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Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan Reprint Edition

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Alex Kerr (Author)
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Alex Kerr (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars 123 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0809039432
ISBN-10: 0809039435
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Hill and Wang; Reprint edition (February 10, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0809039435
  • ISBN-13: 978-0809039432
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsInformative, readable, but somewhat imbalanced in its views
By Nearly Nubile on April 13, 2003
Format: Paperback
.
Given the slew of publications trying to deconstruct the socio-economic malaise of this mysterious little island, it seems almost de rigueur to have something negative to say about Japan and cite an example or two. Kerr's Dogs and Demons will equip you with a lot of such satisfying trivia. But where this book out stands out is in its focus on the vacuity of Japan's post-modern culture instead of the tired discussions about Japan-US trade frictions or the incompetence of domestic government and indigenous manufacturers. With a discussion that veers largely around the idiosynchratic construction industry in Japan (a key favorite among Japan bashers and perhaps deservedly so) Kerr argues that "culture" is the underlying source of Japan's malaise some hundred years after sociologist Max Weber first tried to explain away China's backwardness in a similar fashion.
As the author explains, "Dogs and Demons" (from a Chinese metaphor) paints the simple things of everyday life that the West has taken for granted (Dogs) but are seemingly difficult for Japan -- e.g., sign control, the planting and tending of trees, zoning, burial of electric wires, protection of historic neighborhoods, comfortable and attractive residential design, environmentally friendly resorts. The difficult things (Demons) are ostentatious and expensive surface statements, symbolic gestures rather than substantive commitments -- e.g., museums without artwork, monuments without honor, roads without destinations.Read more ›
5 Comments 89 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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3.0 out of 5 starsJapanese point of view....
By A H Kobayashi on July 23, 2004
Format: Paperback
The trouble with being Japanaese is that your fellow Japanese won't understand what 'constructive criticism' means. Sadly, when someone points out what is wrong with today's Japan, it usually comes from non-Japanese writers, and this is yet another case in point. This book disappoints anyone who seeks root causes of Japan's ills today. Kerr is actually quite nice to the Japanese people by saying that it is Japan's inflated and constipated bureaucracy that is slow to adjust to modern society. People on the streets are largely spared of criticism. In fact, they are silently fuming over the stupidity of contructing worthless monuments and stadiums (Kerr should have waited for World Cup 2002, as Japan built dozens of useless football stadiums in the middle of nowhere). As Japanese myself, however, I would love to read something more about ordinary Japanese people, from whom the bureaucrats are recruited.

On the whole, however, this book elegantly sums up the reality of frustratingly inept public services in the coutry. I even wondered in the middle of reading this book whether Kerr is actually Japanese. His rather condescending American tone can easily be that of a typical Japanese rhetoric, pointing out how things are better in the (advanced) western countries (therefore we must change things in order to 'catch up' etc. etc.). However, Kerr is American obviously, and his criticism of modern Japanese architects shows his personal love for ancient Japan. It is this personal taste that is largely offended by 'Modern Japan' - he doesn't explore the possibility that Japan may be in transition from sharp focused modernisation/westenisation to creating something entirely new out of hitherto poorly executed east-west cultural mix. Doesn't any country pass an ugly cultural phase in its history?Read more ›
2 Comments 77 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Must Read
By edjacob on August 2, 2001
Format: Hardcover
I have lived in Japan for seven years and thought that I was finished with the famous love, disillusionment and acceptance phases that people go through when they come to Japan, but after reading Dogs and Demons: Tales From the Dark Side of Japan, I have found myself back in the severely disillusioned stage. When I read about how the bureaucracies are purposely destroying the environment by pouring millions of tons of concrete every year and how the government continually lies to the people about how unsafe their nuclear reactors are and refuses to punish corporate criminals who have knowingly killed or sickened thousands of people it made me angrier than I have ever been since I came to Japan.
In Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr has found the courage to say explicitly something that has been at the back of my mind for years but which I found difficult to admit to myself: that Japan has been turned into the ugliest country in the world; how it has become a concrete wasteland with some of the laxest environmental and health regulations in the developed world. Kerr is angry not because of Japan's problems, but because of it's leadership's bloody-minded refusal to admit that problems exist, let alone do something to fix them.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsCaptured my Japan experience.

Dogs and Demons puts so well into words all the frustrations I've experienced living in Japan. A great and clear insightful view for those looking to live in Japan and for those... Read more

Published 11 days ago by Alvin S. Cheung
5.0 out of 5 starsThe desperately wicked decimation of Japan

Kerr, a resident of Japan from his youth, offers a critique of the post-war Japanese mania w/an outta-control obsession w/larding up the formerly beautiful Japanese landscape with,... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsBiased-romaticized view of what Japan should be

An eye opener, but some times very hard on the Japanese and their country.

For example, my country, Costa Rica, is an ecotourism mecca, and by using the same arguments... Read more

Published 14 months ago by R. Quesada
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Very thought-provoking.

Published 19 months ago by VG
4.0 out of 5 starsA true horror story

Japan's construction state under Abenomics and with the Tokyo Olympics looming in 2020 is raising again its ugly head, smashing everything in its way and creating debt financed... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Joe6Pack
3.0 out of 5 starsBy Turns Fascinating and Frustrating

There is a certain image of Japan that persists in the popular imagination of the West: a country that cherishes its connection with the natural world, takes pride in its... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Lothe
5.0 out of 5 starsBracing look at contemporary Japan

This is a well-written and opinionated look at the state of modern Japan, which was a thought-provoking companion as I travelled across Japan with my family this summer. Read more

Published 23 months ago by James Reimann
4.0 out of 5 starsPretty much explains why Japan is how it is.

I've been interested in Japan for a while and have been researching more and more into this fascinating country. Dogs and Demons actually made me a bit sad. Read more

Published on April 10, 2014 by Milvey
5.0 out of 5 starsDepressing as ...

Everyone should read this - but not if you tend to get depressed. More about unions, yakuza, government revolving doors and the use of concrete to oppress nature than you want to... Read more

Published on March 12, 2014 by Mark Robertson
4.0 out of 5 starsStill insightful over 10 years later

Sad to say but Kerr's comments and insights from this work are still relevant years later, showing that the fundamental problems have not really been addressed. Read more

Published on December 24, 2013 by JK

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