Japan: Its History and Culture

I think this book provides a good HIGH LEVEL overview of Japanese history and culture. Because the book clocks in at just shy of 300 pages, everything covered is covered briefly but informatively. Japan is complex, and this book covers content a mile wide, but only an inch deep from the surface. It doesn't read like a textbook, and was extremely interesting from my perspective. I also appreciated that it includes a section for “modern” Japan, something that is lacking in other books.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a BRIEF OVERVIEW of Japan's extremely complex history and culture, and to use it as a stepping stone to more comprehensive books on narrower subjects.