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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)