I've been reading easy (extremely easy) Japanese books at tadoku.org, which has a large selection of extremely easy books for people learning Japanese.
Recently I read one about a man from America who had gone to Japan to build houses to replace a few of the homes destroyed when the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The man was Floyd Schmoe.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese book, and after I finished it, I wanted to learn more about Schmoe. Wikipedia was most helpful, of course, and I found some photos and articles online that filled in more details.
I especially enjoyed the drawing of him eating watermelon with the local kids.
I love the bits of culture I learn about from the Tadoku books - maybe even more than I love getting to practice my Japanese with such accessible stories.