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smelley_cat's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A great read for an overview of the history of Japan from early years to the 20th century. The book covers a wide range of topics during Japans various eras while not going into too much detail, however some lack of context can cause some confusion at times.
The timeline of events is well written and eras are divided into subsections of various topics within that era. While this breakdown makes sense (avoiding going off on tangents), it can confuse sometimes due to time jumps.
Overall, highly recommend as a great starting point for anyone wishing to discover Japans fascinating history.
The timeline of events is well written and eras are divided into subsections of various topics within that era. While this breakdown makes sense (avoiding going off on tangents), it can confuse sometimes due to time jumps.
Overall, highly recommend as a great starting point for anyone wishing to discover Japans fascinating history.
rosaok's review against another edition
pretty much exactly what i wanted from a book with this title, but i did take issue with a few things particularly early on. it claims quite boldly that japanese is related to the polynesian and altaic languages, which in the case of the former is not well supported and in the latter case is laughably untrue. it uses an outdated, unscientific and racist term to describe some of the early peoples who may have settled the archipelago. and the most egregious to me was referring to the japanese colonial rule of formosa as "fairly enlightened" - maybe relative to the absolutely horrific treatment of everybody else they colonised, but that's not justification enough to make that claim! especially disappointing given how well hane handles the occupation of korea and japan's actions in the second world war. definitely would like to read more about parts of japanese history that get less attention here, but that's what i was hoping for - a quick introduction that could serve as a jumping off point for wider reading
soj500's review against another edition
3.0
Great content but an odd format which made keeping track of timelines difficult.
wieteska1998's review against another edition
3.0
The book is ok, goes quite in to detail with modernisation of Japan.
runawaykid's review against another edition
4.0
A short accessible history of Japan from the early Jomon years to the post war period. I like how it touches on the socioeconomic conditions of each period (pretty dire for peasants most of the time, though women did have a more equal standing before Confucian values were imported from China), as well as the significant literary and cultural developments. Best read as a primer to Japan, before moving on to other original texts.
latika_ra's review against another edition
3.0
Whilst not the most gripping of historical reads, Japan: A Short History provides a detailed overview of Japanese history up to the mid 1990s. At times, I found this book surprisingly refreshing, especially as Mikiso Hane clearly put great time and effort in highlighting those who are far too often written out of history - women, agricultural workers, the urban poor, and immigrants. This book doesn't really try and go too deep under the surface with its historical analysis and the English translation at times is clunky and unclear. Nonetheless, I'd recommend this book for anyone who wants a basic history of Japan with no exoticising and very little exclusion.