Modern Japan

With their two swords, top-knot haircut, and legendary code of honor, the samurai were the absolute, unquestioned rulers of the country. That all began to change rapidly when the “black ships” of US Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay in 1853.

In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed clear: Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march.

In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose 63-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 describes 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.

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

Code of the Samurai is a 400-year-old explication of the rules and expectations embodied in Bushido, the Japanese Way of the Warrior. With a bright, conversational narrative by Thomas Cleary, this book is indispensable to corporate executives, students of Asian culture, martial artists, or anyone sincerely interested in Japan and its people.

With intelligence and wit, author Jonathan Clements blends documentary and storytelling styles to connect the past, present, and future of Japan, and in broad yet detailed strokes reveals a country of paradoxes: a modern nation steeped in ancient traditions; a democracy with an emperor as head of state; a famously safe society built on 108 volcanoes resting on the world's most active earthquake zone; a fast-paced urban and technologically advanced country whose land consists predominantly of mountains and forests.

This epic novel by master writer James Clavell, loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and Anglo-Satsuma War that took place in the late 1800s, is a richly researched, panoramic view of Japan’s budding relationship with the Western powers, its sweeping societal changes, and the political upheaval that followed.

LA Times Book Award winner and expert on the past and present Japan, Ian Buruma examines the transformation of a country. Following Japan's history from its opening to the West in 1853 to its hosting of the 1964 Olympics, Buruma focuses on how figures such as Commodore Matthew Perry, Douglas MacArthur, and Emperor Mitsushito helped shape this complex country.

Take a trip to old Japan with William Scott Wilson as he travels the ancient Kiso Road, a legendary route that remains much the same today as it was hundreds of years ago. The Kisoji, which runs through the Kiso Valley in the Japanese Alps, has been in use since at least 701 CE. In the 17th century, it was the route that the daimyo (warlords) used for their biennial trips - along with their samurai and porters - to the new capital of Edo (now Tokyo).

This novel, written in 1949, was Osamu Dazai's last work and was unfinished upon his death. It is set in Tokyo just after the war's end. It tells the story of a handsome editor who wants to leave his mistresses and a black marketeer woman who has a thick voice, a big appetite, and great strength but is also stunningly beautiful. It is a cheerful, humorous, and unprecedented novel, so much so that it is hard to believe that it was written by a novelist who was so depressed that he was contemplating suicide. All the reader can do, however, is to imagine the rest of the novel. Annotations [1] ...

This short story by Edogawa Rampo, published in 1929, is about the life of a former heroic soldier who has lost his limbs, hearing, and speech ability due to war and his former faithful wife who has come to take pleasure in tormenting him. This work was censored by the government in 1939, and The Caterpillar depicts the perverted sexual life of a man who has lost his limbs and becomes mute due to war with his wife. Although this work does not go as far as to be anti-war or to express a dislike of war, it does portray the tragic physical condition of a disabled soldier grotesquely. This is ...

The American occupation of Japan holds a singular and problematic place in the histories both of Japan and of American foreign policy. For the Japanese, the occupation marked the transition from war to peace, from authoritarianism to democracy, and from privation to plenty, making it a passage from one of the darkest chapters in Japanese history to one of the brightest.

The authors devoted five decades to the study of world history and philosophy, culminating in the masterful 11-volume Story of Civilization. In this compact summation of their work, Will and Ariel Durant share the vital and profound lessons of our collective past. Their perspective, gained after a lifetime of thinking and writing about the history of humankind, is an invaluable resource for us today.

This short story by Edogawa Rampo, published in 1950, is a mystery involving a conversation between a man and a woman on a cliff overlooking a mountain stream. The conversation, as the two probe each other's hearts, is rhythmical and full of tension. The woman has the insight to see through the man's lies. Readers will enjoy Edogawa Rampo's unique worldview as they read through to the end in one sitting. They will surely be captivated by the many layers of trickery.

Author of the National Book Award-winning All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy is one of the most provocative American stylists to emerge in the last century. The striking novel Blood Meridian offers an unflinching narrative of the brutality that accompanied the push west on the 1850s Texas frontier.

This book is a famous thriller by Edogawa Rampo, written in 1925. A letter arrives addressed to a female author. It describes the confession of a man who lives in a chair and savors the warmth of the woman who sits in it. The description is creepy and horrifying, yet the story's punchline is excellent. It is a short story that can be finished quickly.

This short story was written by Osamu Dazai in 1939. Five siblings from a wealthy family - the eldest son is 28, the eldest daughter is 26, the second son is 24, the second daughter is 21, and the third son is 18 - create a story in relay format to pass the time. The story of an old mathematician begins to be told. As they all have different personalities and favorite books, the stories they create also show their individuality. The interactions between them are written in an attractive way. You can read it all at once and enjoy the unexpected twist at the end. As the work is written with a...

This book is a crime novel, a bizarre mystery, by Edogawa Rampo, published in 1925. A bizarre club is held in "The Red Chamber," which has a fantastic atmosphere. They are tasteless people who are bored with their lives and seek stimulation. One day, a new member of the club tells the story of the murder he committed. What is the method of the man who says he killed 99 people? What happens after he finishes telling the story? Edogawa Rampo's skillful description leads the reader into a mysterious world. It is both fun and frightening. The reader will read it all in one go to the end and be ...

This book, published in 1943 by Japanese fairy tale writer Nankichi Niimi, tells the story of a little fox who goes to a human town to buy gloves. On a snowy morning, as the little fox returns home after running around outside, the mother fox holds his cold hands and gets the idea to buy him some gloves. The mother fox uses magic to turn one of the little fox's hands into a human child's. She then teaches the little fox to hold his human hand in the shop and ask for gloves. In Japanese folktales, foxes often use magic to trick people. This heartwarming story is short, so you can read it ...