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A History of Japan

From Stone Age to Superpower

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A History of Japan

By: Kenneth G. Henshall
Narrated by: Stephen Bungay
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About this listen

In a rare combination of comprehensive coverage and sustained critical focus, this book examines Japan's progress through its entire history to its current status as an economic, technological, and cultural superpower. A key factor is a pragmatic determination to succeed. Little-known facts are also brought to light, and the latest findings used.

©2012 Kenneth G. Henshall (P)2021 Upfront Books Anthropology Asia Japan World
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There’s so much history in Japan that any narrative overview is inevitably going to skim over details. While this book does that, I feel it does it rather successfully.

There were sections where I wanted more detail, but overall, the balance between providing detail and advancing a thematic overview is well struck. This is a great introduction for anyone interested in Japan or Japanese history.

The narration, however, is woeful. There seems to be a trend for audiobook publishers to employ neutral north American accented narration, which is often characterised by flat intonation and bizarre pronunciation. This isn’t a criticism of the pronunciation of Japanese words, I am not at all qualified to assess that. The narrator seeks to be unable to pronounce the most basic two or three syllable words, with weird stress points seemingly picked at random. This really distracted and took away from the content of the book. It felt like the narrator was chosen for their ability to say a couple of sentences, rather than for their ability to read aloud. Disappointing.

Great overview let down by weak narration

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