This authoritative and accessible book charts the history of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present. Conrad Totman conceptualizes the country’s history in terms of four major ages: the age of foragers, dispersed agriculturalists, intensive agriculture, and industrialism. Within this framework, he traces the changing patterns of human-environment relations and examines their interplay with the more familiar realms of political, socio-economic, and cultural history.

The book treats the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries in considerable detail and gives fullest coverage to the twentieth century when this island nation became a major player on the stage of world history. In its survey of this recent history, it explores: diplomatic and domestic political affairs; economic development and change; class, gender, and ethnicity; ideology and political punditry; cultural production in the arts; letters, music, and popular entertainment; and the environmental issues.

For the second edition, an epilogue has been added looking at Japan today and tomorrow, paying particular attention to environmental and diplomatic issues.
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