The Century of the Black Ships (Novel): Chronicles of War Between Japan and America

For nearly a century, Japanese writers gave voice to the anxieties of a nation headed inexorably toward war. Not just any war, but one that in the minds of many would eventually—and inevitably—take place with Japan's neighbor across the Pacific, the United States.

In the wake of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry's first visit to Japan with his Black Ships in 1853, Japanese novelists and military analysts, along with a few foreign counterparts, produced a dizzying array of prophetic vision...