(no subject)

I am shocked, shocked, that I live in New York City and yet I can't find a copy of the Cambridge History of Japan except in college libraries that won't let in the general public. (I wonder how common this is - I had the run of the stacks at UNC and Duke even as a high school student...) Can't seem to find Advertising Tower either except at Kinokuniya for $40. I'm going to try putting in some interlibrary loans to see if I can get them in a reasonable amount of time...

(And if anyone knows of a readable, more-cultural-than-political history of Japan that covers anything from Meiji to the beginning of WWII, that would be really great.)

(Even though I'm not doing real historical fiction because the research is too much work.)