Marius B. Jansen (1922–2000)

Marius B Jansen's The Making of Modern Japan is a thoroughly researched but approachable tome that debunks a few Western myths about Japan's relationship with the wider world under the Tokugawa regime, and provides a good mix of economic, political and social history. A lot of work has gone into creating such an accessible piece of work, including extensive references to the existing canon of academic literature. As someone with largely received wisdom on the history of Japan, garnered from the media and website potted histories of places we've visited, I found the book eye opening and exciting. I was most engaged with that earlier history than with the chronology from Meiji onwards, but there was plenty to keep me engaged in the 20th century story. The wealth of detail went a long way to making sense of my snippets of knowledge.… (más)

A very complete, very detailed and finely researched history of Sakamoto Ryoma, and more generally, of the importance of Tosa han and its men in the Meiji Restoration. Marius Jansen's writing is very clear and logical, easy to read even when a great deal of details are given.
I read this book while watching immensely popular "Ryoumaden" historical drama produced by Japanese national television (the NHK), a romanticized account of Sakamoto Ryoma's life. The book had a lot of useful information to complete or correct the picture.… (más)

I am very far from being an expert in Japanese history, so I can't truly evaluate the accuracy or the lines of argument in the text. That said, for a book which isn't overly large, it seems to try its best to cover the broad sweep of Japanese history in as much depth and with as much complexity as it can. It's very nicely and appropriately illustrated, and the maps are especially nice--too often, maps accompanying historical works are of such low quality that they hinder rather than help comprehension.… (más)