Japan: A ReinterpretationThe Japanese are in the process of re-creating themselves--an endeavor they have undertaken at intervals throughout history, always prompted by a combination of domestic and global forces. In this landmark book, Patrick Smith asserts that a variety of forces--the achievement of material affluence, the Cold War's end, and the death of Emperor Hirohito--are now spurring Japan once again toward a fundamental redefinition of itself. As Smith argues, this requires of the West an equally thorough reevaluation of the picture we have held of Japan over the past half-century. He reveals how economic overdevelopment conceals profound political, social, and psychological under-development. And by refocusing on "internal history" and the Japanese character, Smith offers a new framework for understanding Japan and the Japanese as they really are. The Japanese, he says, are now seeking to alter the very thing we believe distinguishes them: the relationship between the individual and society. Timely, measured, and authoritative, this book illuminates a new Japan, a nation preparing to drop the mask it holds up to the West and to steer a course of its own in the world. Jacket image: The Great Wave of Kanagawa, from 36 Views of Mount Fuji (detail) by Katsushika Hokusai. Private collection. |
From inside the book
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Page 130
... look once more at what it meant to be modern . And it could only be a matter of time — a decade , to be precise - before the Japanese began to look with a certain distance at the way they had chosen . Did they really need the way of the ...
... look once more at what it meant to be modern . And it could only be a matter of time — a decade , to be precise - before the Japanese began to look with a certain distance at the way they had chosen . Did they really need the way of the ...
Page 218
... look at him . He was photographed reading Stars and Stripes , the Ameri- can military daily , and traveled by ordinary train to every prefecture save Okinawa . He had grown up speaking an antique tongue ; his surrender broadcast had ...
... look at him . He was photographed reading Stars and Stripes , the Ameri- can military daily , and traveled by ordinary train to every prefecture save Okinawa . He had grown up speaking an antique tongue ; his surrender broadcast had ...
Page 291
... looks at me as if I'm an animal . They say , ' Oka - san ! Gaijin ! ' - Mother ! A for- eigner ! Sometimes people say , ' You look the way Japanese people used to look ? Or they say , ' You don't look Asian . ' I don't know what they ...
... looks at me as if I'm an animal . They say , ' Oka - san ! Gaijin ! ' - Mother ! A for- eigner ! Sometimes people say , ' You look the way Japanese people used to look ? Or they say , ' You don't look Asian . ' I don't know what they ...
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Common terms and phrases
accepted American appeared arrived asked became become began begin building called century considered constitution corporate course culture democratic described early economic emperor enter essential explained face feel finally followed foreign half Hirohito human hundred idea imperial important individual industrial Japan Japanese kind known late later learned less Liberal live look matter mean Meiji military modern named nationalists nature never official once ordinary past period political postwar problem produced published question remains rest samurai scholars seemed simply social society spirit term things thought thousand tion Tokyo told took tradition true turned understand University village wanted West Western women wrote York young