Bending Adversity

Starred review from November 18, 2013
Financial Times Asia editor Pilling draws on his own experiences, as well as interviews with novelists, academics, politicians, former prime ministers, executives, bankers, activists, and citizens young and old to provide a probing and insightful portrait of contemporary Japan. Covering the country’s history, politics, culture, economy, society, and foreign policy, he begins with the “triple disaster” of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown to explore how Japan confronts adversity and adapts to difficult circumstances. According to Pilling, Japan’s reluctance to end its isolation has long shaped its foreign policy, so that even with its former economic dominance, “it lacked geopolitical clout.” Though the country’s extraordinary economic success in the 1970s and ’80s made its collapse in 1990 harder to bear, Pilling argues that Japan has handled its economic stagnation better than expected, maintaining its social cohesion and high standard of living. As the interviewees attest, Japan is changing, particularly for the young, who have no guarantee of lifetime (or even regular) employment, and who describe themselves as socially responsible and more civic-minded than previous generations. Pilling concludes that Japan’s economic deflation, declining fertility, and rapidly aging population mirror worldwide trends in other developed countries, and the world has much to learn from Japan’s failures and successes. Agent: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency.

February 15, 2014
A sweeping view of contemporary Japan portrays its complexities and potential for change. In his first book, Financial Times Asia editor Pilling draws on scores of interviews to investigate Japan's culture, politics, economics and social life as it tries to recover from a severe economic downturn that began in 1990. The author celebrates Japan's "social cohesion, a sense of tradition and politeness, a dedication to excellence and relative equality," but he acknowledges a counter view--that Japan is "an unredeemably xenophobic, misogynist society, hierarchical, shut off from new ideas, and unable to square up to its own history." Unlike China and Korea, Japan remained isolated for much of its early history, resisting connection to other cultures with advances such as written language and metallurgy. Its feudal society persisted well into the 19th century, when leaders intent on modernization deliberately created "emperor-centered myths" to foster nationhood, as well as elevating Shinto, "an animist set of folkloric beliefs," to become the unifying religion. Much of Japan's conviction of its uniqueness, cultural superiority and racial homogeneity, Pilling argues, "is propaganda" initiated at that time. Yet that propaganda fueled a desire to prove military prowess and catapulted Japan into its disastrous attack on Pearl Harbor. The author focuses on recent catastrophes--the devastating 2011 tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster--to question Japan's capacity for resilience. He concludes that those "twin shocks...do seem to have shaken Japan psychologically," but he notes that other factors--businesses' globalization; changing dynamics of relationships between men and women; young people's often strident questioning of tradition; and a stronger two-party political system--have been evolving for the last two decades. Japan has proven itself resilient, at the same time remaining justly proud of being the third-largest economy in the world and richest economy in Asia. The author's articulate and diverse interviewees--scholars and teenagers, housewives and politicians--vividly and passionately testify to Japan's cultural contradictions, ambitions and strategies for survival.

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November 1, 2013
An earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown made 2011 a particularly rough year for Japan, revealing long-running worries about seismic instability, economic vulnerability, and the need for political reform. Yet the nation has recovered well, continuing as a major economic and geopolitical power. Pilling, a Financial Times correspondent to Japan for seven years, examines the extraordinary resilience of the Japanese people and institutions through recent disasters and more historical catastrophes. Even as it continues to recover from the angst of having lost its way as a leader in technology, Japan draws on a culture that recognizes the opportunity to transform bad fortuneor bend adversity. Pilling talked to a broad cross section of Japanyoung and old, industrialists, bankers, teachers, students, shopkeepersfor a vibrant portrait of triumph over adversity. He details Japan's constant trade-offs between, on the one hand, stifling conformity and a paternalism that protects citizens from the harsh realities of market forces and, on the other, a surprising ability to adapt to change en masse even as it also balances its relationships with the U.S. and China.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2013

Who better than the Asia editor of the Financial Times to tell us about contemporary Japan? Pilling starts with the devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, then tracks back to show how 19th-century defensiveness led to 20th-century imperialism, and finally looks at the financial bust of 1990.

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