What are some good books on Japanese history for beginners?

by Nirvana1123

I'm really interested in learning Japanese history, but it's difficult where I'm American. They never really taught it in school so I don't have much of a grasp on it. I know a bit about Sengoku Jidai and the war with Korea, but aside from that not much. So are there any books that give a good general overview of it?

Morricane

For starters, just get yourself an undergrad-level textbook, such as Brett Walker, A Concise History of Japan (2015) or Nancy Stalker, Japan: History and Culture from Classical to Cool (2018).

Single-volume, broad overviews which were written for people without prior knowledge. Then you can dig deeper into whatever periods or topics seemed interesting.

Holy_Shit_HeckHounds

Have you looked at the Booklist/East Asia/Japan? The "General" sections sounds like what you are looking for