Hello! I have gotten into history relatively recently, and have found quite a curiosity for it. I started out with American History, and I want to get into the history of Japan. I have a feeling this may be a niche topic here, but I’ll ask anyway in case other people may know. Do you any of you have a recommendation for a good starting book outlining the general history of Japan? I have looked in the book recommendations in the Subreddit, but the books in there cover certain aspects of Japan’s history, not the whole history. I’m not looking for in-depth details just yet. If no book exists, I’m okay with that.
As u/KippyPowers recommendation is a book which coverage starts around the 16th century, I will offer a few recommendations which cover earlier periods, as a potential complimentary read.
One is Routledge Handbook of Premodern Japanese History, edited by Karl Friday. It is a book which has a collection of essays from various scholars, discussing aspects of pre-modern Japanese history which they are more focused on. It covers a wide range of topics, including: geography, narrative history, social and cultural aspects, economic history, etc. It is also was released rather recently (2017) so it reflects more up-to-date understandings of the topics than more dated survey books.
Another book which would act as a good complimentary read is Souyri's The World Turned Upside Down: Medieval Japanese Society. It is an easily digestible read, which is good for an introduction to pre-modern Japanese history. It offers a narrative history of the different periods, while also going into some social / economic / cultural aspects.
If you are looking for a single book on Japanese history in general, some survey books you might want to check out are History of Japan (Second Edition) by Conrad Totman.
This book covers from the Tokugawa shogunate to the present and is considered a classic: The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen. It’s an excellent general overview of how Japan has become how we know it today, written by an expert in modern Japan Studies. I highly recommend you get it.