Books Read, Currently Reading, and To-Read (2026_1)
I was asked to write a book review for a certain academic journal, so I finished reading Nobutaka Miura and Kazuhiko Yago (eds.), 'Eiichi Shibusawa and France' (Suiseisha, 2025). While some of the individual papers and essays were interesting, the collection felt like a mix of the refined and the rough, the serious and the light. I can imagine the hard work the editors put into this.
Just one word on the content. Regarding the process by which Shibusawa's internationalism ultimately collapsed in the face of rising nationalism and political violence, I felt that a theoretical examination of the validity of the concept of 'national liberal' remains a task for the future.
A book released last year that I am currently reading is The Ministry of Home Affairs Research Group (ed.), 'The Ministry of Home Affairs: The Giant Bureaucracy That Ruled Modern Japan' (Kodansha Gendai Shinsho, 2025). While I think it is a very ambitious attempt, it falls short as a research book and is too stiff as a general or introductory book. There are some clever touches, such as separating the general history section from the thematic section, but I doubt it was the editors' intention to call this the 'definitive edition where you can learn everything!' (as the obi blurb claims). The individual points are interesting, and there is still room for further exploration. I look forward to a more in-depth volume as a collection of papers.
Released at the end of the year, Hideo Okuda's 'Futen wo Waga Te ni' Part 3 is the final installment of a historical epic novel that spans the hundred years of the Showa era. The idea of having the four protagonists be people born in the first year of Showa, which only lasted seven days, is brilliant (the first and second parts focus on their parents, which is also interesting). However, the explanation of the historical background is thin, so the appeal of this book might not be fully conveyed unless one is somewhat familiar with contemporary history.
Once I finish the two books I am currently reading, I plan to read Masaki Wakao's 'The Age of Books: How Reading Opened Up Early Modern Japan' (Iwanami Shoten, 2025) next.