I'd like to learn something about Japanese history, in Japanese. Can anybody recommend a book? I'm upper-intermediate-ish, but my reading comprehension is pretty good. Are there any standard / really well known books, ala "A people's history of the US" or something like that?

I've asked native-speaker friends about this, but I can never get a straight answer out of anybody. It's incredibly frustrating. I think the assumption is that I won't be able to understand the books they read. That's probably true right now, but I have this trick I call "learning" that allows me to get better at things. I should break it out at a party sometime.

Thanks! よろしく！

Kodansha puts out a series of bilingual books, one of which covers Japanese history.

http://benippon.com/en/kodansha-bilingua...se-history

http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/...1036838685

If you want something to watch as well as to read, the NHK educational programmes for schools on Japanese history are online.

I think the reason you dont get an answer is because most people dont read history books. Or if they do they're more specialized just like there are books about the Gulf War, Tyrants, etc.
I mean, people only know A Peoples History of the US, because of Good Will Hunting. So its not a big assumption to say that you're not getting answers because people are just drawing a blank. They could recommend their high school history book, you know?


I bought a bunch of history books from BookOff, most have titles like 日本史、第二次世界大戦,国家の罠、etc

I feel they're mostly the same, and all are equally hard. Not in the reading sense, but simply no context. Maybe you know a lot more about japanese history than me, but I knew squat. So even when I read a lot, I dont get much out of it.

I just read the english wiki entries to most things later.

I don't know about books, but if you are in Japan, most public libraries I have been to had video collections on Japanese history and culture. I check out two or three a week.