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Title: Helped start the Japan bashing wave as mainstream but
Review: This is actually a terrible book. It ought to get negative stars. Van Wolferen is simply a hack Dutch journalist whose command of English probably isn't much better than his non-existing Japanese (even though the book's strength is supposed to be its insider information). Who pays this guy to write such propaganda? Probably interests like Dutch Phillips, which in the late 80s and 90s worried about being put out of business by Japanese electronics makers. The political economy of Japan is SO MUCH more than anything VanWolferen describes. Now, there are parts that are perfectly true of Japan. The problem is that the author and many of his positive critics seems oblivious to the fact that what he is critiquing can also be applied to neoliberal imperialist political economies like the US and EU. Duh.
