A Modern History of Japan

Posted on 06 February 2017 by Andrew Gordon

In The Modern History of Japan From Tokugawa Times to the Present, Andrew Gordon paints a richly nuanced and strikingly original portrait of the last two centuries of Japanese history He takes students from the days of the shogunate the feudal overlordship of the Tokugawa family through the modernizing revolution launched by midlevel samurai in the late nineteenth century the adoption of Western hairstyles, clothing, and military organization and the nation s first experiments with mass democracy after World War I Gordon offers the finest synthesis to date of Japan s passage through militarism, World War II, the American occupation, and the subsequent economic rollercoaster But the true ingenuity and value of Gordon s approach lies in his close attention to the non elite layers of society Here students will see the influence of outside ideas, products, and culture on home life, labor unions, political parties, gender relations, and popular entertainment The book examines Japan s struggles to define the meaning of its modernization, from villages and urban neighborhoods, to factory floors and middle managers offices, to the imperial court Most importantly, it illuminates the interconnectedness of Japanese developments with world history, demonstrating how Japan s historical passage represents a variation of a process experienced by many nations and showing how the Japanese narrative forms one part of the interwoven fabric of modern history With a sustained focus on setting modern Japan in a comparative and global context, The Modern History of Japan is ideal for undergraduate courses in modern Japanese history, Japanese politics, Japanese society, or Japanese culture. Read A Modern History of Japan By Andrew Gordon – kino-fada.fr Gordon s history of Japan from the end of the shogun era to the present day is an interesting read I prefer Sansom s volumes for learning about Japanese history prior to the Tokugawa, but this is an excellent follow on to cover the modern period Full of...This was my textbook for a college course entitled Modern Japan, a history class that I took for my Japanese major As textbooks go, this one did a good job of showing multiple sides of the situation at any given time period Gordon would talk for awhile about the prosperity of the Japanese people, but then he would address the groups that weren t so prosperous He conveyed the important message the just because the country as a whole tends to feel a certain way or be in a certain situation, t This was my textbook for a college course entitled Modern Japan, a history class that I took for my Japanese major As textbooks go, this one did a good job of showing multiple sides of the situation at any given time period Gordon would talk for awhile about the prosperity of the Japanese people, but then he would address the groups that weren t so prosperous He conveyed the ...I m afraid I don t know enough about the specifics of Japanese history to discuss the accuracy of this text, but it was an interesting enough introduction to the ins and outs of the social and cultural history of Japan over the course of its various upheavals en route to modernization I suppose I d like to seefrom the history of ideas perspective, namely how ...A Modern History of Japan From Tokugawa Times to the Present, by Andrew Gordon, is an interesting text on Japanese history, politics, economics and culture from the 1600 s to 2000 It shows the evolution of what was once a very divided set of Daimyo lands, under the tutelage of a puppet Emperor and a powerful Shogun ruler Society progressed at times slowly, as in the Tokugawa age of isolationist policies, and at times rapidly, as in the 1850 s as Japan came into increasing contact and confli A Modern History of Japan From Tokugawa Times to the Present, by Andrew Gordon, is an interesting text on Japanese history, politics, economics and culture from the 1600 s to 2000 It shows the evolution of what was once a very divided set of Daimyo lands, under the tutelage of a puppet Emperor and a powerful Shogun ruler Society progressed at times slowly, as in the Tokugawa age of isolationist policies, and at times rapidly, as in the 1850 s as Japan came into increasing contact and conflict with European and American colonialist powers This led inescapably to the rise of the Meiji Imperialists in Japan, and the eventual outcome of WWII Th...When you ask people about their dream vacations, most will say the same old thing like Italy or backpacking through Europe Fuck all that To me, the dream spot is Japan I ve been in awe of the place ever since I was a kid, consuming its anime and video games, and eating its food whenever I could I finally booked a trip in October and, assuming North Korea doesn t blow the place up, am planning on it being a great trip I ve done my homework, scoured my go to spots, learned some very basic When you ask people about their dream vacations, most will say the same old thing like Italy or backpacking through Europe Fuck all that To me, the dream spot is Japan I ve been in awe of the place ever since I was a kid, consuming its anime and video games, and eating its food whenever I could I finally booked a trip in October and, assuming North Korea doesn t blow the place up, am planning on it being a great trip I ve done my homework, scoured my go to spots, learned some very basic conversational Japanese, and of course, tried boning up on Japanese history Looking around the web, there really weren t that many books th...I ll start off by saying that Andrew Gordon s A Modern History of Japan From Tokugawa Times to the Present has successfully satisfied my interest in Japanese history After having been disappointed in the Tuttle publication of A History of Japan due in part to the language and the somewhat outdated feel of information, I started Gordon s historical text in the hopes that it would clear up any confusion that I had Fortunately, it did While some of the aspects of the Tokugawa times and befo I ll start off by saying that Andrew Gordon s A Modern History of Japan From Tokugawa Times to the Present has successfully satisfied my interest in Japanese history After having been disappointed in the Tuttle publication of A History of Japan due in part to the language a...Long, academic, and medium dry, this probably isn t the book for casual interest But it s readable and well researched I d preferthan a passing glance on the arts However, the politics, sociology, and economy of Japan over the past 130 years are well covered.While Gordon s book is titled a modern history of Japan he spendstime on Japan from the 19th century to the present day He skips over the Tokugawa history of Japan.A good summarized resource for those interested in recent Japanese political, economic and cultural history, and I would recommend it if you need a crash course of how Japan got to where it is Each chapter covers a certain era of modern Japan, from the Meiji restoration to the Lost Decades, in a very in depth manner, though the amount of information fire hosed at you may be overwhelming.In fact the sheer amount of information included in this book is both a strength and a weakness, and you will A good summarized resource for those interested in recent Japanese political, economic and cultural history, and I would recommend it if you need a crash course of how Japan got to where it is Each chapter covers a certain era of modern Japan, from the Meiji restoration to the Lost Decades, in a very in depth manner, though the amount of information fire hosed at you may be overwhelming.In fact the sheer amount of information included in this book is both a strength and a weakness, and you will often flip back to previous chapters to remind yourself how you got to the next chapter There are often figures that show up for one paragraph, only to reappear several chapters later, when you ve likely forgotten them Leaders in a few chapters are often compared to leaders in previous chapters, as well, making backtracking a must.Let me be clear this is NOT the kind of book where you could get away with skimming through I d HIGHLY suggest using it as a supplement tospecialized books Fo...This is probably one of the best introductory Japanese history books currently in print and is often used as an undergraduate textbook for courses on Japanese politics Gordon does a nice job tracing Japan s past from just before the start of the Tokugawa era 1600 to the present, even including an update on the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster He does a wonderful job presenting a nuanced picture of history, attempting to address events as they applied to a number of different de This is probably one of the best introductory Japanese history books currently in print and is often used as an undergraduate textbook for courses on Japanese politics Gordon does a nice job tracing Japan s past from just before the start of the Tokugawa era 1600 to the present, even including an update on the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuc...

English
06 February 2017

Andrew Gordon