What I've Read - Japan's hedge funds and WWII alternate history.

Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions by Ben Mezrich. Quick, engaging read. The author has a bit of a rep for playing fast and loose with the facts, but this was entertaining.

"From Publishers Weekly
Though the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent, this is a true story, containing all the ingredients of a great narrative—a main character the reader can relate to... wanna-be financial star "John Malcolm," who accepts a nebulous job offer in Japan in the mid-1990s and leaves his middle-class New Jersey postcollege aimless existence for an adventure he might have dreamed of had he any idea of what the big boys' world of finance was really like. After hitting the ground at top speed from day one, John and his cohorts—all male, mostly Ivy League graduates—learn their way around the lucrative, fast-paced and legal-but-barely-palatable world of cowboy-style Asian market finance. In the process, they make millions (sometimes per trade) and pride themselves on knowing when to get in and how to spot their exit point...
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc."

MacArthur's War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan by Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson. Interesting alt history... jumps off with the US losing/drawing the battle of Midway. Fun/diverting.

"...Niles and Dobson reimagine the Pacific Theater in their latest historical novel. With the American navy still smarting from Pearl Harbor and (here's the twist) a crushing defeat at Midway, Gen. Douglas MacArthur secures control of the Pacific theater. After clearing the Solomon Islands—where the authors put MacArthur at the Battle of Bloody Ridge—the campaign moves on to the Philippines, Okinawa and Japan. Following his triumphant return to the Philippines, MacArthur's march to Tokyo turns treacherous. The Japanese launch "mass suicide attacks" on Okinawa—an ominous prelude to an invasion of Honshu. Trouble, meanwhile, besets the Manhattan Project, and perhaps most ominous of all for the egomaniacal MacArthur, President Truman dispatches Gen. George Patton to the Pacific to command MacArthur's armored corps. With one eye on the Japanese and the other on Patton, MacArthur launches the long-anticipated invasion of Japan. Fans of alternative history will enjoy this imaginative but plausible what-if account of World War II in the Pacific.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.