Free Ebooks to Study Japan

Japanese History and Culture

As Japan consists of five hundred and eighteen islands it is often called the Island Empire. In the days of mythology and legend it was named The Country in the Midst of the Luxuriant Reed Plains; later it was The Mountain Portal, while during the Middle Ages the Chinese called it The Source of the Sun, or The Land of the Rising Sun—Hinomoto. Finally it became Nippon Dai Nippon—Great Japan.  -from The Spell of Japan

• Peeps at Many Lands – Japan

See the other books in the Peeps at Many Lands series.

• Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs
• Our Little Japanese Cousin

See the other books in the Our Little Cousin series.

• The Boy Travellers – Japan and China

See the other books in the  Boy Travellers series.

• Indiana University has a list of children’s books about Japan that you can download directly from their site.

• Plays of Old Japan – contains four classic plays from Japan
• The Spell of Japan – tells of how the author fell in love with the people and land of Japan

Folklore and Fairy Tales from Japan

•  Japanese Fairy World – suitable for all ages as the author avoided violence and gore
• Japanese Fairy Tales – 38 stories with beautiful black & white illustrations

• Momotaro, or Little Peachling – a children’s story book with color images
• Child-Life in Japan and Japanese Child Stories – this book is a fun mixture of simple illustrations, descriptions of how children might live in Japan, and some of the poems, songs, and tales they would tell.