Books News

New historical non-fiction

By Jessica Schneider May 21, 2009, 14:21 GMT

L to R (Western Style). Painstakingly researched by one of Japan’s preeminent men of letters, The Century of the Black Ships is a landmark study of a literary tradition that will fascinate students of Japanese society and culture alike. For nearly a century, Japanese writers gave voice to the anxieties of a nation headed inexorably towards war. Not just any war, but one that would eventually take place with the ...more

“The Century of Black Ships: Chronicles of War between Japan and America” is the most recent title by Naoki Inose. Available now in paperback, the product description notes:

“Painstakingly researched by one of Japan’s preeminent men of letters, The Century of the Black Ships is a landmark study of a literary tradition that will fascinate students of Japanese society and culture alike.

For nearly a century, Japanese writers gave voice to the anxieties of a nation headed inexorably towards war. Not just any war, but one that would eventually take place with the United States, culminating with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Beginning with US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s first visit to Japan in 1853, Japanese novelists and military analysts (along with a few select foreign counterparts, in translation) produced a dizzying combination of prophetic visions of this coming conflict, creating a massive body of popular works through which Japan would debate its own passage, however violently, into the modern, globalized era.”

Part of the press release also mentions: “Japanese novelists and military analysts, along with select foreign counterparts, wrote extensively of the coming conflict, many of these opinions have rarely been read outside Japan until now.”

More information can be found on Amazon. VIZ Media, 450 pages.