Customer Reviews

Japan: A Reinterpretation

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

WHile Japan was viewed as The Economy to Emulate, a number of very bad books came out that exagerated and distorted what its corporations and government accomplished. In retrospect, these fawning books, such as Ezra Vogel's J as #1, appear ridiculous. Then, as fears of J's superiority mounted, there was a rash of "revisionist" books, which argued that Japan was competing unfairly rather than better.

Now that Japan has faded from the scene somewhat, more balanced perspectives are coming out. Smith's book is one of the better such ones. Not only does offer it praise of certain companies and their innovations, but it does not flinch when criticizing the grotesque underdevelopment of the political system as well as the stunted individuality - the neurotic underside - of the Japanese character. Smith demonstrates convincing that there is terrible sickness within, that the country suffers from a "culture of irresponsibility" and that the younger generation may be the one to make reforms - after the older one dies off.

It is deeply pessimistic, but for anyone who has lived in Japan, a welcome breath of fresh air: critical but not a polemic, empathic without scorn. Recommended.

The apparent inscrutability of Japan and the Japanese to foreigners has spawned a legion of books ever since the Meiji Restoration. Smith's contribution to this vast literature is a popular book, but while the writing itself is good, the organization and content of _Japan: A Reinterpretation_ are unfocused, as points are made early in the book but never built upon, chapters wander from topic to topic, and occasionally the book turns into a not-too-original criticism (some would say "bashing") of Japan and Japanse culture.

Early on Smith makes a valuable point, that during the Occupation the United States essentially put the deposed rulers back in power and developed Japan in its own image and for its own purposes. Smith seems to think a lot of this, and it is certainly not orthodox history as they teach it in high schools, but it is never followed up completely, and the middle chapters consist of a wandering, dull, anecdotal criticism of Japanese society with little or no consideration for where the various strands of culture emerged. Smith seems never to have taken an anthropology course in college, since his criticisms are unabashedly Western-oriented. The standards of U.S. culture are implicitly held up as the measuring block for all of Smith's analyses. Put another way, Smith seems a bit culturally myopic, and doesn't have a very good idea of just what his ramblings mean, as interesting as they are to some degree.

Further, while it may be true that the average Japanese has a rough time of it compared to Americans, the usual depiction of the Japanese as oppressed, neurotic, and depressed is not only overstated as usual, but Smith never tries to come to grips with the cultural and political structure that brings about this situation.

On the other hand, I for one was relieved that Smith, like me, is no Japanophile. For orientalists, all aspects of Asian society, even Indian society, are routinely subjected to mystification and worship that defies common sense. To admire Japanese art, music, and so on for its own sake is one thing (and I happen to love Japanese chamber music), but to systematically glorify them is something else altogether. Of course, Smith's indifference sometimes goes to the other extreme, including some statements about Japanese art that are simply a little too subjective to be taken seriously, but at least he doesn't judge Japan based on aesthetic factors, as many people do.

As a popular book, one would not expect extensive footnotes or documentation for _Japan: A Reinterpretation_, and Smith purposely avoids making his book look too "scholarly." There are no raised numbers in the text itself to indicate when to flip to the back of the book, which seems to me pointless and confusing; instead of having the text indicate where the footnotes are, one must continually flip back and forth.

A final note: Smith lived in Japan for 20 years, but seems never to have learned Japanese! I base this on a few comments about people translating things to him (even anecdotes from the 90's) and his ignorance of even simple Japanese grammar. This is a serious blow, in my opinion, to the reliability and value of the dozens of anecdotes sprinkled throughout this book.

For those with a decent grasp of Japan's history, this book makes an interesting supplement. I would not recommend it for the lay reader, however, despite the (ironic) fact that this is intended as a popular book.

I really appreciated this book. First - the approach is terrific. The telling of Japan through its artists, poets and everyday people is much more effective than the western style of politicians and military leaders. Second - Smith does a terrific job of connecting things in Japan that are not readily understood. I lived in Japan for 10 years and was looking to be critical and find flaws in his story. I found very few faults, learned alot and was never bored. Glad he wrote it.

This book raised issues that I didn't know existed before, in a clear and yet appreciative-of-complexity-inherent-in-the-system manner. Basic contention: the Japanese people need lots and lots of help on an individual freedom and expression basis, as well as reconciling their subverted individual freedom to their collective society.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book was the willingness of the author to place a large amount of the blame for Japan's non-democratic democracy and stalled culture upon the head of the American Occupation Forces under General MacArthur, and their reconstruction of the Japanese government. According to Smith, they set out with the most noble of intentions and the best methods. In a reversal that is still not clear to me, many of the nationalists who lead Japan to their war of aggression in the Pacific were re-instituted into power. The "reverse course" placed many of the reforms to the democratic institutions and the educational system on hold, or reversed them.

One of the most telling details was the version of history I was taught in school: that Emperor Hirohito was a pawn in the hands of ultra-nationalists such as General Tojo, and that he was not responsible for the carnage that followed Japan's invasion of China in 1930. Smith cites evidence (lightly: this is a popular book, not a scholarly text) that Hirohito was fully in command of his faculties and his country, going so far as to have an Imperial High Command post built within the Fukiage Palace.

One of the things it made me consider about my interest in Japan is the very "Japaneseness" of their traditions, many of which I admire. And most of which were copied in some form or another from others, especially the Chinese. This borrowing tradition is at the heart of the Japanese identity crisis: what does it mean to be Japanese? In chapters titled "The Unfinished Dream", "The Other Within" and "A Fugitive Virtue", these questions are addressed and pondered.

All in all, an excellent book that poses interesting questions, and waits and watches Japan with us to find the answers.

I lived in Japan for two years, can speak/read/write Japanese, and have read about a half-dozen books on Japan - and consider this book to be the most important of the lot. This is because it is the only one which conveys the unique experience - both good and bad - of living in Japan, and tells Japan's history with an eye towards explaining that experience.

The main reason I am writing this review is to dispell the accusation of racism in the other reviews. What these reviewers do not realize is that the foreigners living in Japan are victims of racism. Any book written by a victimized minority about the larger group will by necessity make generalizations. What makes this book so successful is that it never attacks, and gives copious historical data explaining how these attitudes developed.

The book is intelligent and scholarly but not academic. It also reads quickly. I read it towards the end of my stay in Japan and I can tell you that every page ressonates with the sting of racism that I felt on a daily basis.

Racism in America is a very touchy subject. And many Americans have difficulty understanding and believing the unique form that it takes in Japan. But I claim that that discomfort is good. Living in Japan is not like something you see on the travel chanel, and is a story which needs to be told.

My final note is that the foreigners living in Japan who never attained an advanced level of Japanese, and so limited their interactions to the minority of Japanese who could speak English well, probably never realized that this racism even existed. This is the unique brand of racism that exists in Japan towards foreigners.

For this reason I recommend this book to anyone who lived in Japan and realized that there were things going which they didn't realize. Anyone who has not those experiences will invariably get less out of it.

The first two chapters of this book are excellent and a must read. Unfortunately the rest of the book doesn't live up to the early promise.

The first chapter makes a damning allegation that America is largely to blame for the current poor shape of Japan's political system. Mid-way throught the post-war occupation America sacrificed early efforts at political and economic liberalization and the democratization of Japanese society in order to turn the country into a bulwark against spreading Communism. Japan's Old Guard, politicians and industrialists from the pre-war era (including many war criminals), was resurrected in order to get Japan back on its feet economically and to assure that Japan stayed firmly in the capitalist camp. As in Vietnam, America "subverted democracy to save it." I found Smith's arguments here wholly novel and largely convincing. I was particularly shocked to learn of America's covert attempts to manipulate Japanese politics by providing monetary assistance to the LDP. Still, I felt Smith was unduly uncharitable to the Americans. The so-called "reverse course" is to be regretted but we must also acknowledge that the consequences of Japan having fallen into to communist control. It's hard to argue that the East Germans, North Koreans or Vietnamese had it better.

I also found the second chapter, "Hidden History' to be excellent review of Japan's transition from feudal society to modern state.

Unfortunately, I found the rest of the book comparatively stale and unconvincing. Smith spends considerable effort trying to explain the Japanese psyche. To do this he relies overly on references to a handful of Japanese literary works and artwork. He also has a habit of making sweeping generalizations based on his impressions from the interview of a single person. Also, Smith's command of economics seems to be tenuous, as when he apparently confuses "national debt" and "budget deficit" on p. 176. Too many of the author's assertions rely on personal impressions and opinions-- his own and those of interview subjects. There's very little supporting hard data.

The book succeeds as a strong rebuttal to the rosy view of Japan put forward by the Chrysanthemum Club (e.g., Reischauer) -- an earlier generation of Western Japan watchers who tended to be apologists for Japan. And, I agree with Smith that its time for Japan to steer its own course, independent from America in defense and foreign policy. But I'm not as sanguine as he is about the emergence of a new Japan ready to refashion a brighter future for themselves.

Patrick Smith has taken a lot of flak for his diagnosis (mostly from academics with an ax to grind) but somebody had to come out and state the obvious. Basically, he says that Japan has already undergone two revolutions--economic and political--and needs to undergo one more--a revolution of individualism--before its chronic problems can be solved. Currently, there's way too much groupthink and conformism that stifles creativity and leads to a stagnant, stultified society. This is most evident in Japanese institutions of education, where the primary and secondary schools teach entirely by rote method and enforce consensus thinking, while colleges are nothing but playpens of childish inanity and perpetual drunkenness, four years of riot and respite for overworked, undereducated kids who will soon go off the spend the rest of their lives in unrelieved drudgery for giant corporations where advancement is by seniority only. I've seen the results firsthand and, let me tell you, it ain't pretty.

What made me add a review here is the following: It is very ironic that Patrick Smith is being excused of peddling stereotypes in his book, given that his main intention is to counter the prevalent stereotypes that people are so fond of. Regardless of what you know about Japan, this book will make you think about it - provided you are willing to do that.

You might also get the impression from some of the other reviews that Smith's book is some sort of academic study or something like that. I haven't found a single occasion in the book where he claims anything like that - and at the end of the book, he says the exact opposite.

So one might ask whether those reviewers who trash the book here aren't showing exactly the kind of behaviour that Patrick Smith discusses in some detail: People, according to Smith, are way too attached to an unrealistic image of Japan, and they don't want to let go of it.

If you want to find out why that might be the case read the book. Smith discusses a fairly large variety of examples, many of which you will not find elsewhere that easily. And even where one is inclined to disagree with him - for example when Smith dismisses most contemporary Japanese literature as fluff - his writing and ideas are still interesting enough to make you think about it.

Japan is either the villain or a robot, yet for many Westerners it is first and foremost enigmatic. Patrick Smith's Japan: A Reinterpretation takes as its starting-point the reforms of the Meiji period, and concludes, that the search for a Japanese identity has been flawed and is still not complete. Smith also blames American policies for this flawed project.

Smith's revisionist study may best be called social psychology, but he discusses history, feminism, art, economics, politics, agriculture, education, racism, and religion. His cast of characters include Banana Yoshimoto and Hirohito, samurais, bureaucrats, and foreigners. His argument for Hirohito's war guilt is compelling.

Because Japan is the first third-world nation to develop into a first-world nation, Smith's account of Japan's flawed attempts to understand it's place in the world are relevant to other small nations, like Korea and South Africa.

Smith's anaysis is also peppered with interviews and anecdotes. His familiarity and respect for Japan is evident on every page. Still, the reader is left with some disturbing thoughts.

"Japan - A Reinterpretation" is a worthwhile read for anyone who i) is interested in Japan, ii) and has an attention span not destroyed by MTV. It is entertaining, interesting and factual (though better footnotes would be a definite plus). It does meander a bit. I enjoyed the ride, but if you are in a hurry to absorb facts about Japan, a different vehicle might be more appropriate.

I especially recommend "Japan, A Reconsideration" if you are unaware or unclear about events during the early years of occupation, and/or the current distinction between the "Chrysanthemum Club" and "Revisionist" views (Smith clearly states his adherence to the latter).

I read this book just after "Cartels of the Mind," by Ivan Hall. The timing was good. Smith indirectly explains how many of the institutional barriers focused on by Hall came about. Also, after reading Smith, one realizes that distortion of news and information about Japan takes place within the U.S., as well as in Japan.

As a reporter for the International Herald Tribune, Smith undoubtedly sought interesting material and so likely met a disproportionate amount of "unusual" Japanese. He seems unaware of the possible distortion this may have had on his views. My experience in Japan suggests a larger proportion of Japanese are happy, fulfilled and well-adjusted (and perhaps less "interesting" and newsworthy) than Smith seems to think. It follows that perhaps the cultural changes Japan "needs" are less urgent and radical.

Minor Quibbles: - I was happily surprised that Smith writes about the "backside of Japan" (ura-nihon). While his insights are generally on target, Niigata (where I live) is not "rich" has he casually and incongruously states (unless, perhaps, one compares it to the rest of ura-nihon only). - The book contains several economic errors: i) pg. 122 that pressure to reduce costs was especially high in "a strong economic cycle" - in the late 1980's; ii) pg. 129 that Japan's bureaucratic engineers did not handle the oil shocks of the 1970's well (Japan's temporary monetary expansion in response to these real shocks is taught by economists as a textbook example of appropriate policy); and iii) page 181 Japanese DEBT is compared to annual DEFICITS of other countries.

In light of the fact that, "Japan a Reinterpretation" is not a rigorously documented academic work, it sometimes seems to take itself too seriously (e.g., regarding the Emperor's degree of responsibility during WWII); but I found it a very good book overall.