Preparatory Reading - Japanese

Required reading for Japanese Studies

• David Pilling. Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival (Penguin, 2014)  
• Sugimoto, Yoshio. An Introduction to Japanese Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (4th edition), 2015.  
• Kato Shuichi & Don Sanderson. A History of Japanese Literature: From the Manyoshu to Modern Times. (Abridged Edition), Routledge, 1997.  
• Rubin, Jay (ed.). The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. (Penguin, 2018).
• For Japanese language, students are expected to know hiragana and katakana before the start of Michaelmas Term. Information will be sent to students directly.  

Required reading for East Asian History

• Shirokauer, Lurie and Gay. A Brief History of Japanese Civilization. Wadsworth Publishing. 4th edition, 2012.
• Ebrey, P., The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge UP.
• Kyung Moon Hwang, A History of Korea. Palgrave Macmillan.

Further recommended readings

• Friday, Karl F. (ed.). Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850. Westview Press, 2012.
• Shirane, Haruo, Suzuki, Tomi and Lurie, David (eds.) The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
• Shirane, Haruo (ed.), Early modern Japanese literature : An anthology, 1600-1900 (Translations from the Asian classics). New York ; Chichester: Columbia University Press, 2002.
• Shirane, Haruo (ed.), Traditional Japanese literature : An anthology, beginnings to 1600  (Translations from the Asian classics). New York ; Chichester: Columbia University Press, 2007.
• Hendry, Joy. Understanding Japanese Society. London: Routledge (4th edition), 2012.
• Hood, Christopher. Japan. The Basics. London: Routledge, 2014 (https://hoodcp.wordpress.com/research-publications/book-japan-the-basics/).
• Steger, Brigitte and Angelika Koch (eds.). Manga Girl Seeks Herbivore Boy. Studying Japanese Gender at Cambridge. Zurich: Lit, 2013.
• Steger, Brigitte and Angelika Koch (eds). Cool Japanese Men. Studying New Masculinities at Cambridge. Zurich: Lit, 2017.
• Steger, Brigitte, Angelika Koch and Christopher Tso. Beyond Kawaii: Studying Japanese Femininities at Cambridge. Lit., 2020.
• Goossen, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories. (Oxford University Press, 2010)