A Brief History of Japan / Johnathan Clements

RATINGS

Overall: 3.5 / 5 stars

Text Level: Medium

Entertainment: Medium

Self-Help: Low

Genres:

Page Count: 304

Is this book right for my inmate and me?

History fans of Asian nations will enjoy this book.

Buy on: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Review By: Galatic Geek (Inmate)

Never visit any country in the Asian belt without first knowing its history and culture. We are not as much alike as you would hope.

I have a pretty good historical reading of Japanese history so I knew what I was getting went into when I picked up this book. I already knew this was a brief history, and I thought it laced some reasons why Japanese people throughout the ages felt the way they had about their land of superstitions and mixed followings. Bushido was covered well, as also the mixed bag of Shinto beliefs. I was glad the author covered giri as it is the belief that holds the Japanese people together - far beyond the corrupt Western culture. The fact that kenkyo is still the guiding spirit of Japanese success, was also covered within this book's pages. If you don't understand what kenkyo is, then you will just need to read this book because we Americans have no concept of description for this Japanese phenomenon. This book is a must for anyone who has yet to travel to Japan for the first time. It gives you just enough information to visit and enjoy why there are so many shrines and temples and their special meanings throughout history. Japan is truly a beautiful country but needs to be studied first and not just trusted on - especially understanding her people first. Westerners could easily do things that would upset or insult their Asian culture. A short version of this book of adequate history is a spectacular for the land of the rising sun, and why it is called such.