Jeff Kingston, Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s, Second Edition, 2013. Wiley-Blackwell.
James L. McClain, Japan: A Modern History, 2002. W.W. Norton & Company. (part V, chapters 15-17, pp. 517-632).
(for students who do not intend to take JAP2503 later on, there is no need to buy this book).