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.. yeah BG. The back cover reads:

 

Only fifteen years ago, Japan was the world's model for modern capitialism; today, its economy lies in ruins, its environment is in grave danger, and its culture is profoundly, chronically sick. In this incisive, deeply personal book, Alex Kerr, a longtime resident and student of Japan, explores the roots of this dicline. He offers no easy answers, but argues that as Japan has emerged from isolation and asserted itself as one of the world's most powerful nations, much of what it holds dear in its culture and in its very landsc ape has been torn apart and ravaged. He leads us past garish comics and Pokemon gizmos to seashores lined with concrete, showing us in the process that this most ancient and most modern of nations is faced with a new challenge: how to find a way home.

 

quote from back:

 

" Provacative. . . Dogs and Demons is a product of tough love. Instead of simply dismissing the book as a condemnation of their society, as many will, Japanese readers might do well to examine its many valid criticisms and take them as a powerful exhortation to chart a new course." - Andrew Nagorski, NEWSWEEK

 

it was a great read. i've been living here for a few years and I really never thought twice about their society. this really opened my mind and eyes about Japan

 

give it a read and tell me what you think

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 Quote:
Originally posted by ganja:
Today, its economy lies in ruins, its environment is in grave danger, and its culture is profoundly, chronically sick.


Since when has Japan's economy been "in ruins"? I've not heard of many people having their homes repossessed and haven't tripped over many beggars recently. Japanese kids don't get held up with knives for their mobile phones, like in another country I could mention. The economy as a whole is not growing, that's all. For all the doom and gloom, most people are still well-off.

Do a few dyed heads, a few young'uns more into travelling than working, and a few well-documented ladies in the world's oldest profession under a silly name amount to a "profoundly, chronically sick" culture? Most young Japanese people are perfectly fine and deserve more than such pathetic sensationalism. Maybe some traditional Japanese values are not being respected because people have finally realized that they're a load of old BS.
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Hey ganja

 

I got hold of the book today and have already read a good portion of it. It's very good. As I wrote in my earlier post, I think your choice of words errs on the side of hyperbole. As Kerr notes himself, if the Japanese economy were in ruins and Japan had to face the kind of crisis that occurred in SE Asia in the late 1990s, this would precipitate the changes that are so very necessary. The sense of everything being bad but normal suppresses the urgency for structural reform, as in Kerr's "boiled frog" metaphor.

 

That said, but you are undoubtedly correct in trying to draw more people's attention to Kerr's work. If my post has discouraged such interest, then mine is the bigger crime.

 

Thank you for recommending the book. I am happy to second your recommendation.

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