a scientific training and inclination; he even became an amateur marine biologist. But he was also prepared for a role as spiritual leader and got an injection of a strong militarist spirit. Part of his official role was to be the supreme commander of Japan's military machine, and he was also going to be head of his religious cult, the Shinto. And more than that, he was to be a god.

The 1920s were a messy period in most parts of the world. (Only the US, among the major places, had the good fortune to find a decent leadership out of their crisis.) In Japan, H's reign as the Showa Emperor brought a new level of exalted nationalism, including his own deification as the embodiment of the nation's racial community. It brought dictatorship, militarism, glorification of war. Though H was certainly no Fuehrer or Duce type, the term fascism seems justified from most perspectives.

The new expansion of the empire starts in 1931 with the military move to annex the north eastern provinces of China. Manchukuo is set up as a pseudo independent state in 32. The occupation is step by step expanded from Manchuria into other provinces.
H was not sitting on the sideline in all this, but actively involved on a daily basis.
The invasion into the Chinese heartland starts in 37. It may be fair to say that the communist victory in the Chinese civil war was much helped by the Japanese focus on fighting Chiang kai-Shek's forces and leaving the communists comparatively undiminished.
H was fully supporting the undeclared China war. He authorized military expansions, poison gas use, bombing raids, and annihilation campaigns, which killed millions of Chinese. POW protection under international law was not practiced by Japan.

Japan was hesitant how to align internationally. When the Germans seemed to overrun Europe, and had a non-aggression treaty with the SU, Japan's rulers thought it was a good idea to ride piggyback and benefit from the collapse of the colonial empires of Britain, Holland and France. That would solve some of the raw material problems. The southern expansion was a part of the big chess came that Japan lost. It is plausible that the leaders did not really expect a victory over the US, but a German victory in Europe and a smashing defeat of America's European allies might have provided a basis for an advantageous draw.

The build up of the decision to go for the attack on the US is one main subject of the book. So is the war phase with H as commander in chief - not a very good c-i-c. The next is H's role in the acknowledgement of defeat: he was a main engine of the `fight on' faction.
The next subject is the post war process of cover up and reconstruction, led by McArthur. It all started from learned lessons after Versailles: one should not humiliate losers unnecessarily. Was the lesson carried too far in keeping the emperor in his job?

Since I am not very familiar with the details of the Japanese ruling class, I can't judge the truthfulness of Bix's picture. The China related parts strike me as solid, equally the SE Asia parts as far as I am familiar with them. The book can't be the decisive biography as many key documents were not available. Will they ever be?

Yet another Marixst Nut
My wife is Chinese, to this day there still exists a great deal of hate in China for Japan and her actions during the war.I say this to clarify I am no fan of Hirohito or Imperial japan.

What I had hoped to get an objective review of Hirohito and his role before and during the war.Instead what I got from this book was a foaming at the mouth rabid attack Hirohito all in the first few pages.I really had thought people such as Bix might have grown out of fanatical Marxism.

This is the only time I have thought about asking for a refund from Amazon for a book. I suppose I should have read the reviews of others before buying.

A leaden volume that is more polemic than biography
I always find it fascinating when I reach a completely different conclusion than a noted awards organization like the Pulitzers. But after slogging through over half of Herbert Bix's book, "HIROHITO AND THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN," I cannot imagine how this book received much of any award.

I guess at some level it is not a complete washout. The book is obviously meticulously researched. As a reference for academics, it will probably have real value. But in terms of simple readability, it is a disaster.

For me, it seems Bix has been immersed in Japan and Japanese culture for way too long. Like a lot of experts, he tends to speak in a bit of a short hand without remembering that it makes it difficult for laymen to follow.

For better or worse, most Americans are not terribly familiar with Japanese history and culture, especially as it relates to pre-WWII. So the huge cast of characters that Bix throws at you is overwhelming because most readers are not going to know who any of them are. His introductions to each of these characters tend to be very brief and there are so many of them (and so many names that are all alien to begin with) that it becomes almost dizzying. You are constantly flipping over to the index to figure out who someone is that hasn't been mentioned in 50 pages.

Cabinets rise and fall with blinding speed and without much explanation for how or why. Japanese cultural points are raised without deep explanation and without reinforcement later in the text. And the prose itself is leaden. It is not a read so much as a slog. You endure it more than you enjoy it.

More bothersome is that Bix has a clear agenda in the biography. His take? Hirohito was a conniving jerk who misled everyone about his role during the war. Other than being an upright family man, Bix's Hirohito is a Machiavellian slimeball constantly making poor choices and then finding ways to foist the consequences on others.

Now for all I know, this may be totally accurate. But the text reads as almost seething in its anger. I have no issue with a writer presenting an opinion and a point of view. That is a role of the historian and the biographer--to interpret the facts and put them into context. But Bix never lets it go to simply tell the story of his subject. He is constantly slamming Hirohito. Again, his criticism may be sound. It probably is. But it so pervasive that at some point you begin to wonder whether or not Bix is presenting all the facts. Based on the enormous "notes" section of this book, he probably is, but at some point he just needed to tell the story. If the problems and hypocrisy in Hirohito's life are as pronounced as he says they are, that will likely come through to the reader without having to ham-handedly beat the man page after page. It reads less like a biography and more like a polemic.

The only reason I am giving this any stars at all is because I feel I am obligated to give some credit to the sheer depth of research that is evident in the work. This is truly a scholarly effort in its research and I suspect the underlying source documents cited will make this a great reference for future scholars seeking information on the subject. But I found the writing itself to be bad and the Bix's anti-Hirohito agenda to just be overwhelming.

This is an important story that needs to be told. But Bix's work is not the book that gets it done. Obviously, based on the accolades this book received from critics, other readers and Pulitzer committee puts me in the minority but I really am left wondering what book they read when they heaped their praise on this work. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume provides the most comprehensive treatment of the Heian period, the golden age of the Japanese imperial court, in any Western language. From 794 to 1185, the Japanese emperor ruled over an elaborate government modeled on China's. Native Japanese elements blended with Chinese influences in religion and the courtly arts. The world's first novel was completed about 1020. In 1185 the elegant and peaceful world of the court was shattered by the struggle of the Taira and Minamoto warrior clans, who usurped real political power. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Extensive Reference
This is the second volume in The Cambridge History of Japan, covering from the founding of Heian-kyo in 794 to the Gimpei clan wars of 1185 and the rising dominance of the warrior class.Arguably, these are the formative years for Japanese culture and social structure.Many of the subtle forms of governance that endured into modern times were entrenched at this time.Art and religion flourished as well (this was the period in which The Tale of Genji was written).

The Heian era, marked by a tremendous amount of formative activity, are crucial to understanding all that followed.This text is as exhaustive a record and analysis of those times as any reader would ever want.The chapters are written by individual experts in their fields and cover key aspects of history, politics, sociology, religion, and art.If anything, the worst criticism of this text is that the amount of information provided is overwhelming.

Casual history buffs beware.Don't expect an easy to read narrative.The intended reader is either academic or deeply interested.The kind of person who doesn't mind information overload and who is willing to take the time to put all the pieces of the picture into place.It may be important to understand rice politics, but, for the average reader, the subject lacks the glitter of the Heian court and the conflicts that forged modern Japan.

Of course, this is intended to be a reference book as much as a history, which accounts for the dryness of some of the writing.But as a reference book it really shines - I have yet to look for something and not be able to find material.For the right reader, the book is well worth its steep price.

It's the most detail publication on Heain era in Japan!
If one is looking for a manual that can help him/her understand historical events in Heian period (794-1185) then this is the book. It brings to you in detail the system of government (copying China's Tchang dynasty model),introduction of new Buddhist sects to Japan (Tendai, Shingon) and the life/ culture at the Imperial Court in Heiankyo (contemporary capital). Whatmay scare one off is the price but if you're either deeply interested inJapan's history or want to know more than you can find in the generalpopular history books then be sure to add this piece to your bookself andit will bring the Heain Japan to your reading chair.Index and glossaryare practically arranged. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

BEWARE!!!
Beware of who you order from....I received my book and the entire book is upside down and the pages ad from right to left....beware!!!!

Japanvisitor.com Review
The premise of this book is that "schools and textbooks are important vehicles through which contemporary societies transmit ideas of citizenship and both the idealized past and the promised future". The 10 chapters look at how World War II and the Vietnam War are represented in school history textbooks in the 3 countries. Almost 50 years after the end of the war, controversy over Japanese text books continues to rage, and this book is useful to put that into some sort of perspective. Of the 10 chapters, 6 deal with Japan, including a chapter with all the details of Saburo Ienaga's famous textbook lawsuits against the Japanese government, and a couple of chapters on joint history projects between Japan and Korea, and Japan and the U.S. The common conception is that Japan has not yet faced up to its wartime past, and while I agree, after reading this book my view has been somewhat softened. Compared with the U.S.A., Japan has done more to teach its young about the negative side of its wars. If you enjoyed reading Ian Buruma's Wages of Guilt, then you will enjoy this book.

Should be required for High School/College Hist teachers
This is the best collection of essays on the "uses" of history and construction of national "memories" that I have read. This should be required reading in every high school social studies/history teacher certification program, and should be read by all who want to enter the debate on standardized testing and prescriptive curriculum content. I have used selections of it in my college level Japanese history course, my college level world history courses, and recommend it to my colleagues and also to the many high school teachers with whom I work. It shares valuable lessons on the manipulation of history for nationalistic and/or militaristic purposes.It should also be read by educational, defense, and foreign policy-makers as well as journalists who often seem too quick to pass on widely held myths as truths. Alas, I am afraid that many in these positions are more comfortable with the myths.

Fascinating, challenging, highly informative essays
Censoring History: Citizenship And Memory In Japan, Germany, And The United States is a fascinating, challenging, well written and highly informative anthology of essays about how history is almost inevitably distorted and revised by subsequent generations to meet their social, political and cultural needs and myths --and how such unwarranted revisions must be countered with an coherent understanding of the politics of education, from the writing and publication of textbooks to curriculum development and classroom instruction practices. Censoring History is critically important reading for anyone seeking to understand how and why the needs of nationalism would and do distort the recording and transmission of history, and the peril future generations are put to as those who do not know their history are so often doomed to repeat it in an age where nuclear war could end civilization and even the human race. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Sir George Sansom (1883-1965) Revisited
It would probably not be much of a stretch to claim that as late as the decade following the end of the Pacific War in 1945, the popular take in the States on things Japanese, even among the more knowledgeable, was shaped largely by three classics: Sir George Sansom's Japan: A Short Cultural History (1931) and Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946) against the background strains of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (1904). All three have had their critics and all three have survived comfortably into the 21st century.

But the Cultural History is not just curious relic.It often describes, in clear and straightforward terms, items of cultural behavior which contemporary scholars are often tempted to dispute contentiously, present in technical jargon, or ignore completely. Take, for example, this introduction to the crucial distinction in Shinto between "ritual purity" and "moral guilt":

........ The outstanding feature of Shinto observances is the attention paid to ritual purity.Things which are offensive to the gods were called by the early Japanese TSUMI, a word which is now rendered by dictionaries as "guilt" or "sin."Avoidance of these things was called IMI, a word meaning taboo.The Imibe, as we have seen, were a class of professional "abstainers," whose duty it was to keep free from pollution so that they might approach the gods without offence. Chief among the offences to be avoided was uncleanness.It might arise in many ways, none of which in other religions would be moral guilt... (p. 32ff.)

Those with a bigger appetite for historical detail might consider starting, or continuing, with Sansom's later 3-volume narrative history: A History of Japan to 1334 (1958), A History of Japan 1334-1615 (1961), and A History of Japan 1615-1867 (1963).Sansom's stated reason for not continuing his history beyond 1867 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 readers interested in later events, The Making of Modern Japan (2000; 2002), 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.

With some skimming, a very good introduction.
While interested in culture, I have come to realize I am not very interested in cultural history.For one thing, it is difficult to convey a history of art or architecture or literature to a reader unless the reader is already conversant with historical examples of all of these.It is also true, for me at least, that a discussion of religious and philosophical ideas from a modern perspective, with reference to historical changes, is more enlightening than an attempt at a chronological history.On the other hand, cultural histories, such as Sansom's canprovide political histories of just the right amount of detail, and this book does; and Sansom is generally able to convey the flavor of a Japanese cultural epoch.The book lacks a proper emphasis on economic and technical history. Possibly, this is due to gaps in the historical record, at least at the time this book was written (1931), since Sansom does pay attention toeconomics in the late stages of this book. The book does successfully stressmorality and character.A Short Cultural History ends just before the Restoration in mid-19th century.The book's style is pleasantly informal, more in the style of an essayist than an academic.And despite the reservations I have expressed, I found that with a certain amount of skimming, it provides a very good introduction, one that encourages more reading.I give it 5 stars because of the challenge of writing a book such as this.

A Good Primer on Japanese Culture
Sansom's book has been around for a long, long time, and it has been an introduction to the subject for several generations of interested readers and budding Japanese scholars.

As a book for beginners on Japan it is an excellent start.If you already know something about the subject, you will probably find that it is long on history and short on culture.The author goes out of his way to keep the political context in the forefront and always maintains the chronological order of his story, even when the development of some cultural features (e.g., Japanese Buddhism) may not be well-served by that approach.Most of the major features we associate with Japanese culture are mentioned.Too many of them are only mentioned in passing, and could have merited more in-depth treatment.

Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to denigrate the book too much; when it appeared, most western readers knew little enough on the subject, and most of what they could obtain was either fanciful, biased or just plain unreadable.The tide has turned, and there is so much material available on Japanese culture nowadays that it's hard for the beginner to figure out where to start.If he or she starts with this book, they could do far worse.

A great reference tool on Japan
I purchased this book at great cost but it has been worthwhile. It provides a concise overview of Japanese culture. It is the only book I have found to be so informative without the "fluff" of other books. I don't know about this one but the one I purchased is of fantastic high quality paper that makes such a small book rather heavy. A great book for anybodies reference library. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

A one of a kind book...
This book is not for the adrenaline crazed person, who just came of a movie theater hoping to become a ninja over the weekend. This is a serious book with an interesting research in the ninja and ninjutsu history. I have two kinds of books. Ones I read, and pass along (or throw away). Other I keep as reference. This one, I will keep for a long, long time.

Reader beware, it has a very heavy bujinkan slant to it, and it does not apologies for it. Actually, it is very opened about it. If this is ok with you, you'll love this book. If you have an anti-bujinkan feeling, The first section of the book is still valuable to you. But you may find the second part boring.

My personal view on this? Even if you don't like the Bujinkan, this gives a good view in the hearth of what the Bujinkan was meant to be and why. An excellent study book, a must for any serious student of the art.

Insightful
This book was thoroughly researched. The first few chapters are dense with names, dates, and obscure but documented details. It is a little dry at the start, but is well worth the read. Dr. Zhougarhi offers some very keen philosophical insights on the mind and heart of the ninja. I believe this work represents his doctoral dissertation. If you are involved in the art, you may find it a fascinating read.

Good History Book of Bu Jutsu
A good book about the history of Shinobi Ryu Ha. Also, I found interesting information about other Bu Jutsu & Budo schools.

Great reference
This is a great book.It tells facts even though some people might not want to hear them.
It helps explain the changes from the original martial (facing death) arts to the modern versions.So if you want to get a more in depth understanding of martial arts and especially Ninjutsu it is a must study.
Kacem is an exquisite teacher and his understanding both theoretical and practical is something to see and try in order to believe.
Thanks Kacem.

Head and shoulders above the rest
This book has been in my cart for quite a while.

It is one of the most researched books on the ninja I have come across. The end notes take up almost a quarter of the book. Indeed, this work comes across as a dissertation. Dr. Zoughari demonstrates the depth of his scholarship.

The first four chapters are outstanding. He compares the histories of several arts in Japan, into the present day.He addresses some common misconceptions -
that ninjutsu came from foreigners, that it was solely the practice of the Iga and Koga regions, that it was primarily occupied with assassinations, etc. There is discussion of spiritual matters, yamabushi, warrior monks, weaponry, dress, and the ultimate fate of the ninja clans.

Dr. Zoughari can speak and read the language, which sets him apart from the author of another frequently read book on the subject. He had access to some privately owned scrolls which have not been touched upon previously, to my knowledge.

Now for the down side. The last two chapters are in-depth pieces on Takamatsu Toshitsugu and his student, Hatsumi Masaaki. There is some new light shed on Takamatsu's life. I feel, though, that these two chapters are the weakest. There isn't too much material that hasn't been covered elsewhere. The real flaw, in my humble opinion, is that Dr. Zoughari begins speculating on what may have happened.

The endnotes start to get further and further apart, and the reader drifts away from a solid foundation into the void. I understand that that author was probably given unprecedented access to Dr. Hatsumi's papers, and that Dr. Hatsumi maintains some continuity with the old traditions. Certainly this work does not follow the path of Stephen Hayes in that regard, and Dr. Zoughari deserves kudos for that. But I feel that he has compromised an otherwise profound work with supposition. For this reason I gave it four stars instead of five.

Otherwise I recommend this book to serious students. I urge you to compare it to other books on this subject, especially those of Anthony Cummins ( a critic of Dr. Zoughari's on Youtube ).
... Read more

Product Description
In pre-modern Japan, wolves were worshipped as sacred; with the spread of rabies in the 18th century, they became feared and hunted; by 1905 wolves had disappeared from the country. In this intriguing book, Brett Walker examines how and why wolves became extinct in Japan, and the changing attitudes toward nature that are implied. Brett L. Walker is associate professor of history at Montana State University and the author of "The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion", 1590-1800. ... Read more