About book The Enigma Of Japanese Power: People And Politics In A Stateless Nation (1990)
Intense polemic on the nature of Japanese society - van Wolferen says that there is no central power structure, but instead a broader decentralized network which he calls 'the System'. The Enigma of Japanese power came out in the late 1980s, a time when Japanese economic growth was forecast to be one of the most preeminent in the world - but all this disintegrated in the real estate asset bubble which exploded in 1991, and Japan is still recovering from, even today. Now China is the Yellow Peril, but its economic future is hardly built on a solid foundation.But what is Wolfered saying about Japanese society which got him so much attention in the late 1980s? His view is of a strong homogeneous elite which consolidates power among itself in the form of the LDP party apparatus and the civil service, willfully keeps the majority of the population as docile laborers, and emphasizes economic growth above all. It is not about power for power's sake, but power in defense of a polity - Japan's economic policy, like that of the other East Asian tigers, was of a 'developmental' protectionist state. There's also some stuff here which stomps into the hunting grounds of cultural anthropology. Specifically, van Wolferen views Japan as an essentially feudal state, more or less unchanged from the medieval society of 500 years ago (or earlier) and thus inherently different (opposed to?) any Western observer. Wolferen's book is a cultural analysis clothed in institutional terms. Now what does this book look like, some twenty years on? Japan's economic miracle came to a crashing halt twenty years ago, and even the Liberal Democratic Party lost power for a few years after each financial crisis. (They did eventually come back - first after a few months absence in 1994, and now Abe won since 2012.A main criticism I have heard from Japanese reviews is that this book only focuses on the negatives of Japanese society. This is true. But then again, I don't see people making such complaints about The Wire. And many of the incidents which Wolferen describes are true - the cartel of the Japanese Medical Association, pork barrel projects, and even the confusion over culpability in the most recent Fukushima disaster - Tokyo Electric Power Company lies somewhere outside the government-owned private dichotomy, and there has been a lack of responsibility in its inspections as far back as 2002. Wolferen's book is not always rigorous in an academic sense, but it does retain focus on one thing - the organization and dispersal of power. His view is that Japan is a nation of 'social control', which was first tried in Western Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Japan is not the only nation to try such things, of course, but van Wolferen says it was the only one to survive the Second World War (with the tacit acceptance of the US, who needed anti-communist allies). But it was social control without a central authority, and this lack of a coordinated response this had led to crack's in Japan's myth of invincibility (Aum Shinrikyo, the bubble economy, Fukushima). There is also the matter of the DJP, which briefly took power in 2009, but was stymied by institutional deadlock. There is little else I can say with any certainty. Japan's future is not certain. Twenty five years ago, Japan was supposed to be the number one economy in the world. Now it is third, behind China (fourth if you count the EU). What can be said is that not even a 'system' so entrenched can last forever.
An impressive book on the way politics and power work in Japan. For all those with an activity related to Japan this is fundamental reading. It will also help you reflect on the political system of your own country, and you will find yourself asking - is it different in my country? You will also wonder if such a comprehensive analysis on how things really work has been done for many other countries. After reading this book, many things will fall in place, and you will appreciate much better what is really going on. You will also be able to distinguish those who have a grasp from those who don't. It changes your perspective. I can only recommend it as urgent reading.Finally, there is the timing of the book. It was written at the end of the 80's when the Japanese expansion was about to halt. In a way the book was premonitory in identifying the inability of setting any policy and implementing it - this was clear and accurate. But it only slightly touches two massive shortcomings in the system, which have become clear in the past 20 years and we can today appreciate with hindsight. The first is the fundamental handicap in terms of innovation. The system was designed for catching up but not for leading, and is unable to generate the dialectic movements that make technologies, industries and ideas advance. Both because it is inefficient as it avoids competition, and because it fosters conformity instead of disruption. The last two decades show that the country has been progressively unable to compete internationally. The second is that social progress can still take place, an in the case of Japan the most extreme result of the work and family arrangements was the drop in the birth rate to a level where the country faces serious problems of sustainability - also because the system is unable to steer into solving them. It is, therefore, a blind juggernaut. The assessment of Van Wolferen is impressive in diagnosing and in predicting the dire consequences of the diagnosis. We'll all be here to watch.
Do You like book The Enigma Of Japanese Power: People And Politics In A Stateless Nation (1990)?
This is a very intriguing survey of Japanese culture written by a Westerner who has spent much of his life in Japan. It focuses on the different means by which social order is maintained in Japanese society. Van Wolferen concludes that Japan is a "stateless nation" whose institutions mask the racial ties through which real power flows. Even if you are not particularly interested in Japan, or if you believe that Japanese culture has undergone fundamental changes since the book was written in the 1980s, it is a interesting survey of how power works in a non-Western country.And then you can read a similar book which recommended "The Enigma of Japanese Power" to me, Dave Barry's "Dave Barry Does Japan", which has the advantage of being much funnier and which highlights some other aspects of Japanese society (corn on pizza!).
—Sean
This book definitely answered a lot of questions on the Japanese culture and people that I had in my head.Mostly what it describes is a combination between an autocratic bureaucracy and a cult that encompasses the whole country. It explains all the cliches you can see in anime/manga and the general behavior of the Japanese people. There's some bias in the author, but that doesn't seem to affect the conclusions of the book.All in all, the best book about Japan that I've seen. I wonder if there's an update for the last 20 years (this was finished in 1988).
—Vasil Kolev
this blistering book was initially banned in Japan shortly after it was published. It is full of hard truths about that complex and contradictory land. Ultimately, the ban was removed as that was where I bought and read it.... and finally found some answers to plaguing questions.... is it me? is it the Japanese? Beautiful country, exquisite culture but how do you reconcile that with so much brutal and bristling nastiness.... read this book if you are curious of what I speak and saw and to some extent experienced in my 2 years in Tokyo.
—Sandy
