sprague's review
4.0
Best book on Japan I've read in a long time. Great summary of post-Bubble events if, like me, you haven't looked at Japan during its lost decade(s).
timwales's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
itsmatthew's review against another edition
5.0
I've been savouring this read, and it was with mixed feelings that I came to the end of it today. It is achingly affectionate for the country of Japan, a stalwart defense against unfair criticism, but not afraid of hard facts as well. I left this book the way I have left literally every Murakami book I've read or Ghibli film I've watched - wondering why in the world I don't live in Japan.
heatherliz's review against another edition
5.0
It feels weird to rate a non fiction book so high, but it was a really fascinating current affairs type book. I didn’t even know I was interested in Japan until I read this. Also, it reminded me of the excitement I used to get in history class.
lynj's review against another edition
5.0
Great way to update my views of Japan. We see the results, not so good, of the regimented standardized education system leftover from the fifties. We see the post-bubble Japan where jobs are insecure and unemployment/part-time and contract jobs or on the rise; birthrate and growth rates are going down.. And we see the communication fiasco that was the 3/11 Triple Disaster.
r_k's review against another edition
5.0
“Most Japanese don’t have any sense of direction. We are lost and we don’t know which way we should go. But this is a very natural thing, a very healthy thing. It’s time for us to think. We can take out time.”
There is always a bit of hesitancy when picking up a book about a country/culture that the author is not native to. There is always this fear of whether the author will do a good job in discussing the culture of the country without bias seeping in. This is especially true in books dealing with Japan. I’ve noticed that authors either take one side over the other. Either the book ridiculously admires Japan or ridiculously admonishes it. David Pilling does something new, something I think all books discussing country and culture. Pilling remains unbiased throughout the entire book. He stated in his book that he will continuously provide both sides of the argument regardless of topic-- and we go into some pretty hefty topics. There are moments where even Pilling gets uncomfortable with what is being told to him, but he knows that he has to provide both sides of the coin, otherwise you have no argument. And I think that does a good job of presenting Japan in a well-rounded way. In fact, I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to understand Japan better. It’s a good starting point because it creates a sturdy foundation of knowledge in an easily understandable way. Regardless of whether you branch off into other books or veer away, you’ll leave this book with a better understanding of a nation that has been secluded for a long time. Pilling’s book circulates around the Fukushima Explosion, so it’s pretty recent. He uses the explosion as the starting point to go into a nation that has continuously picked itself up from the ground to the point where the act has become a sort of art.
“A country we often think of as strong collectively but weak individually had shown itself to be the exact reverse. Japan, it turned out, was a nation of strong individuals and a weak state. Japan is a country of good soldiers but poor commanders.”
One very important thing that Pilling brings up in this book that I’ve never encountered in any other nonfiction book (but it got me wondering why), is the idea of Westernization. It is something he discusses in the introduction and the section on Japan’s history and it’s a big culture shock. Most countries that are not European nor North American are misunderstood, and they have been for centuries. Japan is no exception too. Japan has been isolated and secluded from the rest of the world by way of its Island remoteness and cultural seclusion. The only exception to this isolation were the Dutch merchant ships, and they too were only allowed to trade at the port in Nagasaki to prevent their culture from spreading too much. So it wasn’t until 1853 (probably the height of colonialism, mind you) that Japan entered the rest of the world. The man responsible for opening up Japan was Commodore Mathew Perry from the US, and he arrive with his flock of boats to push the nation into doing trade with the rest of the world. Regardless of how you see it, you cannot deny that the first people to see Japan and the Japanese were white men. And the first people Japan was to see outside of itself (and China) were white men. The men were religiously Christian (regardless of which division) and the Japanese were primarily Shinto and Buddhist. So you could argue that at the height of colonialism where nations were continuously and purposely destroying, edifying, altering, controlling, subjugating other nations, misunderstanding Japan was inevitable. It probably didn’t help that Japan was quite closed off in discussing itself with foreigners. One argument is that Japan saw itself as above the rest of the world, and so interaction was not necessary. The other argument is that, to be brought into the world when there was colonialism everywhere; to see Asia struggle against Europe no doubt sent fear into Japan. It didn’t want to be colonialized.
Review Continued Here
alundeberg's review against another edition
4.0
If you’ve ever wanted the opportunity to say, “Wow! Japanese economic policy is really interesting!”, here is your book. Pilling does more than cover The tumultuous state of Japanese economics, however; this book is an in-depth look as to where Japan is today and how it got there. Heavily researched, Pilling seems to have interviewed almost everyone in Japan, looked at every piece of data, and have read every article to not say what Japan should do, but to reveal it as it is— flaws and all. He originally sought to find out how it bounces back from great destruction, but it felt like he had so much info, he gave up that purpose and is just telling us all he learned. What I found most interesting is how it’s people defined themselves versus the rest of the world, how they became a belligerent nation, how they deal with their past as both the oppressor and victims, and how the role of women is slowly changing. You know there are some issues when the best thing a Japanese woman can do for herself is leave the country. If you’re looking for a primer on Japanese culture, this might be overkill, but if you want an even-handed account of Japan as a whole, this book is for you.