Japan Unit Study

We love learning about other cultures.

We review history and geography each cycle/year and assimilate our learning with current events.

I want to learn real history along with my kids, not just an American perspective.

Japan Unit Study

Topics

• Feudalism
• Samurai
• Imperialism
• WWII
• Anime
• Technology

Book List

• Born in the Year of Courage by Emily Crofford
• A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
• The Samurai’s Tale by Erik C. Haugaard
• A Samurai Castle by Fiona MacDonald 
• Black Belt
• The Drums of Noto Hanto
• The Inch-High Samurai
• The Samurai’s Daughter
• Sword of the Samurai
• Three Samurai Cats
• The Origami Master by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
• Yuki and the One Thousand Carriers by Gloria Whelan
• The Invisible Seam by Andy William Frew
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
• A Carp for Kimiko by Virginia Kroll
• The Old Man Mad about Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai by Francois Place
• Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun and Shipwrecked!: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy by Rhoda Blumberg
• Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan 1858 by Kathryn Lasky
• The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
• So Far from the Sea by Eve Bunting
• Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi
• So Far from the Bamboo Grove and My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
• Hiroshima by Laurence Yep
• Passage to Freedom and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
• How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
• ALL THE BOOKS by Allen Say
• Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories by Florence Sakade

Movies

Use discretion. Some of these films are just ridiculous.

• Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa
• The Last Samurai
• 47 Ronin
• Godzilla
• Pokémon
• Dragon Ball Z
• Yu-Gi-Oh!
• Death Note
• Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli
• The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
• Grave of the Fireflies
• In This Corner of the World
• Lost in Translation
• Black Rain
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
• The Wolverine
• Unbroken
• Pearl Harbor
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Letters from Iwo Jima
• Flags of Our Fathers
• Windtalkers
• Emperor
• Midway

Resources: Printables, Units, Lessons

• Confessions of a Homeschooler
• The Homeschool Mom
• Happy Homeschool
• Unlikely Homeschool
• Living Montessori Now
• Homeschool Share
• The Momma Knows
• Homeschool Den
• Snowden
• Happy Brown House

We would love to visit Japan someday!