One of the shelves I keep next to the desk is my quick-reference library for all things Japanese -- which is proving itself more and more useful over time, especially with the research I've been doing for the hero story and whatnot. Here's a quick rundown of some of the most immediately useful books:
Everyday Life in Traditional Japan, Charles Dunn: This is the best quick-and-dirty, all-in-one reference to the ways of life in Japan before the modern era (essentially, everything from the civil wars to about the before the Meiji years). It helps you answer quick questions, like what the months of the rice-planting season were or how many meals people date in the course of a day. The emphasis here is on factual information and not history as such, with each chapter handling a different sector of life ("The Samurai", "The Farmers", "The Merchants", etc.). This was probably one of the first books I bought for my own research on Japan and I've worn out two copies. Start your crash course here.
Japan: A Short Cultural History, G.B. Sansom: Sansom's overview of Japanese history eschews a names-and-dates approach and goes instead for looking at the evolution of Japan through its cultural expressions. It's a hugely absorbing read, one of the best ways to get a flavor for the sweep of the country's history without having to plow through a timeline.
A History of Japan [3 vols.], G.B. Sansom: If you want an even more detailed approach to Japan's history, this three-volume set from Tuttle (in paperback with a handy slipcase) is the really scrutinous version. Great for zooming in on a particular detail you might be curious about after you've already had the thirty-thousand foot view. The three volumes are also available individually.
The World Turned Upside Down, Pierre Souyri: Another very good study of medieval Japanese society that runs up to the Sengoku period. Shorter than Short Cultural History, but with a flavor of its own.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan has proved really useful for quick lookups and other "hasty facts" work. It could really use an updating, though (it's been over 10 years since it was published).
One set I don't have, but would eventually like to pick up is the six-volume Cambridge History of Japan, which is probably the most ambitious and fully-realized work of its kind. And deadly expensive to boot, but that's what a savings account is for.
This obviously isn't an exhaustive list, but these are the books I've gotten more out of than most any other, at least so far. I'll post more lists on specific topics as time goes by.
Heya Serdar,
Y'know, I've always wondered what the world's fascination, or rather infatuation with Japan was.
I've certainly got my own reasons (though the romance dims as I become more realistically acquainted with its culture), and living in Hong Kong I see much Nihonophilia for what fashion and technology and trends trickle our way.
Yet... your passion for what comes from those strange and distant shores seems to reach far beyond the contemporary landscape, and indeed your heart seems trained to the past. ITS past.
Seen from afar, your relationship to that country appears either uncommonly intimate or, as I have noticed in myself, romantic as only it could be to a foreigner.
Forgive me if you've already answered this before.
Andy
You ask some really good questions here.
I've thought about the reasons in back of my fascination with Japan, and one of the things I wanted to confront was the fact that Japan is a place, and not an ideal. I wanted to satisfy my curiosity about it in a way that was fair -- in other words, to see it for what it was and not whitewash it or excuse things that were clearly negative. If there was a romanticism about my curiosity, I wanted to be able to see that for what it was, too, and not simply allow it to be something that was an unexamined prejudice. So it's an ongoing thing, not just me adding to my knowledge or appreciation of it but also looking at my own curiosity and asking what it means, etc.
It's something I'm always interested in talking about with others, actually.
Hey man, I'm most of the way with you on all that.
If there's a place in the world that's neither hidden atop some forbidding mountaintop nor entirely unlike the romantic character that so many foreigners gaze wistfully at, it's probably Japan.
Not too long ago I strolled through the sublimely silent garden temples around Kyoto and left with some powerful impressions of the Japanese (especially in contrast to the Chinese heritage in my own upbringing). Yet, I wasn't sure if I was a visitor who'd happened happily upon the right epiphanies, or simply the ethnically anchor-less foreigner that I am, seeking a similarly carved culture to fill the void that I have.
In a way, I find I'm drawn to the Japanese the way some Americans are drawn to Canadians, or some Canadians to the Dutch; in opposition to what in their own culture they find alienating or disappointing, and to where enough is familiar to seem a plausible jump to that greener-looking grass... even if that jump is only a dream and you know it.