u/Either_Letterhead_77

Are there certain popular time periods of Japanese history that are commonly read about or people in Japan will study outside of an academic setting and, if so, what are the most common ones? For example, I'm from the United States, and, for those interested in US history, it's not entirely uncommon to see books on the US Civil War on people's bookshelves.

I'm currently visiting Japan, and while our tour guides have been great, they have mostly worked at universities, and so I was curious to get an answer from someone not in academia.