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Originally Posted by sharkbit
....An excellent book that explains a lot of the history between Japan and America is James Bradley's "Flyboys". He goes back to when Captain Cook(forgive me if that is incorrect) makes contact with Japan in the 1800's to explain some of what led to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Very interesting.
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It was Commodore Perry of the USN who 'opened' Japan in 1854, leading to the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration with its remarkable modernization, industrialization, and finally militarization of Japan.
While Flyboys
is an excellent book about the US Air War against Japan in WWII, or part of it I should say, it includes a mere 10-15 pages in the Intoductory chapter(s) discussing Japan-US history prior to WWII, essentially beginning with the contacts with Japan in the few years preceding Perry's arrival in 1853. While accurate, it is really no more than an
extremely cursory overview. For anyone seriously interested in the subject, there are of course
many better resources.