Suggested readings
If you are interested in exploring more about Japan and nurture your passion for Japanese culture, here are some academic readings that we find particularly relevant and helpful.
- Friday, Karl F. (ed.). Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850. Westview Press, 2012.
- Sumie Jones and Watanabe Kenji, eds. An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan's Mega-City, 1750-1850. University of Hawaii Press, 2013. (Available as Kindle book for about £17 and as paperback for about £22).
- Ramon Pacheco Pardo and Victor Cha. Korea: A new history of South and North. Yale University Press, 2024.
- David Pilling. Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival. London: Penguin, 2014.
- Jay Rubin, ed. The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. Penguin, 2018. (Available as Kindle book for about £5 and as paperback for about £11).
Required readings in preparation for your first year
If you are offered a place on our BA course, please come to your first year having completed the following readings. They will be discussed as part of the course named Introduction to East Asian Studies.
- Hansen, V., The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 (Norton) or Ebrey, P., The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge UP.
- Mason and Caiger, History of Japan: revised Edition. Tuttle. 2011
- Kyung Moon Hwang, A History of Korea. Palgrave Macmillan.
To get started with the study of the Japanese language
- ‘Introduction’ of Introduction to Modern Japanese
It provides an overview of the Japanese language and is free for everyone.
- Kana syllabaries:
- Other useful websites: