Japan As Number One

"This book tells the story of a small-town Midwestern Jewish boy who went to Harvard and became one of America's best known specialists on Asia, especially Japan. Ezra F. Vogel believes that understanding and a proper perspective come from studying the lan"

A Financial Times “Summer Books” Selection “Will become required reading.” —Times Literary Supplement “Elegantly written...with a confidence that comes from decades of deep research on the topic, illustrating how influence and power have waxed and waned between the two countries.” —Rana Mitter, Financial Times China and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back fifteen hundred years, but today their relationship is strained. China’s military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan’s brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years both countries have insisted that the other side must openly address the flashpoints of the past before relations can improve. Boldly tackling the most contentious chapters in this long and tangled relationship, Ezra Vogel uses the tools of a master historian to examine key turning points in Sino–Japanese history. Gracefully pivoting from past to present, he argues that for the sake of a stable world order, these two Asian giants must reset their relationship. “A sweeping, often fascinating, account...Impressively researched and smoothly written.” —Japan Times “Vogel uses the powerful lens of the past to frame contemporary Chinese–Japanese relations...[He] suggests that over the centuries—across both the imperial and the modern eras—friction has always dominated their relations.” —Sheila A. Smith, Foreign Affairs

'Japan as - anything but - Number One should be everybody's number two book to read about Japan. After almost any introduction that lays out the claims made for Japan's truly unusual economy and society, the next step forward should be to read an informed critical text, to set a contrast in the mind. No book achieves this more concisely, more acurately and more succinctly than Japan as - anything but - Number One .' - James Y. Bourlet, Professor of Japanese Management, London Guildhall University Is Japan No 1? Well, maybe it is if you only consider those sectors where it has been particularly successful. But not if you add many others where its performance was mediocre or worse. Is Japan No 1? Well, maybe it is if you ask the foreign 'friends' who have made a career (and sometimes a fortune) as apologists of Japanese causes. But, if you ask the Japanese themselves, you will find that they are anything but satisfied. Is Japan No 1? Well, maybe it is if you are taken in by the tatemae, i.e. the official version or how its admirers like to picture it. But it does not look so great once you perceive the honne, i.e. the realities of life in Japan. Is Japan No 1? Well, maybe it is if you take what is best in Japan and contrast it to what is less good in foreign countries. But it does not compare so well if you mix the good with the bad in both places. No, the author does not think that Japan is a horrible place or that its leaders have made a complete mess of things. But, if you look closely, it is certainly not the extraordinary success it is frequently claimed to be. It is closer to the mean, with many serious problems that will only get worse if people foolishly assume it is No 1.

A full scale examination of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War - the events that led to it, the Cold War aftermath, and the implications for the region and beyond.

A collaborative effort by scholars from the United States, China, and Japan, this volume focuses on the period 1972–1989, during which all three countries, brought together by a shared geopolitical strategy, established mutual relations with one another despite differences in their histories, values, and perceptions of their own national interest. Although each initially conceived of its political and security relations with the others in bilateral terms, the three in fact came to form an economic and political triangle during the 1970s and 1980s. But this triangle is a strange one whose dynamics are constantly changing. Its corners (the three countries) and its sides (the three bilateral relationships) are unequal, while its overall nature (the capacity of the three to work together) has varied considerably as the economic and strategic positions of the three have changed and post–Cold War tensions and uncertainties have emerged.

Everyone knows how to live the good life in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany. Now, Matthew Amster-Burton makes you fall in love with Tokyo. Experience this exciting and misunderstood city through the eyes of three Americans vacationing in a tiny Tokyo apartment. Follow 8-year-old Iris on a solo errand to the world's greatest supermarket, picnic on the bullet train, and eat a staggering array of great, inexpensive foods, from eel to udon. A humorous travel memoir in the tradition of Peter Mayle and Bill Bryson, Pretty Good Number One is the next best thing to a ticket to Tokyo. Includes a new afterword by the author featuring Christmas in Tokyo, fried UFOs, a robotic sushi restaurant, and more. "The layers of the city, its extraordinary food pleasures, its quirkinesses, emerge as the author and his family spend an intense month living in Tokyo and exploring widely...Warning: this book will make you hungry. You'll yearn, as I do, to catch the next plane to Tokyo, so you can get eating." —Naomi Duguid, writer and traveler; her most recent book is BURMA: Rivers of Flavor (Artisan 2012) "This is the book I've been hoping Matthew would write: smart, opinionated, and wickedly funny, crammed with in-the-know tips and observations about visiting Tokyo. From the intricacies of garbage sorting to the chirpy jingle for the local supermarket, the pleasures of pan-fried soup dumplings to the pain of junsai, I laughed, cringed, and got so hungry that I had to eat three bowls of cereal to make it to the end. I love this book." —Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life and creator of Orangette