America and the Four Japans

Story

America and the Four Japans: Friend, Foe, Model, Mirror was published in 1994 by Stone Bridge Press. I wrote it on the encouragement of my good friend and editor, Peter Goodman, who thought there was room for yet another book on Japan. It was a very different time. It's hard to believe now, but at the beginning of the 1990s Many Americans and Europeans were getting somewhat hysterical about Japan. In science and technology and in business in general, Japan seemed to be "eating our lunch" (or "sushi" as some Silicon Valley types lamented). The Japanese threat seemed to be everywhere. In 1992, there was even a book titled The Coming War with Japan.  So the idea with my book was to present Americans, in particular, with a concise, unbiased primer on U.S.-Japan relations. The introduction to America and the Four Japans best describes its purpose. I've reproduced it below in its entirety:

INTRODUCTION

"No one ever tried harder than the American writer Lafcadio Hearn to understand Japan. Yet in 1891, a year after going to Japan to live there permanently, he wrote, "I am beginning to think I was a fool to write a book about Japan at all. My best consolation is that every year other people write books about Japan on the strength of a trip only;--and that excuse is very bad."

For over a hundred and fifty years Americans, like Hearn, have been fascinated, even obsessed, with Japan. And in that time the Japan we have known has changed dramatically. First it was a quaint feudal nation. Then it became a small but rapidly modernizing Asian state, which quickly mushroomed into an empire and a mortal enemy. Then, almost overnight, it was transformed into a faithful ally and a source of shoddy but inexpensive products. Now Japan is an economic and technological juggernaut, increasingly said to hold the key to our future. Not surprisingly, Americans have written hundreds, if not thousands of books about Japan in an attempt to understand it. But Japan remains shrouded in fog.

I believe it is as important to understand the different roles Japan plays in the American mind as it is to understand Japan itself. It is, after all, these roles--our perceptions--of Japan that define our relationship. They determine not only how we deal with Japan, but even how Japan behaves toward us. They create the reality. This book was therefore written as a guide to, and a commentary on, four of these roles--on Japan as a friend, foe, model, and mirror.

The first half of the book is about how close Japan and America have become, and how far apart we remain; about the sources of our friendship and our conflicts. It is also an attempt to go back to the basics--to "square one"--and as such it includes some history as well as personal observations. To old "Japan hands" much here may be familiar, but I believe it is important to periodically review how we got where we are today.

The second half of this book is about the rewards, problems, and pitfalls of trying to emulate Japan, as well as some of the ways Americans can use Japan to better understand themselves. It contains more personal opinion, and speculation. Throughout the book, however, the goal is the same, and that is to explore the larger question of what Japan means to America.

As Hearn might have asked, What's my excuse for writing a book on Japan?

I first went to Japan in 1965 at the age of fifteen and have been deeply involved with it ever since. Today I live in the United States and proudly consider it my home in the true sense of the word, but I have an equal number of friends in both nations. For nearly twenty years I have been working with Japanese and American people not only as a writer, but as a professional translator and interpreter, trying to communicate thoughts across the cultural divide. As an interpreter, I have seen horrendous cultural misunderstandings, arguments, and near fist-fights erupt over matters both trivial and vital, and I have seen people who were convinced they did not like each other form fast friendships. As a translator, I have been able to peer into slower written worlds where radically different logic and assumptions are employed, and to delight in the differences. The opinions in this book, then, are not those of someone from the world of business or academia or politics, but from the front lines of communications between Japan and American; from the trenches, if you will.

In recent years I have often met Americans who can micro-analyze Japan but know surprisingly little about the U.S.-Japan relationship itself. Yet to become involved with Japan--as more and more Americans are doing--is to enter into a very intimate relationshiop with a complicated history. I think it is important to know something about it. Even for old "Japan hands," it is important to periodically review how we got to where we are today.

In recent years I have also met many Americans who have read too many polemics--books on Japan written by either harsh critics or fawning admirers. I have never felt comfortable with this dualism. I believe there is need for concise, straightforward works that keep to the middle of the road. In this book I have therefore made a point of looking at the big picture and of focusing on basic commonalities and differences.

It might seem odd that I concentrate almost exclusively on Japan and America and rarely use the broader terms "East" or "West." Why, in this age of interdependence, do I so ignore the rest of the world?

The first answer is that for both economic and political reasons the relationship between Japan and America has become terribly important to the health of the whole world today; simultaneously, the Japan-U.S. connection offers the possibility of global good and global catastrophe.

Second, use of the words "East" or "West" is a legacy of a time long past, when most Americans lived physically in the New World but mentally in Europe, where Japan has always been to the "East" because that is the direction people first traveled to get there. To Americans, however, Japan is to the "West," and it is time for us to think on our own, to find a non-Eurocentric view of our Pacific neighbor.

It was hard to write knowledgeably and well about Japan in Lafcadio Hearn's day, and it may be even harder now. It involves walking down the same road so many others have while trying to observe the same scenery from a slightly different perspective. Like the United States, Japan is a highly dynamic and complex nation, an aggregate of millions of individuals with independent personalities and views. Making generalizations about it, therefore, becomes like tip-toeing through a minefield, trying to move forward in the right direction, while trying to avoid the booby traps of irresponsibility.

This book is not intended to explain everything about Japan. What book could? Instead, I have strived for brevity and simplicity, and I hope that readers will be stimulated to explore further on their own. The information included here is as up-to-date as I could make it, but the discussion is designed to be more than just a snapshot of a single moment in the U.S.-Japan relationship. I have written this book mainly for Americans, which might include anyone in the New World, and if it helps even one person I will be happy, for in the process of writing I have learned a great deal myself."

Cover Text

"A concise guide to understanding how America's views of Japan have changed--and must continue to change for the sake of our economic and cultural future."

--From the front cover of the 1994 edition.

"This remarkably thoughtful book is about the ever-changing relationship between Japan and the United States, the world's two largest industrial and economic superpowers. Drawing on history, cultural commentary, and opinion on both sides of the Pacific, it portrays two nations in conflict yet increasingly connected. Is Japan a friend, a rival, a role model? What does Japan really mean to America? No question is more important, for our relationship with Japan and its technological and industrial juggernaut will determine our place in the world of the next century..--From the back cover of the 1994 edition

Praise

Comments from Reviewers:

"Here is a book that does something too often missing in the rhetoric about U.S.-Japan relations-- it promotes understanding."

----GEORGE LUCAS, FILMMAKER

"Frederik Schodt's work is well known to anyone interested in Japanse popular culture. In this book, as in his legendary Manga! Manga!, he shows deep command of the nuance of Japnaese life. America and the Four Japans offers fresh, subtle, and often funny insights ion the interaction between Japan and America, and provides valuable ideas about how and where the United States might apply lessons from Japan."

----JAMES FALLOWS, WASHINGTON EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

"A clear and compelling look at Japan. Intelligent and entertaining, laced with wonderful snippets of history.

----STEVEN OKAZAKI, ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY PRODUCER

"Acute, up to date, and does justice to the complexity of the subject. The range of reference is highly impressive."

--PETER TASKER, AUTHOR OF THE JAPANESE

"Solid and refreshingly nonbiased. Frederik Schodt lets us see Japan with a more objective eye."

"Frederik Schodt's work is well known to anyone interested in Japanese popular culture. In this book, as in his legendary Manga! Manga!, he shows his deep command of the nuance of Japanese life. America and the Four Japans offers fresh, subtle, and often funny insights on the interaction between Japan and America, and provides valuable ideas about how and where the United States might apply lessons from Japan"

--PHILIP KAN GOTANDA, PLAYWRIGHT, AUTHOR OF THE WASH

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Publishing Data (and editions)

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America and the Four Japans: Friend, Foe, Model, Mirror is currently out of print. It's a classic! But there are still many copies available on the used market, and from on-line vendors such as Amazon and Abe Books

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