Japan: A Reinterpretation

Patrick Smith has taken a lot of flak for his diagnosis (mostly from academics with an ax to grind) but somebody had to come out and state the obvious. Basically, he says that Japan has already undergone two revolutions--economic and political--and needs to undergo one more--a revolution of individualism--before its chronic problems can be solved. Currently, there's way too much groupthink and conformism that stifles creativity and leads to a stagnant, stultified society. This is most evident in Japanese institutions of education, where the primary and secondary schools teach entirely by rote method and enforce consensus thinking, while colleges are nothing but playpens of childish inanity and perpetual drunkenness, four years of riot and respite for overworked, undereducated kids who will soon go off the spend the rest of their lives in unrelieved drudgery for giant corporations where advancement is by seniority only. I've seen the results firsthand and, let me tell you, it ain't pretty.

What made me add a review here is the following: It is very ironic that Patrick Smith is being excused of peddling stereotypes in his book, given that his main intention is to counter the prevalent stereotypes that people are so fond of. Regardless of what you know about Japan, this book will make you think about it - provided you are willing to do that. You might also get the impression from some of the other reviews that Smith's book is some sort of academic study or something like that. I haven't found a single occasion in the book where he claims anything like that - and at the end of the book, he says the exact opposite. So one might ask whether those reviewers who trash the book here aren't showing exactly the kind of behaviour that Patrick Smith discusses in some detail: People, according to Smith, are way too attached to an unrealistic image of Japan, and they don't want to let go of it. If you want to find out why that might be the case read the book. Smith discusses a fairly large variety of examples, many of which you will not find elsewhere that easily. And even where one is inclined to disagree with him - for example when Smith dismisses most contemporary Japanese literature as fluff - his writing and ideas are still interesting enough to make you think about it.

I lived in Japan for two years, can speak/read/write Japanese, and have read about a half-dozen books on Japan - and consider this book to be the most important of the lot. This is because it is the only one which conveys the unique experience - both good and bad - of living in Japan, and tells Japan's history with an eye towards explaining that experience. The main reason I am writing this review is to dispell the accusation of racism in the other reviews. What these reviewers do not realize is that the foreigners living in Japan are victims of racism. Any book written by a victimized minority about the larger group will by necessity make generalizations. What makes this book so successful is that it never attacks, and gives copious historical data explaining how these attitudes developed.The book is intelligent and scholarly but not academic. It also reads quickly. I read it towards the end of my stay in Japan and I can tell you that every page ressonates with the sting of racism that I felt on a daily basis. Racism in America is a very touchy subject. And many Americans have difficulty understanding and believing the unique form that it takes in Japan. But I claim that that discomfort is good. Living in Japan is not like something you see on the travel chanel, and is a story which needs to be told.My final note is that the foreigners living in Japan who never attained an advanced level of Japanese, and so limited their interactions to the minority of Japanese who could speak English well, probably never realized that this racism even existed. This is the unique brand of racism that exists in Japan towards foreigners.For this reason I recommend this book to anyone who lived in Japan and realized that there were things going which they didn't realize. Anyone who has not those experiences will invariably get less out of it.

Japan is either the villain or a robot, yet for many Westerners it is first and foremost enigmatic. Patrick Smith's Japan: A Reinterpretation takes as its starting-point the reforms of the Meiji period, and concludes, that the search for a Japanese identity has been flawed and is still not complete. Smith also blames American policies for this flawed project.Smith's revisionist study may best be called social psychology, but he discusses history, feminism, art, economics, politics, agriculture, education, racism, and religion. His cast of characters include Banana Yoshimoto and Hirohito, samurais, bureaucrats, and foreigners. His argument for Hirohito's war guilt is compelling.Because Japan is the first third-world nation to develop into a first-world nation, Smith's account of Japan's flawed attempts to understand it's place in the world are relevant to other small nations, like Korea and South Africa.Smith's anaysis is also peppered with interviews and anecdotes. His familiarity and respect for Japan is evident on every page. Still, the reader is left with some disturbing thoughts.

I really appreciated this book. First - the approach is terrific. The telling of Japan through its artists, poets and everyday people is much more effective than the western style of politicians and military leaders. Second - Smith does a terrific job of connecting things in Japan that are not readily understood. I lived in Japan for 10 years and was looking to be critical and find flaws in his story. I found very few, learned alot and was never bored. Glad he wrote it.