Japan Swings: Politics, Culture And Sex In The New Japan

Japan Swings: Politics, Culture And Sex In The New Japan (1997) by Australian journalist Richard McGregor is a somewhat out of date, but accurate and applicable to Japan today in many areas. Some of the unchanged ideas and concepts in Japan that he reports on include the non transparent court system, prevalent paternalism, the unholy alliance of government and big business, nihonjinron (the study of Japanese-ness), whaling, and the tendency to see themselves as victims of WWII (not to mention controversies involving history textbooks, comfort women, etc. in the chapter "The Wages Of War"). Obviously, his discussion of business and politics ends in the 90s and he has missed out on recent trends like the massive decline in birth rates and social problems like hikimori. He does get some things right, he predates Alex Kerr's book Dogs And Demons about the pork barrel excess of the construction business that has disfigured much of Japan with concrete lined rivers and creeks, bridges and roads that go no where. Mc Gregor is especially good discussing the nuances of the complex worlds of politics and finance. For example, in "Beyond The Bubble" he tells the story of Nui Onoue, a former mistress of a yakuza, who amassed a huge fortune which she illegally mismanaged during the bubble era. He looks at corruption and the unholy alliance of big business-especially construction companies and protectivist strategies of the government in chapters like "Money Politics" and "The Nanny State." McGregor can be incisive about how the Japanese see themselves in relation to the rest of the world in chapters like "Asian's Siren Song" (which shows how they see themselves separate from other Asian countries and superior to them) and "The Odd Couple" (which looks at the relationship between Japan and Australia over the last 100 years). He looks at gender roles in "Bad Girls And Mummie's Boys," which is probably the most sensationalistic chapter, as he discusses kyoiku mamas that will do "anything" to make sure their sons do well on their exams and does debunk the "yellow cab" myth. However, still reports on women going wild on vacation and sleeping with Thai and Balinese beach boys. In the final chapter,"Nicer New Nationalism," he looks at the cultural view of the Japanese through its nihonjinron cottage publishing industry (in which 100s of books about Japanese uniqueness come out every year), the whaling issue (which has become more controversial of late with the exposure from The Cove), the Imperial family issues of the late 90s, and the issue of the Self-Defense forces. The pendulum swinging metaphor is invoked as sees economic strength being combined with political weakness. Hie final assessment is that Japan combines xenophobia with an intense and insecure competitive streak that is seen in nationalistic values of racial superiority, self-sacrifice and self-abnegation.