As incredible as it seems now, it really was just a few years ago that
America's intellectual elites worked themselves up into a tizzy over the
ascendancy and supposed pending world dominance of Japan. Several
factors contributed to this phenomenon. First, there was the general
feeling (hope) on the Left that the U.S. was in decline, perhaps best expressed
in Paul Kennedy's best-selling Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
(see Orrin's review).
Second was the fact that Japan's centrally planned economy appealed to
many on the Left, who hoped to see the U. S. adopt a similar system.
Third, let's face it, was a persistent strain of anti-Asian racism in American
society. Though Germany and Japan shared many qualities in the late
80's, it was Japan's rise in particular which was greeted hysterically.
It is no coincidence that while German immigrants faced a significant degree
of ethnic animosity during WWI, though little or none during WWII, it was
Japanese-Americans who were actually rounded up and put in concentration
camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Oddly enough, despite the American
Left's generally impressive record on racial matters, both the internments
of WWII and the outbreak of Japanophobia in the late 80's were led by the
Left. I can't explain this blind spot, but it's interesting to note
that it persists in the diametrically different ways in which the Left
today treats Castro's Cuba as opposed to Red China, the last two remaining
outposts of communism, advocating a lifting of sanctions on Cuba, while
seeking to deny China a range of Free Trade opportunities. At any
rate, whatever it's causes, it was less than a decade ago that intellectuals,
academics and politicians joined together to proclaim that Japan was the
next superpower and that America would be left in her wake.
Today, with the American economy in the best shape that any economy
has ever been in and Japan's economy a complete mess, these doomsday predictions
can correctly be seen as ridiculous. But even at the time they were
being made, calmer heads perceived the endemic weaknesses confronting Japan.
The best book from the period was Bill Emmott's The Sun Also Sets,
in which he pointed out many problems with Japan's economic system.
Having not read the book in many years, I don't recall whether all of the
following come from his discussion of the issues, but problems included
:
(1) Lack of natural resources
(2) Lack of a military
(3) Low birth rate and aging population
(4) Hostility towards immigrants
all of which are pretty self evident. But more significant were
the factors which were conventionally perceived as strengths which properly
understood were really weaknesses:
(5) Japan's high rate of personal savings, though
understood to reflect frugality, actually derived
from the complete absence of other outlets for consumers.
With no opportunity to buy a home and
no need for a car, the citizenry had nothing else
to do with their money but to put it into low-yield
savings accounts.
(6) Extensive trade barriers, which on an artificial
level seemed to protect Japanese industries,
actually stifled competition and drove up prices
for domestic consumers.
(7) The homogenous population and practically one-party
government, which were thought to
provide stability and societal cohesion, predictably
lead to stasis, insularity, and corruption.
(8) The conformity and obedience which made for such
a good workforce also made for a
supremely unimaginative people. Japan became
an economic force by manufacturing high quality
products cheaply, but the products themselves were
invented elsewhere, mostly here. This was
double trouble because there were several other
nations (Korea, Taiwan, etc.) with equally
disciplined labor corps, capable of meeting the
same quality standards, and willing to work for
lower wages. But more importantly, as the
world economy moved from the old heavy
manufacturing model towards one based on intellectual
capital, Japan found itself unable to
compete.
(9) and, of course, centralized planning, as is recognized
by all except intellectuals (see Orrin's
review
of F. A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom), is so inefficient that it is almost
entirely unresponsive to
any changing circumstances, but especially to such
an enormous paradigm shift. If no one, or very
few, even recognize or understand what's going on
in the economy, how are a few bureaucrats
supposed to intelligently direct the economy.
These factors all combined to make it obvious to anyone who was not
caught up in the mania of the moment that and was not ideologically committed
to authoritarian government, that, far from being the next dominant world
power, Japan was headed for a precipitous decline. All of which brings
us to another trend-sucking bestseller by Michael Crichton.
Rising Sun is an interesting mystery, a fascinating clash of
cultures, and a completely over-the-top anti-Japan polemic--kind of like
Robert Ludlum interspersed with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
As the detectives pursue their murder investigation, characters launch
into extended disquisitions on the cunning and the treacherous business
practices of the Japanese. As a result, a competent techno-thriller
ends up being buried in so much pedantry, and what's worse, inaccurate
pedantry, that the most compelling reason to read it now is that it serves
as a reasonably entertaining proof of one of our central tenets here at
Brothers Judd : the accepted wisdom is always wrong. Read it to be
reminded of how little attention you should pay to the ideological ravings
of our intellectual elites.
(Reviewed:20-Sep-00)
Grade: (C)
Websites:
See also:
Michael Crichton (
3 books reviewed)
Thrillers
Michael Crichton Links:
-AUTHOR
SITE: The Official Michael Crichton Website
-CARICATURE: Michael
Crichton (David Levine, NY Review of Books)
-The
New York Times > Movies > People > Michael Crichton
-AUTHOR/BOOK SITE:
MichaelCrichton.com - State of Fear
-BOOK
SITE: State of Fear (Harper Collins)
-State of Fear
(Wikipedia)
-SPEECH:
Fear, Complexity, & Environmental Management in the 21st Century
(Michael Crichton, November 6, 2005, at the Lisner Auditorium in
Washington, D.C.)
-LECTURE:
"Aliens Cause Global Warming" (A lecture by Michael Crichton,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, January 17, 2003)
-SPEECH: Remarks to the Commonwealth Club (Michael Crichton, San Francisco, September 15, 2003)
-PROFILE: Michael
Crichton Takes on Global Warming in Latest Work: Author Says
Environmentalists Are 'Fomenting False Fears' (JOHN STOSSEL, Dec. 10,
2004, 20/20)
-INTERVIEW:
Interview: Global warming? Now that really is fiction (Jasper
Gerard, 1/02/05, Sunday Times of London)
-PROFILE:
Jurassic Park author pours cold water on global warming: Michael
Crichton's new techno thriller fantasises a world free of the pall of
greenhouse gases (Patrick Barkham, December 11, 2004, The Guardian)
-AUDIO
INTERVIEW: Michael Crichton's 'State of Fear' (NPR Science Friday,
January 7, 2005)
-ESSAY:
Fear of reason (Gregory Benford and Martin Hoffert, San Diego Union
Tribune)
-ESSAY:
Global Warming? Hot Air (George F. Will, December 23, 2004,
Washington Post)
-ESSAY: Answers to Key
Questions Raised by M. Crichton in State of Fear (Pew Center on
Global Climate Change)
-ESSAY:
Fear Factoids: Michael Crichton debunks global warming in his latest
thriller. Bill McKibben says the book's bunk. (Bill McKibben, March
2005, Outside Magazine)
-ESSAY:
Michael Crichton's 'State of Fear': Fact and Fiction on Global
Warming (Alan Caruba
Monday, January 17, 2005, Chron Watch)
-ESSAY: Toro!
Toro! Michael Crichton (Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD, LewRockwell.com)
-ESSAY:
Some Like It Hot: Forty public policy groups have this in common:
They seek to undermine the scientific consensus that humans are causing
the earth to overheat. And they all get money from ExxonMobil (Chris
Mooney, May/June 2005, Mother Jones)
-REVIEW:
of Sphere by Michael Crichton (Robin McKinley, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Travels by Michael Crichton (Patricia Bosworth, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY
Times)
-REVIEW:
of Rising Sun by Michael Crichton (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Disclosure by Michael Crichton (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of The Lost World by Michael Crichton (Michiko Kakutani, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of The Lost World by Michael Crichton (MIM UDOVITCH, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
of Airframe by Michael Crichton (Tom Shone, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Airframe (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Timeline by Michael Crichton (DANIEL MENDELSOHN, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
of Timeline (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Prey by Michael Crichton (Jim Holt, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Prey (Janet Maslin, NY Times)
-REVIEW: of Prey (Freeman
J. Dyson, NY Review of Books)
-REVIEW ARCHIVES: Prey
(Reviews of Books)
-REVIEW
ARCHIVES: State Of Fear by Michael Crichton (MetaCritic)
-REVIEW ARCHIVES:
State of Fear (Reviews of Books)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (Michiko Kakutani, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (BRUCE BARCOTT, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Steve Martinovich, Enter Stage Right)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (S.T. Karnick, Claremont Review of Books)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Sam Leith, Daily Telegraph)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Blake Hurst, American Enterprise)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear(Read Mercer Schuchardt, Christianity Today)
-REVIEW: of State of
Fear (RONALD BAILEY, Opinion Journal)
-REVIEW: of State of
Fear (Ronald Bailey, Reason)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Richard Dyer, Boston Globe)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Carol Memmott, USA TODAY)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Sacha Zimmerman, New Republic)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (James Wilson, The Guardian)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Chris Mooney, Boston Globe)
-REVIEW: of State of
Fear (Charley Reese, LewRockwell.com)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (Jennie Bristow, Spiked)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (David Kipen, SF Chronicle)
-REVIEW: of State
of Fear (Allan Walton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
-REVIEW: of State of Fear (
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (Myron Ebell, Human Events)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (Joe Hartlaub, Bookreporter)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (Dr. Jeffrey M. Masters, Chief Meteorologist, The
Weather Underground, Inc.)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (David Roberts, Grist)
-REVIEW: of State
of Fear (NRDC)
-REVIEW: of State
of Fear (Kenneth Green, Tech Central Station)
-REVIEW: of State
of Fear (Joseph L. Bast, The Heartland Institute)
-REVIEW: of
State of Fear (Amy Ridenour, National Policy Analysis)
-REVIEW: of State
of Fear (S. Fred Singer, GlobalWarming.org)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Peter Guttridge, The Observer)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Iain Murray, National Review)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Robert Zirkelbach, Townhall)
-REVIEW:
of State of Fear (Jeff Glorfeld, The Age)
-REVIEW: of State of
Fear (gavin, Real Climate)
-ARTICLE: Experiment
probes climate riddle (Richard Black, 1/19/06, BBC News)
Book-related and General Links:
-The
Official Web Site of Michael Crichton
-Michael
Crichton Filmography
-A
Michael Crichton Website
-REVIEW:
of RISING SUN By Michael Crichton (Robert Nathan,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Rising Sun By Michael Crichton (CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT
, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
Ian Buruma: It Can't Happen Here, NY Review of Books
Rising Sun by Michael Crichton
-REVIEW:
of Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton (Adam Lesh, Dusty Shelf)
-REVIEW:
( Dylon Whyte , Books for those Busy Signal Blues)
-REVIEW:
of Timeline By Michael Crichton (Daniel Mendelsohn , NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
Louis Menand: Between Planes, NY Review of Books
Airframe by Michael Crichton
-REVIEW:
of Airframe By Michael Crichton (Tom Shone, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of TRAVELS By Michael Crichton (Patricia Bosworth, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
R.C. Lewontin: The Last of the Nasties?, NY Review of Books
The Lost World by Michael
Crichton
-REVIEW:
of THE LOST WORLD By Michael Crichton (Mim Udovitch, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE LOST WORLD By Michael Crichton (Michiko Kakutani,
NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Disclosure By Michael Crichton (CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT
, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of DISCLOSURE By Michael Crichton (Maureen Dowd, NY Times
Book Review)
-ESSAY:
A Man. A Woman. Just a Movie. Not a Polemic (BERNARD WEINRAUB, Special
to The New York Times)
-REVIEW:
Stephen Jay Gould: Dinomania, NY Review of Books
Jurassic Park directed by
Steven Spielberg, screenplay by Michael Crichton, and David Koepp
The Making of Jurassic Park
by Don Shay and Jody Duncan
Jurassic Park by Michael
Crichton
-REVIEW:
of Jurassic Park By Michael Crichton (CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT,
NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Jurassic Park By Michael Crichton (Gary
Jennings, NY Times Book Review)
-STUDY
GUIDE: LESSON PLANS FOR THE NOVEL "JURASSIC PARK" Instructor:
Jim Wasielewski Location: Vacaville High School
-REVIEW:
of SPHERE By Michael Crichton (Robin McKinley, NY
Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Thomas R. Edwards: People in Trouble, NY Review of Books
The Terminal Man by Michael
Crichton
Open Heart by Frederick
Buechner
Enemies, A Love Story by
Isaac Bashevis Singer
GENERAL:
-Asian
Studies WWW Virtual Library
-The Japan Economic
Institute of America
-Japan Information
Access Project
-ESSAY:
Asian Values and the Asian Crisis: Do the nations of the East have
a distinct cultural identity, and is it the source either of their rapid
econmic growth or of their current financial rupture? (Francis Fukuyama,
Commentary)
-ESSAY
: Is Japan Out to Get Us? (Robert B. Reich, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY
: TAKING STOCK: IS AMERICA IN DECLINE? (Peter Schmeisser, NY Times
Magazine)
-ESSAY
: After the Cold War, the Land of the Rising Threat (EDWIN McDOWELL,
NY Times)
-ESSAY
: Blindside revisited: the case stands lindside: Why Japan Is Still on
Track to Overtake the U.S. by the Year 2000 (Eamonn Fingleton)
-REVIEW
: of THE ENIGMA OF JAPANESE POWER People and Politics in a Stateless Nation
By Karel van Wolferen (Frank B. Gibney, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of TRADING PLACES How We Allowed Japan to Take the Lead. By Clyde V.
Prestowitz Jr (Jeffrey E. Garten, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of TRADING PLACES How We Allowed Japan to Take the Lead. By Clyde V.
Prestowitz Jr (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt , NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of AGENTS OF INFLUENCE By Pat Choate (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
, NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of AGENTS OF INFLUENCE By Pat Choate (Jeffrey E. Garten, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of THE END OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY By Steven Schlossstein ( Clyde
V. Prestowitz Jr , NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of HEAD TO HEAD The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe, and America.
By Lester Thurow (Adam Smith, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of INVENTING JAPAN The Making of a Postwar Civilization. By William Chapman
(Joel Dreyfuss, NY Times Book Review)
BILL EMMOTT:
-TJFR Business News Reporter: Journalist Profile[tm]: Bill Emmott, The Economist
-BOOKNOTES: Japanophobia: The Myth of the invincible Japanese by Bill Emmott (C-SPAN, February 13, 1994)
-REVIEW: of Japanophobia (Oren Grad, Reason)
-REVIEW: of 20:21 Vision By Bill Emmott (Lee Gaillard , SF Chronicle)
The
future is American: a review of 20:21 Vision: the Lessons of the 20th Century for the 21st by Bill Emmott (Martin Vander Weyer, Daily Telegraph)
-REVIEW: of 20:21 Vision: the Lessons of the 20th Century for the 21st by Bill Emmott (G. S. Rousseau, Spectator)
-REVIEW
: of THE SUN ALSO SETS The Limits to Japan's Economic Power. By Bill Emmott
(Joel Dreyfuss, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of JAPANOPHOBIA The Myth of the Invincible Japanese. By Bill Emmott
(Alan M. Webber, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of Japanophobia (Oren Grad, Reason)
-BOOKNOTES
: Author: Bill Emott Title: Japanophobia Air date: February
13, 1994 (C-SPAN)
-INTERVIEW
: Classical Liberalism: Anti-Utopian : An interview by Robert Nef with
Bill Emmott, Editor of "The Economist", London
-ESSAY
: On the yellow brick road : What might the 21st century bring? Some
clues can be found by looking at the ebb and flow of the 20th (Bill Emmott,
The Economist)
The future is American: a review of 20:21 Vision: the Lessons of the 20th Century for the 21st by Bill Emmott (Martin Vander Weyer, Daily Telegraph)
