What is Japan [Paperback]

Taichi Sakaiya (Author), Steven Karpa (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

In a witty, acerbic, and provocative book, the author of the influential futurist synthesis The Knowledge-Value Revolution shows how Japan, borrowing elements from both China and the West, has created a culture unlike any other--one that is still changing in a uniquely Japanese way.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an extraordinarily stimulating and provocative book, Sakaiya ( The Knowledge-Value Revolution ), former doyen of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, observes that, to Americans, Japan seems "a faceless economic power, a black box that belches forth industrial products . . . there may be no other country whose brand names are so widely known and yet whose people and culture are so obscure." His explanations are those of a loyalist exalting his culture's virtues even as he takes it to task. Sakaiya shifts between Japan's current work-focused society--which has no room for individuality and a population, probably the world's richest, that does not enjoy its wealth--and its historic roots. His insider's insights into what he calls the government's "administrative guidance" give new dimension to the debate over this well-known but poorly understood policy designed to encourage mass production, create a uniformly trained populace to staff its corporations and make Tokyo the "only brain" of a centralized nation. Equally strong are his assessments of Japan's cultural differences from the rest of the world, American problems of access to Japanese markets, current Tokyo scandals, recession, housing, education, international pressures and probable new directions for the country.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A coherent, perceptive appraisal of Japan, from a former official of its vaunted Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Ranging back and forth through his homeland's history, Sakaiya (The Knowledge-Value Revolution, 1991) offers an utterly fascinating account of how an internally cohesive island nation without natural resources became a global economic power despite a shattering defeat in WW II. He traces key character traits of the remarkably homogeneous, consensus-oriented population back to the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Meijii Restoration, and other premodern eras, but he contends that the military regime in control before Pearl Harbor was primarily responsible for harnessing the traditions and spirit of Japan to build an industrial juggernaut. The means to this end, the author argues, was administrative guidance provided by a bureaucratic system whose stress on standardization has made the country immensely productive, albeit less than creative. Commercial success has left the diligent, provident Japanese vaguely discontented, concludes Sakaiya, who goes on to detail the many ways in which the government is geared to accommodate big business, frequently at the expense of domestic consumers. Nonetheless, he reports, quality-of-life issues have begun to interest a long-suffering electorate increasingly disturbed by public scandals, while demographic as well as international pressures may force convulsive revisions in the social contract. Worth noting in this context is the author's observation that ``when change occurs in Japan, it occurs completely, because Japanese fear being different from the group.'' Revelatory perspectives on a country that strikes many as a latter-day analogue of Churchill's 1939 take on Russia--``a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.'' -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha America (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568360878
• ISBN-13: 978-1568360874
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,206,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening and useful, June 25, 2000

By 

Constantin Bosse - See all my reviews

This review is from: What is Japan?: Contradictions and Transformations (Hardcover)

The book is excellent in giving some insight into what makes Japan what it is. The author describes the complexities of its society, as well as, the richness of it. He analyzes step by step each factor of consideration that has shaped the Japan we perceive,as well as, the one we do not. He comments on the success of the Japanese, their economy and on the sacrifice and hardship the Japanese had to deal with, etc. The book is useful and of interest to any student of Japanese culture, student of business looking for some reference material regarding the Japanese people and its economical success, but also interesting for a businessmen or person planning to travel for pleasure or business to this country. I consider this book a must for anyone interested in this country and its people.

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't give a complete picture, May 21, 2001

By 

Ed Drannbauer (Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What is Japan (Paperback)

Overall, a great book. One of the few books about Japan that is actually written by a Japanese. However, I think because of this, the author doesn't really mention or just glides over a lot of the negative aspects or problems facing Japanese society. (Organized crime, discrimination, or prostitution, for example.)