The decades of Western adulation for the Japanese 'economic miracle' failed to notice a key point- that in the pursuit of this miracle the Japanese had turned their country into a degraded, concrete shambles - a wilderness of bad planning, corruption and crowding. Now that the miracle is at an end and Japan seems set to remain in the economic doldrums it must become apparent to everyone that one of the world's greatest cultures has ruined itself almost beyond repair. Alex Kerr's wonderful book conveys vividly and furiously both the dazzling nature of Japanese culture and how the bureaucrats of a country he loves have poisoned and ruined it.
The decades of Western adulation for the Japanese 'economic miracle' failed to notice a key point- that in the pursuit of this miracle the Japanese had turned their country into a degraded, concrete shambles - a wilderness of bad planning, corruption and crowding. Now that the miracle is at an end and Japan seems set to remain in the economic doldrums it must become apparent to everyone that one of the world's greatest cultures has ruined itself almost beyond repair. Alex Kerr's wonderful book conveys vividly and furiously both the dazzling nature of Japanese culture and how the bureaucrats of a country he loves have poisoned and ruined it.
ALEX KERR was educated at Yale, Oxford and Keio universities. He is the author of LOST JAPAN (Lonely Planet Books) which won the Shincho Gakugei nonfiction prize. He lives in Kyoto and Bangkok.
"Keen insight into the unique causes and disastrous results of the
once heralded 'Japan Model' of development . . . a must read."
--Michael Judge, "The Wall Street Journal"
"Should be required reading for anyone who writes about or studies
the Japanese economy . . . " --Eric Johnston, "The Japan Times"
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