Japan the fragile superpower

by Frank B. Gibney

Book Overview

This book attempts to get behind the superficial view of Japanese by Americans, either as charming clients or vicious international competitors, and presents the Japanese as they look within their own... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00FF4BNV6
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: W W NORTON
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very interesting insight into Japanese culture and society

This is a partial review as I'm only 1/3rd into the book. So far, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It offers insight into not only what makes the Japanese tick but also what aspects of their experience differ from those of a typical American. It's also a great book if one wishes to 'triangulate' ones knowledge of, for instance, China as it allows one to further sort out and categorize otherwise vague stereotypes and tidbits of information about that side of the world.

Preview of Japan's fall in the 1990s

This book was written in the 1980s*, while Japan was strong and it's future was bright. Most books in the West fell over themselves extolling the virtures of Japanese style capitalism. Anyone who disagreed was called a "revisionist". Frank Gibney was branded such because, while recognizing many of Japan's strong points, he dared point out that all that rigid, central planning might not work forever. Turns out he was right. Some of his references may be dated (unless the reissue has updated them) but the book is an excellent look at the Japan of the 1980s, and correctly predicts the problems to come. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to see how Japan got into the mess it fell into it's recession of the 1990s*I know it says 1996 as publishing date, but I read it in the mid 1980s; maybe it's a reissue.