Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s

I am leaving for a tour of Japan in a few weeks. This was a trip originally planned for April, 2011 which was cancelled due to the earthquake on March 11, 2011. Over the past few years, I have read many books on Japan's art, gardens, history, and culture to prepare me for my tour. When another book I ordered was not available, Amazon recommended this book. I found it fascinating and read it in two days. It gave me a significantly better understanding of current economic, sociological, and political issues in Japan, including a detailed account of the nuclear disaster of three years ago. I would recommend this book highly.

Good quality and timely manner arrived

I used it for summer school and it was in nice print. It had its good use.

This is a most informative book if you are planning to go to Japan OR if you are interested in Japanese society.It is dull reading, and the author repeats much of the information. One can dip in and out of the book. That is perhaps less tiresome than trying to read the entire book.

This seems like a book which would cover a lot of current Japanese society, and while it does somewhat, I felt the entire book was too heavy on the current political framework of the country. Politics are important in shaping a society, but this book really spends a bit too much time on the current model including current political parties in power and recent political moves and laws.This would be beneficial to someone really studying Japan as part of a major course of study, or someone interested in international law and politics, but for someone interested in learning a bit more about Japan and the current culture, I recommend Japan: From Samurai to Sony. It spends a bit of time on history, but with the end result of shaping the modern Japanese society very well.

the book is in great condition!