Good overview, very academic

TL;DR: I have lived in Japan 20+ years, so have some perspective. Worth listening too, but light on modern times.

So, it's a "Great Course" (tm). I get that. And perhaps a cultural history of Japan will space things out more, so that we spend a whole chapter on Shinto Gods and how things worked back before time really started. The one takeaway from that chapter was "even in Japanese mythology, decisions are made by committee and take time".

Professor Ravina's modern stuff is somewhat disappointing, though. More than most societies, Japan has undergone two complete transformations since the mid-1850s, and while the book talks about that, I believe half of the focus or more should have been spent on that, rather than on the older discussions.

The books I wish I could find on audible are George Bailey Samson's 3 volume series on Japanese history, followed by Christopher's "Japanese Mind". They would, of course, take up more time than these short courses, but would be worth it.

75 people found this helpful

Very interesting and informative

What made the experience of listening to Understanding Japan the most enjoyable?

This course is a delight to listen to with a lot of information and a great narrator. My only complaint is that there is no PDF booklet to accompany the course like the other Great Courses. Hope it shows up soon!!!

38 people found this helpful

Excellent introductory course but...

Very informative as an intro course. The author’s passion for Japanese culture is evident. Not to be belligerent but as Chinese I find the lecture on WWII somewhat troublesome. I understand it is difficult to criticize a country you love but the author made Japan launching war sound like it was a ridiculous blunder- only a handful of military officials want war, nobody dared to say stop therefore the war went on... nobody felt responsible. The damage was greatly understated. More significantly, the invasion changed the course of China. The repercussions ripple through history even today. It would be more meaningful to investigate what went wrong as to cause the war and prompted ordinary men to commit atrocious war crimes.

37 people found this helpful

Too much history, not enough culture

There were several aspects of this lecture series that I really enjoyed, but the negative outweighed the positive. The lecturer, Mark Ravina was very enthusiastic. He seemed to be very knowledgeable of Japan’s customs, culture and history. If Ravina were to ever write a book about Japanese culture or his personal travels and experiences in Japan, I would read it. Unfortunately only five out of the twenty-four lectures were memorable for me: Understanding Japan through Ancient Myths; Aspects of the Japanese Language; Early Japanese Buddhism; Japanese Family Life; and Japanese Foodways. All the other lectures were too heavy on the politics and history for my liking. If this had included more information about modern Japanese culture and what it’s like to live there, I think I would have enjoyed this more. I am not a history buff, so I kind of zoned out during some of the lectures that were more historical than cultural. I ended up listening to a few of the lectures twice because I didn’t get anything out of them the first time around. And even after two listens, some of the lectures still didn’t stick.

I’m surprised that Audible didn’t include a course guide or, at the very least, a glossary of people, places, and terms.

This was not a bad listening experience, so don’t be turned off by my low rating. It just wasn’t exactly what I wanted or expected. I even considered abandoning it around Lecture 10, but decided to power through. In the end, I don’t regret listening to the entire thing, as a couple of my favorite lectures were numbers 20 and 21.

31 people found this helpful

Entertaining and Informative

Professor Ravina did an amazing job. The wealth of diverse knowledge of history, culture, economics, and philosophical explanations was awesome. I was particularly amazed by is precise and profoundly simplistic explanations of high Buddhist concepts and how they integrate into the thoughts, words and culture of the Japanese people. Being formally trained in Zen and Tibetan Buddhism Professor Ravina's grasp and ability to explain concepts of all kinds is a gift. As someone who has been fascinated with Japan and competes in its national sport of Judo it was so great to get the deep dive into the past, present and future of Japan. It is a great primer if you are making a trip to Japan. I'm very excited about being able to talk about history and cultural icons with my Japanese friends and colleagues. Thank you Professor incredible job and you had me laughing many times. Going to listen to it agin before my trip to Japan next year.

21 people found this helpful

Informative, entertaining, and well-presented!

I really enjoyed this overview of Japanese culture. My only complaint is that it ended. :)

13 people found this helpful

Found it very useful when moving to Japan

Fantastic! Incredibly engaging overview of Japan which uses history and culture to explain where Japan came from and what it looks like today.
I downloaded this course as soon as my company moved me to Japan and have had a much better appreciation for this country since understanding the nuances explained in this course.
Thanks Professor Ravina for making this foreign culture understandable and accessible!

12 people found this helpful

The below listed auxiliary listen is a must.

Everyone interested in Japan should listen to the librivox reading "Bushido - The Soul of Japan" published before the First World War. The author of this course recommends it. It is notable for, among many other things a frank discussion of ritual suicide and revenge.

Japan is the most extreme honor/shame civilization I have ever heard of or imagined. This is a harmless thing only because Japan was seriously shamed in 1945 by a nation that does not have the corresponding revenge ethos that honor/shame civilizations typically have. Is there or is there not a Japanese saying: "There is no shame abroad!" Think WW II Nanjing.

Japan is a cohesive, orderly, prosperous, representatve democracy going into comfortable and well earned retirement. We are fortunate that it's East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere enterprise failed. Japan is fortunate to have been defeated by a civilization that was not bent on massuve revenge beyond delivering massive defeat.

What I do not know is whether this extreme honor/shame civilization provides routine daily comfort or routine daily anxiety to its peaceful, prosperous and law abiding individuals. They live a very long time and thus I expect it does. But I do not know it does.

10 people found this helpful

One of the best

I liked everything. The professor was very passionate and taught the subject matter very well. I only wish there was a little more on the modern dynamics between Korean and Japanese relations.

9 people found this helpful

Great Overview of Japanese History

While there are lots of juicy details that the course glosses over, the breadth of coverage is awesome. The professor is a really excellent speaker and knows the subject matter really well.

8 people found this helpful