Caught in a Mirror: Reflections of Japan

by Lisa Martineau (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $27.27

  A personal journey through Japan, giving clues to a culture that may, the author contends, permeate the world. The next cold war will be a trade war. As things stand, Japan is the certain winner and therefore the next single superpower. This book is a foretaste of what the world may look and feel like if Japanese popular culture permeates it as American pop culture does now. The narrative first looks at the countryside, looking at the importance of myth, ancestor worship, the role of traditional arts and, in a typical Japanese contradiction, the despoliation of the countryside, going on with barely a murmur of protest. Next, the author explores the lives of the average man, woman and child in Tokyo: how they are taught to be proper Japanese and accept living and social conditions intolerable to a Westerner. The inaccuracy of the general belief in Japan's diligent and efficient work force is exposed, and all aspects of human life in this city is examined. Other topics examined are government, education, xenophobia, mental health, crime and religion.