Making of Modern Japan is on my list.
From wikipedia^^ Huh, TIL.By the mid-20th century, Western scholars generally considered "the Orient" as just East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Central Asia.[2] As recently as the early 20th century, the term "Orient" often continued to be used in ways that included North Africa and even parts of southeastern Europe. Today, the term primarily evokes images of China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and peninsular Southeast Asia.[2]
I picked it by going to my library, researching what Japanese history they had to offer, finding that their grand total amounted to one shelf (at least half of which were books about samurai), and then trying to use the internet to figure out which of the books might suit my interest. Fortunately the internet appears to have a high opinion of MoMJ. Will report back in a few weeks.