For history, I chose Henshall's brief book A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower. I needed a book with a good balance between detail and brevity, and Henshall seemed to fit the bill! After finishing, I had a good understanding of Japan (probably as good as any Japanese major remembers a few years out of school, heh).
Along with this nice balance, I also came away with a decent understanding of why the Japanese act as they do. Every stage in the development of Japan seemed to add something new to their culture, eventually creating a very intriguing amalgamation of old and new--something many people always notice in Japan. One of the reasons the Japanese are so good at blending the ancient with the modern is that they have been doing this since the very first settlers of Japan during the Jomon Period.
Unfortunately, Henshall's book isn't perfect. It squashes most of Ancient Japan into a very small section (although to be fair, not much is known about these people). And although I praised it for its relative brevity, Henshall is very indiscriminate when it comes to this. Many important aspects of Japanese history is equally cut short.
Japan began its history with the colonization by the Jomon people in around 14,000 BC. Interestingly, the Jomon people are very different than modern Japanese, being "relatively short in stature... [with] a stocky muscular appearance. They had heavy skeletons, flattened leg bones, and wide, square faces" (page 7). The Jomon were largely replaced over time by new waves of colonizers, but northern Honshu (Japan's main island) remained Jomon in both ethnicity and primitive technology until the eighth century. Today, the Ainu are the most similar to this ancient group. Despite Japan's supposed (and often misplaced) reverence for their past, the Ainu have been subject to considerable discrimination. Henshall did mention one very interesting fact: at one point, the Jomon began to evolve a bony protective layer for their ears to aid in diving for coastal fish. Not really relevant to anything, but cool nonetheless!
Henshall praises Japan for their "tactic of where possible incorporating a powerful threat rather than directly confronting it, and of drawing on a potential opponent's strengths rather than trying simply to destroy them" (page 12). He also says "Behaviour is accepted or rejected depending on the situation, not according to any obvious set of universal principles" (page 3). Both of these traits can clearly be seen in today's modern society, having been passed down from a remarkable number of generations.
If he had to label the Japanese with a single word, it would probably be 'pragmatic.' This applies both to their moral compass--to many Japanese, he asserts, the world is only shades of gray--and to religion.
Many foreigners and Japanese majors, Henshall included, remarks on Japan's philosophy of working for the benefit of the group. They trace this back to Japan's small amount of arable land; if small villages didn't work together, they would starve. Personally, I don't believe this. Given that Japan wasn't fully colonized until nearly 1,000 A.D., and Hokkaido even later, Japan still had enough land to go around even if dissenters didn't end up with the best farming pastures. I think a more likely reason is their history itself. Japan has been marked by a cyclical rule between imperial and military masters. Their laws have constantly changed, taking some freedoms away while granting others. When collective punishment was enacted, entire villages found themselves liable for the mistakes of single people, making them very wary of strangers or others who didn't fit in. For a long time, a class freeze was also in place, which meant peasants were always peasants (and samurais always samurais, and so on). This further enforced little communication and a certain wariness of other classes.
Henshall goes on to describe Japan's modern wars before WWII, their reasoning for joining the Axis Powers in WWII, and the occupation of Japan after their defeat. This certainly helped draw a valid picture of Japan for me since the majority of Western history books usually make Japan out to be no better than the Nazi Germans. Fortunately, I'm very glad to have seen the war from their point of view. Ever since Japan met with the West, they were often discriminated against (despite their cultural and technological advancements after contact). Even during the formation of the League of Nations, Japan actually fought for racial equality, eventually losing out due to Australia's then current push to displace their aboriginal population. Had Japan been given more recognition for its undeniably impressive feats, there's a good chance they never would have joined the Axis Powers. Although Japan's contradictory abuse of other East Asians during this time (pre-WWII) surely wouldn't have helped their position in the eyes of Westerners.
A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower was definitely a fantastic read for a beginner of Japanese history. Henshall makes it easy to connect Japan's extensive past to its current modern culture, giving bullet points at the end of each chapter to highlight their strengths during that specific period. Below, I'll add a few more quotes I found enjoyable, and once again recommend this book to anyone who doesn't have much knowledge in Japanese history!
"The soaring phoenix or risen sun have become the rudderless ship. It is indeed as though the helm of the ship of state has become inoperative. Some have said this is because it has run out of models." (Having modeled itself on China in its early periods and the West, especially the Britain and the U.S., during the 19th and 20th centuries).
"... in a sense Japan helps make its own luck, capitalising on good fortune and overcoming adversity. In general its pattern of response to circumstance has been based on values and practices rooted in history."
"... there has been a readiness to try out different things, mixing old and new, native and foreign, till the best mix is achieved. Moreover, the Japanese seem to have a great ability to `Japanise' the new and foreign to make them more easily blended with tradition and more acceptable."
"Learning from others is one of Japan's great strengths. At a national level this is particularly so when those others seem to have something stronger or better than Japan does."
"Education as a means of achieving success is a reflection of a general wish to achieve. This dates particularly from the Meiji period, when successism that combined both individual and national interests was greatly encouraged. However, an achievement-orientation is also seen earlier, in, for example, the dynamics of Tokugawa merchants, the material drive of the Tokugawa peasant, or earlier still in the often ruthless ambitions of sundry medieval warlords. Amongst the nation's leaders, it is seen as early as the Yamato period."
"Japan's main strengths, then, may be summarised as:
- pragmatism-especially flexibility and an ability to compromise and adapt;
- a respect for the power of learning, particularly learning the strengths of others;
- a respect for ambition and achievement, including hard work;
- a strong sense of nationalism;
- an appreciation of the strength of the group;
- an awareness of the importance of having limits on individual rights and freedoms;
- an acceptance of authority;
- an acceptance of hierarchy and inequality among individuals."
"Strengths are often two-edged swords, and at the same time potential weaknesses. Proper balance and fine-tuning are important. For example, national pride can very easily become nationalistic arrogance and chauvinism. Achievement-orientation can become ruthlessness, or a single-mindedness of purpose that can in turn become a narrowness of vision and an inability to know when to stop. Acceptance of authority and of limits on individual rights can lead to totalitarianism. Acceptance of hierarchy can lead to abuse of `inferiors'. A readiness to learn can he abused by indoctrination. Learning from others can become a problem when there seem to he no others left to learn from. Pragmatism can lead to a loss of sense of direction, and in a moral sense to an unhealthy tolerance of corruption. Focus on the group can lead to a lack of responsibility at individual level."
