Made in Japan and Other Japanese ""Business Novels"": And Other Japanese Business Novels

Almost sociological in their detail, these seven short stories--all examples of the ``business novel,'' a popular genre in Japan--offer a fascinating, self-critical glimpse of Japanese corporate culture and the human costs of the work ethic. While some of the smoothly translated tales are dry and didactic, others deftly reflect a business world rife with pretension, manipulation and conformism. In Ikko Shimizu's romantic melodrama ``Silver Sanctuary,'' an upstart banker's need to maintain an ideal self-image affects his choice of a marriage partner. ``Kinjuo the Corporate Bouncer'' by Saburo Shiroyama details power plays at shareholders' meetings. The settings range from a Tokyo candy factory to a Los Angeles trading company, and some of the stories cast a skeptical eye on the U.S. government's pressure tactics in trade negotiations and on the American advertising industry, ``gifted at grasping mob psychology.'' (Dec.)