When The Japan That Can Say No became a bestseller in Japan, it created such a storm that the Pentagon's secret translation was circulated in Congress. Ishihara expresses what many in Japan feel today--that Japan no longer needs to play second fiddle to the United States. "A verbal Pearl Harbor".--Newsday.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this brief, arresting and abrasively frank work, Japan Diet member and novelist Ishihara plumbs the causes of friction between his country and the U.S. Claiming that dropping the A-bomb on Japan rather than on Germany conveyed American racism, he warns that nuclear superiority will go to the superpower that acquires a microchip made only in Japan. And while conceding Japanese deficiencies--poor self-image, staunch clannishness--the author contends that U.S. trade deficits are due to a pursuit of immediate profits at the expense of long-range economic planning such as that practiced in his country. Calling for changed attitudes on both sides, Ishihara proposes a detailed agenda of "drastic steps" on the part of the U.S. to restore its world competitiveness and to foster an equal partnership with Japan--which he deems essential to both nations as a factor in post-Cold War global realignments. $75,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Original Language: Japanese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fiercely nationalistic book every American should read,
By
This review is from: The Japan That Can Say No: Why Japan Will Be First Among Equals (Paperback)
This book was a million-seller in Japan, and was translated into English in 1991. The author was a promininet Japanese politician. The book is dated, and history has not always borne out the author's views. Nonetheless, anyone attempting to understand modern Japan should read it. Some of the passages will be very surprising and disturbing. Author Ishihara avoids the conventionally polite Japanese protocol and forcefully states that Japan is the equal of the United States, that Japan should have its own defense forces, (and strong ones), that Japanese computer technology is second to none and should be used as a negotiating tool, and Japan will be the most influential power in dealing with Asian nations. Ishihara berates America for racism, and contends that the atomic bomb was not used on Germany because Germans were white, and Japanese were yellow. He asserts that nations colonized by Japan have been far more successful following liberation than those colonized by the United States. The book exemplifies the growing trend toward national pride in Japan, and also forcefully addresses the feeling by many Japanese that their nation is misunderstood. Plainly, the sentiments in the book foretell a troubled period in Japanese-American relations, and remind us that the Japanese have not forgotten Hiroshima any more than America has forgotten Pearl Harbor. Ishihara's call for a constructive dialogue between the two nations is well taken. Otherwise, the future looks cloudy at best. Very highly recommended, even if slightly dated.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
emblematic parochialism and obscure nationalist rage,
By Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Japan That Can Say No: Why Japan Will Be First Among Equals (Paperback)
I read this book in the CIA-translated version as a Senate aide concerned about the rise of Japan, which included as co-author one of the leaders of Sony (Morita). While interesting for scholars, as I glanced thru this version - which is watered down but still white hot with anger - I was struck at how far off base the predictions of the man seem today. Afterall, when it was written, Japan was at the crest of the bubble economy, it appeared as if Japanese computer chips (and its electronic industries) would confer great power on the country (they could refuse to sell components that went into US missiles), and the US was in a now-unimaginable phase of self doubt. As such, the way things have turned out, after nearly 16 years of stagnation and the rise of high tech manufacturer-competitors elsewhere, reveal the author to have been so badly mistaken regarding the trajectory that Japan would take as to be laughable.In a deeper sense, it points to the fact that Ishihara did not understand the economic forces at work at the time and so was full of utterly baseless nationalistic bravado. Japan's economic rise was based upon the post-war reconstruction boom, then a relatively protected economy that allowed huge undustrial combines to band together as cartels (gouging their won consumers to sell at low prices abroad to gain marketshare and crush competitiors), and lastly to a number of significant management innovations (TQM, just-in-time manufacturing, etc.) that are reflected in the fact that they make excellent cars. However, it was basically a follower economy making products that have become commoditized by cheaper manufacturers elsewhere in Asia - just as its innovations became widely emulated - and corrupted by the money generated in real estate speculation that eventually collapsed in a deflationary spiral. Meanwhile, its political reforms have been weak at best, and senselessly nationalistic at worst. Ishihara understood none of this and casts no light on any of it of value. Instead, he drags out pre-WWII arguments about the innate superiority of the Japanese character and similar rather ugly arguments. He is also appalingly loose with the facts: for example, he claims that the US bombed Japan, but not Germany with the atom bomb for racist reasons (Japanese were yellow, Germans were not) - but if you know a minimum of history, which Isihara apparently doesn't, you would realise that at the time of the German defeat (April, 1945) the bomb was not yet completed (it was first test detonated the following July)! The book is full of this kind of sloppiness. What he does succeed at, however, is expressing the resentment that parochial Japanese nationalists felt at the time. In retrospect, his arrogance appears as breathtaking as it is ignorant. But his anger and resentment, and what they reflect of Japanese attitudes, is very real indeed. Seen this way, the book is one long crypto-racist rant. Japan has a long way to go to understanding outsiders, the gaijin, such as why Korea and China find the official sanitising of its aggressive WWII history so offensive and outrageous. I mean, young Japanese students are taught that Japan was a victim of WWII and not just because of the atomic bomb - and their text books are being revamped to reinforce that!! If you read this, you can understand some of the reasons why, which is the greatest value of the book, more in spite of its content than because of what it reflects.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Hobo Philosopher,
By
This review is from: The Japan That Can Say No: Why Japan Will Be First Among Equals (Paperback)
"Freedom is not free" is an expression we hear frequently these days. It is usually offered in defense of having a strong military and in support of our latest military overseas adventure or "intervention." This book written, I presume, in the 1980s and reprinted for American consumption without the author's permission in 1991 was written by Shintaro Ishihara. Mr. Ishihara is/was a prominent and outspoken Japanese politician and celebrity. His book provides instruction to us in the often neglected knowledge that "War is not free" either.Most of us realize the cost of war to our nation. Our dead soldiers, the cost of the "bombs and the bullets," the rehabilitation and medical care for our damaged soldiers and the billions and trillions of taxpayers dollars for the Military Industrial Complex. But not often considered is the future cost of the hate and vindictiveness ingrained into the psyche of our enemies for generations to come. Mr. Ishihara was just a child when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He lived under the American occupation of Japan and his bitterness towards the U.S. is raging yet in his adulthood. He can still recount as if it were yesterday how "arrogant" American soldiers bumped him from the sidewalk and threw drinking ice into his face. He confirms the popular world view that America is a racist nation that troops and tramps around the world bullying everybody. We dropped the Atomic bombs on Japan and not on Germany because we hate Japanese and Asians, claims the author. Of course, his home country's nefarious endeavors in the tragedy of World War II, are dismissed with an offhanded recognition of "mistakes" that will require some "soul searching" on the part of the Japanese people. We hear no mention of Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March or the Rape of Nan King. He praises Japan's land redistribution policy after the war. A policy which took the wealth and land from the hands of the few, destroyed Japan feudal system, and created a middle class that boosted the poor as well. But he neglects to mention that the policy was initiated by that American conqueror Douglas MacArthur and not Tojo or Emperor Hirohito. Though this author has very little to justify his vindictiveness considering his nation's reprehensible part in the holocaust of World War II, his misplaced hatred brings to mind those who may have more justified complaints stemming from more controversial conflicts since the end of World War II. Freedom may not be free but War is not free, either. The American people will be wise to think of the cost of future generations of hate that come along with using war as a diplomatic tool. The costs of inaction may have consequences. But the costs of military action are guaranteed. And the unintended consequences may go on for generations as we see in countries like Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan Nicaragua, Costa Rica and elsewhere. But aside from his anti-American rant the book is a positive reading experience. This author is bitter but he is not stupid. It is filled with ideas and criticisms very much justified by the present business and economic goings on here in America. His sharp denunciations with regards to bloated executive salaries and outrageous bonuses for American corporate elites, the lack of national concern on the part of our politicians, the myopic short term vision of our investment community, the blind neglect of our home industrial base, the abandonment of our educational institutions and college age kids, the stupidity of our off-shoring of our skills and innovations, and our unhealthy attitudes towards labor and those who do the physical work in our businesses and enterprises all ring sadly true. Many of Mr. Ishihara's criticisms of our new economic Americanism are far from unjustified. And many of his suggested consequences made back in the 80's are collapsing all around us today. As it is with corn flakes, it would do many Americans well to review this book again for "first" time. Richard Edward Noble - The Hobo Philosopher - Author of: "America on Strike" American Labor - History
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