I've recently started reading books about Japan in an effort to gain additional insight from a foreign point of view (plus, my Japanese is not good enough to slice through non-fiction and political/societal commentary at the moment) and I was wondering if anyone had any book recommendations?

I've finished reading Tokyo Vice:
http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Vice-America...949&sr=8-1

It was a pretty fun book to read through. A little of it was self-patronizing, but I really did like the candidness. I also enjoyed how the author explained a lot of how the business works and a few of the cultural differences in working, though it was a bit depressing on how tightly information is controlled and the way big organizations control the world so easily.

I then started reading Shutting Out the Sun:
http://www.amazon.com/Shutting-Out-Sun-G...d_sim_b_10

I liked the chapters about the hikikomori, though I'm not sure I buy their arguments on society's ills and once they started talking about Korea a lot of doubt began to set in. In particular one passage points out how Korean citizens donated a lot of their own money to escaped their banking crisis and how Japan would never do something like that because they distrust people... but they did when the tsunami hit, didn't they? Or how Korea rallied around their soccer team in the world cup when Japan didn't, but last year Japan rallied around the Nadeshiko Japan so I'm not sure about the author's evidence or proof.

Anyway, are there any other good books that people can recommend?

last year i read three books that were fairly interesting:

'the inland sea' by donald richie - a travelogue, very well written, although some ruminations(like the passage where he explains how japanese don't have subconscious) are nonsensical and reveal when the book was written(mid 60's). his 'a tractate on japanese aesthetics' is also good, if a bit lapidary
http://www.amazon.com/Inland-Sea-Donald-...377&sr=1-1

'otaku - japan's database animals' - i'm not into otaku stuff, so the most interesting part for me was the introduction, which serves as a short summary of 20th century japanese philosophy. still, it's worth a read
http://www.amazon.com/Otaku-Database-Ani...251&sr=1-1

'a man with no talents' - this is very good, diary of a guy who is so devoid of social skills that he isn't able to keep a job, and decides to work as a day-laborer and minimize his interactions with other workers. won an award when he sent his ramblings to a publisher on a whim
http://www.amazon.com/Man-No-Talents-Mem...295&sr=1-1

I remember really liking The Empty Mirror, which is the memoirs of a Dutch man who became a monk in a Zen Monastery in Japan in the 1960s (or late 1950s?). It kind of works as an introduction to Zen Buddhism, but it's a really funny and interesting book. Mostly because he includes things such as monk drama, people breaking the rules, and his own struggles with being a foreigner who can't sit or speak Japanese very well. You'll also learn a lot about koan.
http://www.amazon.com/Empty-Mirror-Exper...700&sr=8-1

Yakuza Moon http://www.amazon.com/Yakuza-Moon-Memoir...500&sr=8-1
Understanding Japanese communication
and
Yukio Mishima's books

I do feel a bit guilty about reading Japanese works that were translated into English because I feel like I'm gonna be missing something. I read the entirety of 1Q84 and thought it was wonderful, but I couldn't help but wonder how many things were lost in translation...

(Reading 1Q84 took me weeks in English. Reading it in Japanese might take me several years at that rate.)

I love Rising Sun by Michael Crichton, though it is quite old.

Just copying results from a search:

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6929
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=4792

100 Books for Understanding Contemporary Japan
http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/06/03/100...ary-japan/


I would recommend:

Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan by Alex Kerr
Permalink: http://amzn.com/0809039435

HonyakuJoshua Wrote:I love Rising Sun by Michael Crichton, though it is quite old.

Don't expect too much realism from that one. You can also watch the movie.

I had the good fortune recently to get a copy of "Japan : An Illustrated Encyclopedia". My mom's work had a copy and she knew I'm interested in things to do with Japan, so she borrowed it temporarily so I could look through it. Then she got laid off. (She has since found a better job, no worries) This is like a ~$400 dollar book.

Morally, it's a little ambiguous, but needless to say I managed to rationalize it away pretty quickly. It was donated to them years ago, and it would just be sitting on a shelf in their office until it (most likely) would eventually be thrown away. I've been putting it to good use.

Japan: A Reinterpretation (http://amzn.com/0679745114) is kind of like Shutting Out the Sun, though a bit less negative, and has more emphasis on history/literature if I remember correctly. I'd recommend it if you liked Shutting Out the Sun, though keep in mind that the authors of both books didn't speak Japanese. I also second Dogs & Demons, although it's kind of depressing.

I finished reading Dogs & Demons. Wow, you guys are right, it IS depressing. There's definitely a bias towards old Japan (and I find it ironic that there's a bashing of manga, as I feel like the manga/doujin world is one of their last bastions of creativity), but

Unfortunately it's also 12 years old. I wish there was something newer. If anyone knows any books of this kind in Japanese, I'm also willing to read those... though I'm quite lazy and prefer to just stack it all in the Kindle.

I also stopped reading Shutting out the Sun, as the conclusions were really unbelievable and limited by the author's lack of Japanese.

That Otaku book and Tokyo Underworld are next on my reading list.