Over the past month and a half while I've been gone outside of Hawaii, I had the chance to dig into some deep reading about Japanese history again. I am already somewhat of a history buff when it comes to Japanese history, but after reading these books even more new things came to light.
I highly recommend all three of these books for anyone who's even just a little bit interested in the history and culture of Japan.
I recommend if you read all three to read in the order I have listed them below. This will help you to understand things more as you read each book.
The Japanese Experience: A Short History of Japan
The Code of the Samurai
Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld