Japan: Tradition and Transformation

by Edwin O. Reischauer, Albert M. Craig

One of two texts which introduce East Asian history, both have been rewritten to take account of the changes in China since Mao's death, of Japan's economic success, and of the emergence of Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore as important political and economic powers. They aim to combine authoritative scholarship with comprehensive coverage and a succinct, readable style and are aimed at undergraduate students and the general reader. Japan is a land of modest geographic size, but it is one of the larger countries of the world by population and today is the world's economic powerhouse. Though in culture it is a daughter of ancient China, Japan has developed one of the most distinctive cultures in the world. This makes Japan a subject of great interest, but the unique course of Japanese history has made it of even greater significance. Despite its East Asian cultural origins, Japan evolved along a very different course to its neighbours; subsequently it became the only non-Western land to respond successfully to the challenge of superior Western technology in the nineteenth century and today it has become a leading nation of the so-called First World. As the only non-Western member of the this grouping of nations, Japan stands in a very special relationship to the other industrialised lands. Its success in negotiating this vast change and the great economic power this has produced are matters of importance to both groups of nations. Even more significant is the fact that Japan, in industriualising and in "modernising" its institutions, has preserved a sharp self-identity and a considerable part of its traditional, pre-modern culture, despite the tidal wave of Western influences that has inundated it in modern times. These survivals from its past civilization give Japan an unusual cultural richness and seem to contribute special strengths as well as difficulties to its handling of the problems of modern urban society. This revised edition gives special attention to Japa

Genres: Japan, History, Nonfiction, Japanese Literature

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1978

About the author

Edwin Oldfather Reischauer was an American diplomat, educator, and professor at Harvard University. Born in Tokyo to American educational missionaries, he became a leading scholar of the history and culture of Japan and East Asia. Together with George M. McCune, a scholar of Korea, in 1939 he developed the McCune–Reischauer romanization of the Korean language.

Reischauer became involved in helping create US policy toward East Asia during and after World War II. President John F. Kennedy appointed Reischauer as the United States Ambassador to Japan, where he served from 1961 to 1966. Reischauer founded the Japan Institute at Harvard University in 1973 and was its founding director. It was later named in honor of him.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as textbooks go, this is probably the best on Japanese history that I've ever read. It's to the point, informative, even-handed, short--only around 335 pages--and written in an engaging style that rarely bores me. This makes sense considering it was written by the great Edwin Reischauer of Harvard University. Definitely recommended for those interested in Japanese history but not yet ready or willing to tackle books like The Making of Modern Japan (another excellent history but mostly focused on Japan after 1600).

The only downside is the book is a bit outdated (it was published in 1989). A lot of things have changed since then, and it would be interesting to see what Reischauer would say about post-Showa Japan. But as a survey of Japanese history from ancient times to the mid-20th century, this book is still extremely useful.

And no, the book does not ignore the Rape of Nanking and other horrible things the Japanese did during WWII. Nanking for one is referenced on page 256: "Nanking was captured in December, and the willingness of army commanders to see this former center of anti-Japanese agitation punished led to days of wanton slaughter."

[Josef Komensky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nadherne napsana kniha o dejinach Japonska zeme vychazejiciho slunce. Ikdyz kniha konci nekdy v 90. Tych letech je velice detailne napsana a dava tak ctenari jasny obraz rozvoje Japonskeho cisarstvi a jeho intervalu otevirani se a pak zase uzavirani se svetu.

Co me nejvice zaujmulo byl velice intenzivni obchodni vztah s Nizozozemim, se kterym Japonske cisarstvi nejenom cile obchodovalo ( Nizozemsti kupci dosahli urcitou dobu monopolniho postaveni v obchodu s Japonskem ) nybrz od nehoz si nechavalo Japonsko tisknout a prekladat veskerou technickou a vedeckou literaturu cimz padem existuji dodnes foneticky znejici holandska slova v Japonstine.

Napriklad Stastne a vesele vanoce
Pritty Kirismasu :-))

[Noctua · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was used by one of my family members in their history class. I flipped through it out of curiosity, even though I never liked East Asian history books that were written for Westerners by Westerners. With that out of the way, I'll review this book from the POV of a history enthusiast. In short, the title of this book is hugely misleading - it is NOT a comprehensive history book on Japan, since its focus is on the early-modern period of Japan. Only 1/5 of the book (about 70 out of 335 pages) is dedicated to the history before the 16th century, which is very strange considering that there is a whole millennium of history between the Asuka period and the Edo period. The book should be more accurately named "History of early-modern Japan" or "Japan under globalisation".

[Dan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good book - almost. The writing is good, informative, and succinct. But the book entirely ignores the rape of nanking and overly paints Japan in too nice of a view. I would say this is a dangerous book because of how generous it is, but it's unforgivable that they ignored such an event.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book saved my life.