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mewpasaurus's review against another edition
3.0
While I think the arguments in this retrospective of the author's time in Japan are valid, I feel that they are still sadly, somewhat out of date. I lived in Japan for three years (2011 - 2014) and while some interesting points the author brings up are still relevant, many changes have occurred within the country since this was last updated (in the mid 90s). The political sphere is sadly, more or less the same, with countrymen being frustrated with their Tokyo counterparts and there is definitely animosity and/or embarrassment when locals talk within someone such as myself (an outsider) about politics or the goings on in the country.
However, some of his points about how people are treated (the xenophobia) when they are not Japanese nationals is entirely dependent upon where you live. The section of the country I lived in was pretty accommodating and friendly to Americans, Koreans and Chinese alike and there definitely wasn't any seeded animosity there. Then again, Americans make up the majority of the booming business in the town where I used to dwell, so economically, that may account for a lot of it. But I never once encountered hostility at being an outsider, not even when I strayed from my home of stay into larger cities (like Osaka or Tokyo).
I must say that his in depth approach to looking at Japan as it is vs. how it used to be or how it could be had we not occupied the area until the early 50s and had we not still had a military presence there is quite interesting. It's also interesting to note that the author goes out of his way with anecdotes peppered here and there to illustrate his points or highlight something he finds concerning.
However, I'm not sure why Mr. Smith has a bent against post-modern Japanese authors, specifically Haruki Murakami.
I would recommend this book if you are interesting at alternative or slightly eye-opening perspectives on a country you may not know as much about as you think. I definitely had some issues with this book and his perspective (mostly because I feel it is outdated at this point having lived in the country), but that it still has many relevant points and is interesting from a historical perspective.
However, some of his points about how people are treated (the xenophobia) when they are not Japanese nationals is entirely dependent upon where you live. The section of the country I lived in was pretty accommodating and friendly to Americans, Koreans and Chinese alike and there definitely wasn't any seeded animosity there. Then again, Americans make up the majority of the booming business in the town where I used to dwell, so economically, that may account for a lot of it. But I never once encountered hostility at being an outsider, not even when I strayed from my home of stay into larger cities (like Osaka or Tokyo).
I must say that his in depth approach to looking at Japan as it is vs. how it used to be or how it could be had we not occupied the area until the early 50s and had we not still had a military presence there is quite interesting. It's also interesting to note that the author goes out of his way with anecdotes peppered here and there to illustrate his points or highlight something he finds concerning.
However, I'm not sure why Mr. Smith has a bent against post-modern Japanese authors, specifically Haruki Murakami.
I would recommend this book if you are interesting at alternative or slightly eye-opening perspectives on a country you may not know as much about as you think. I definitely had some issues with this book and his perspective (mostly because I feel it is outdated at this point having lived in the country), but that it still has many relevant points and is interesting from a historical perspective.
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