SHUTTING OUT THE SUN: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation by Michael Zielenziger
Publisher Nan Talese/Doubleday, Current Affairs, September 2006
An insider's view of modern-day Japan that explores its unique,
disturbing social trends, which have not before been analyzed in an
English-language book.
By focusing on Japan's psychological malaise and confining social
institutions, Shutting Out the Sun explains how the rigidity of its
tradition-steeped society, and its refusal to accept the cries for
individual creativity and social trust endemic to modernity, ultimately
stifle Japan's economic growth and political evolution. Disquieting and
politically controversial, Zielenziger's assessment of Japan is both smart
and unconventional; it offers a powerful new paradigm for understanding
Japan's present and future, and the implications for the rest of the
Asia-Pacific region and the United States. 
Michael Zielenziger has written extensively about social, economic, and
political trends in Japan, Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. He was a
finalist for a 1995 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting and was also a
contributor to two other Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The Mercury News. He is
a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and is a 2003
recipient of an Abe Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council of
New York.
Full of surprises and fresh discoveries, Shutting Out the Sun
convincingly explains why the great Japanese juggernaut has faltered--and it
does so with intelligence, insight and verve. It's the keenest view of the
Japanese character since Ruth Benedict's classic The Chrysanthemum and the
Sword, and a worthy successor.
-- Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Making of
the Atomic Bomb
"What makes Michael Zielenziger's account so useful and attractive is his
focus on the real people who make up modern Japan. He shows what the change
in Japan's overall fortunes has done to them, and how their response affects
their country's future prospects-- and its effects on the world. This is a
fascinating look at a limitlessly intriguing culture."
-- James Fallows, author of Blind Into Bagdad and Looking
at the Sun: The Rise of New East Asian Economic and Political Systems
Please visit
Michael Zielenziger web site... |
