History of Japan, Overview

Can anyone point me to a good book on the subject?

I'm looking for a good historical overview of Japan through the ages that would be fairly light reading and offer a good introduction to the various periods. So far I've only been able to scrounge up segments from general world history textbooks and I've found some 'okay' online reference material. Wikipedia offers good, detailed help but I can't piece together an overview approach.

Hello,
I am not sure I can recommend you one, but two should do the trick. The reason is that most books on Japan are either on "old" Japan or "modern" Japan. Anyway, I recommend "Japan before Perry" by Conrad Totman. It is an easy read, only 275 pages, well written and often used for first year students at Japanese studies programmes. As you might be able to infer from the title, it tells the story of Japan up until Perry arrives in 1854.
Then there is Andrew Gordons marvelous "A Modern History of Japan", which covers Japanese history from the 1800s to the present. It is a bit heavier, at around 400 pages, but it is an excellent book.
If you read those two you will get a good overview of Japanese history and maybe discover areas that you'd like to investigate further. I am sorry that I cannot recommend you anything lighter than this :)

A History of Japan to 1334 by George Sansom, and the two subsequent books in the series will take you up to 1867. It's a bit more in depth than "Japan before Perry" , but many libraries have or can get copies, if you're interested.

Good tips - I'll check those out, thanks!

I'm currently reading this book: http://www.librarything.nl/work/360915/book/36047309
It reads very nicely, almost like a story.

I saw that one too, but the only review for it is written in German or something. Glad to hear you like it.

I've also found Japanese Inn: A Reconstruction Of The Past, which looks good. Can't figure out if it's fiction/non-fiction.

Japanese Inn is a favorite of mine, I highly recommend it. It's based on a real place, that shut down several years ago. Statler uses the setting to tell a good story of Japanese history. It is classified as fiction so far as I know.

I do love Sansom's books, but they are not exactly a short overview. Furthermore, they are a bit outdated and there are some errors in them. I wouldn't recommend them to get an overview, though they are worth reading. I'd recommend them for further reading, not as the first books you read on the subject :)

The subject is so broad -- if I may be rude, what would you ask re. the USA, a country with a history = only a fraction as long?

DB, if not Samson, what then?

For a view centering on 1585, see my Topsy-turvy 1585 that the damn touchstone overlooks (go to Google Books), but who can say what is the best overview!