About the book: 2011 / This book will guide the reader through the pages of Japanese history from the beginning of the 17th century. to the present. The book opens with the brilliant era of the Tokugawa Ieyasu shogunate, which began in 1603 at Fushimi Castle. It ends with the 20th century. This is a story about a nation whose power and rich culture made it famous throughout the world. The rise and fall of the samurai class, the restoration of imperial power in the Meiji era, the flourishing of imperial Japan after the victory over Russia, the country’s plunge into the abyss of a destructive war, the occupation of Japan and its restoration in the post-war period... On the pages of the book we see the daily life of the Japanese, adding up to the overall picture of social history. All facts and events are presented not from the point of view of a Westerner, but through the prism of the worldview of the Japanese themselves.