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To: JF Quinnelly who wrote (7897)	1/6/2003 10:59:56 AM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

unfortunately, van Wolferen's excellent "Enigma of Japanese Power" was the last book he published in English available from an American publisher, and that was over a decade ago (published in 1989). i have another book of his written in Japanese, which was originally published in 1994. i'm not sure if this book has ever been published in English, although it was obviously translated from English (it lists the translator's name on the cover page). the Japanese title is "Ningen wo koufuku ni shinai nihon to iu shisutemu" (The System Called Japan Which Does Not Make People Happy), although there is a separate English title on the book that goes "The False Realities of a Politicized Society". published by Mainichi Shinbunsha--originally in 1994, and my copy is the 30th printing done in 1998, so i imagine it has sold well. my understanding is that in the 1980s, Japan put out a lot of money to Western academics and the like to write puff pieces on Japan. the kind of straight to the heart, penetrating stuff written by van Wolferen was not supported! other than the occasional piece in Foreign Affairs or the WSJ, i haven't seen much by him (who knows, maybe he publishes in Dutch, although you'd never know he's from Holland with his perfect English). in any case, "Enigma of Japanese Power" hadn't had much follow-through in Western books until the excellent "Dogs and Demons" by Alex Kerr, published in 2002. amazon.com this book, like van Wolferen's, is kind of a tour de force that examines many aspects of Japanese culture from the perspective of a Westerner who is very familiar w/Japan, but is outside the conformist Japanese-government-backed puff-piece circle. actually, Dogs and Demons is a terribly depressing piece of work. for works that are more focused on the financial area, i recommend Taggart Murphy's "The Weight of the Yen" (published around early 1995--just when the yen peaked at 80 to the dollar! which is bad luck, kind of like publishing a book on how to buy dotcoms in March 2000, but this is a great book and gives a detailed account of things like the Plaza Accord--i lost my copy a few years ago, but writing about it now, i decided to get a new one and was able to pick up a used copy at Amazon for a buck amazon.com for a more current look at what's going on with Japan finance-wise vis-a-vis trade policy, i can't sing enough praises for Taggart Murphy and Mikuni's "Japan's Policy Trap" published in 2002 by the Brookings Institute amazon.com this book may be a bit of tough sledding for those lacking familiarity with economic terms and concepts, but it is just a fantastic analysis of the evolution (a kind word) of Japan's trade policy, and the implications for the United States. i don't know much about China and their policies, so i would welcome any reading recommendations in that area.