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 96
... morning . It was late February , end of term in Japan . I sat with four graduating seniors in a classroom that would never again be theirs . They had all been to cram school for many years . One had attended a cram school to get into a ...
... morning . It was late February , end of term in Japan . I sat with four graduating seniors in a classroom that would never again be theirs . They had all been to cram school for many years . One had attended a cram school to get into a ...
Page 109
... morning . A neighbor's dog barked all day Sunday ( and for some reason only Sunday ) . All of this was fine . But I was not to hang laundry from my upstairs bal- cony : It dripped onto a neighbor's tin roof . And that , because it had ...
... morning . A neighbor's dog barked all day Sunday ( and for some reason only Sunday ) . All of this was fine . But I was not to hang laundry from my upstairs bal- cony : It dripped onto a neighbor's tin roof . And that , because it had ...
Page 221
... morning . Then the emperor offers the gods rice , gruel , and sake , all from the sacred crop . Does the emperor have intercourse with the female ? Some scholars have said so . The sexual overtones are curious , in any event : a relic ...
... morning . Then the emperor offers the gods rice , gruel , and sake , all from the sacred crop . Does the emperor have intercourse with the female ? Some scholars have said so . The sexual overtones are curious , in any event : a relic ...
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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