The Japan That Can Say No: Why Japan Will Be First Among Equals
Shintaro Ishihara. Simon & Schuster, $18.45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-72686-7
In this brief, arresting and abrasively frank work, Japan Diet member and novelist Ishihara plumbs the causes of friction between his country and the U.S. Claiming that dropping the A-bomb on Japan rather than on Germany conveyed American racism, he warns that nuclear superiority will go to the superpower that acquires a microchip made only in Japan. And while conceding Japanese deficiencies--poor self-image, staunch clannishness--the author contends that U.S. trade deficits are due to a pursuit of immediate profits at the expense of long-range economic planning such as that practiced in his country. Calling for changed attitudes on both sides, Ishihara proposes a detailed agenda of ``drastic steps'' on the part of the U.S. to restore its world competitiveness and to foster an equal partnership with Japan--which he deems essential to both nations as a factor in post-Cold War global realignments. $75,000 ad/promo. (Jan.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/01/1991
Genre: Nonfiction
Paperback - 158 pages - 978-0-671-75853-0