Dogs and Demons: Tales From the Dark Side of Modern Japan

By Alex Kerr

Book Overview

The crises--and failures--of modernization in Japan, as seen up close by a resident expert Japan is a nation in crisis, and the crisis goes far beyond its well-known economic plight. In Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr chronicles the crisis on a broad scale, from the failure of Japan's banks and pension funds to the decline of its once magnificent modern cinema. The book takes up for the first time in the Western press subjects such as the nation's endangered environment--its seashores lined with concrete, its roads leading to nowhere in the mountains. It describes Japan's "monument frenzy," the destruction of old cities such as Kyoto and construction of drab new cities, and the attendant collapse of the tourist industry. All these unhealthy developments are, Kerr argues, the devastating boomerang effect of an educational and bureaucratic system designed to produce manufactured goods--and little else. A mere upturn in economic growth will not quickly remedy these severe internal problems, which Kerr calls a "failure of modernism." He assails the foreign experts who, often dependent on Japanese government and business support, fail to address these issues. Meanwhile, what of the Japanese people themselves? Kerr, a resident of Japan for thirty-five years, writes of them with humor and passion, for "passion," he says, "is part of the story. Millions of Japanese feel as heartbroken at what is going on as I do. My Japanese friends tell me, 'Please write this--for us.'"

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809095211
• ISBN13: 9780809095216
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Hill and Wang
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book, some reviewers wrote rubbish

I believe this is a must-read for anyone who has spent time in Japan. I was greatly concerned at some of the rubbish in the previous reviews, though, and couldn't resist adding some responses below:"the author tries to detail how the hugely complex Japanese economy is a total mess, when in reality it is the second largest in the world... In fact what they have achieved in 50 years may be one of mankind's greatest economic miracles" - T BiamonteResponse: Actually, Kerr himself states that the rapid development of the Japanese economy was a miracle, but Biamonte's preceding statement relies on the "Biggu izu bettaa" fallacy through which many Japanese banks have merged, becoming the world's largest in terms of assets, while remaining essentially bankrupt due to even greater liabilities. An economy is large in GDP terms if it spends/consumes a lot, but if this consumption is founded (as in Japan) on massive borrowing which can't be repaid without massive inflation which the government won't allow, then it really is "a total mess"."Example [of stupid arguments]: Japanese businesses really have no capital and inflate all earnings beyond actual facts. Hey, if this was true, wouldn't someone have noticed before him?" -chimara27Response: Well, yes, but the fact that this hasn't come out in a major newspaper or academic journal doesn't mean that nobody noticed, simply that it hasn't been made official. Why not? As Kerr patiently explains, journalists not satisfied with being spoon-fed official accounts from industry and the bureaucracies are blacklisted from press-clubs and can't do their jobs; any bureaucrats who informed the public of these issues would be missing out on a profitable semi-retirement as an amakudari "consultant" for a large corporation; general employees who exposed this issue would be sacked and probably refused employment by other companies (this last point is my own, but pretty much common sense to anyone who has worked for a Japanese company)."[Regarding payments to surgeons, Kerr] got Y100,000-200,000 right, but that is not under the table, it is OVER the table (as a gift)" - A reader from New York city, New YorkSorry, friend, but "gifts" of money to supplement what should be an arm's-length transaction between surgeon and patient are, by definition "under the table", regardless of how many people know about them or where, physically in relation to the furniture, the handover takes place."In the intro, Kerr admits himself that ["Dogs and Demons"] is a CHINESE reference and not even a Japanese one. The taking one bit of Other culture to represent anOther is classic racism. Then again also isn't it a little suspect for someone who has supposedly lived in Japan for 35 years to compare Japanese people with animals and supernatural specters to describe them?" - A reader from New York city, New York.Response: It's interesting to see someone cry racism after swinging round a derogatory term like "gaijin" just a paragraph earlier. The "dogs

from an ex-resident

For people with experience of living in Japan and professing a love of the country, this book may confirm your worst fears, that despite efforts to convince yourself to the contrary, Japan is indeed a grim, ugly and disparaging environment in which to live.It is a common phenomenon that, despite the reality around them, foreign residents of Japan believe they are living in the coffee-table-book vision of Japanese harmony and simplicity. Occasional glimpses of beauty in the form of a kimono, a beautifully wrapped present or a brightly coloured sushi bento box enable residents to reinforce this view and somehow shut-out the chaotic, claustrophobic, rabbit warren of neon-lit concrete and barrage of noise that surrounds them. Blinkering the obvious and magnifying the minute in order to deny their objectivity and justify their decisions to put off returning home for, just one more year.These rare glimpses of the traditional Japan that people rightly admire and cherish are the last remnants of an aesthetic that is rapidly being buried beneath a shroud of concrete and Hello Kitty by Japan Inc. In "Dogs and Demons", Alex Kerr describes how this process has occurred and why. Those Japanophiles excited by the Japanese landscape as a symbol of an inevitable modernization, a futuristic prototype for all the world's cities will be disappointed to find that it isn't modernism that is responsible for the grim rubbish-tip quality of the Tokyo cityscape but a dated developing-world mentality and seemingly endless bureaucracy pocket lining.The book offers startling statistic after frightening statistic detailing the environmental damage done, the millions of dollars being passed from old-boy palm to old-boy palm and the lemming-like inevitability of Japan?fs slow march to the economic and environmental disaster that will eventually stop the rot.Although awareness is rising, timing compounds the problem. Now that Japan?fs economic growth has come to an end, funds won?ft be available to beautify the cities, return the countryside to its original state, clean up the toxic waste or to build a decent stock of housing for people to live in.All in all a pretty depressing book for anyone with a love of, or strong connection with, Japan. Despite Alex Kerr?fs negativity in this book his criticism seems to stem from a love for the country in which he spent over 30 years, and with a bit of luck his next book may concentrate on more positive aspects to modern Japan, such a book could then act as an antidote to the depressive emotions generated while reading ?gDogs and Demons?h.

The truth is out there.

I've lived and worked in Japan for 8 years. I speak Japanese. I have a Japanese family. I watch the Japanense news every night. I know exactly what Kerr is talking about. He's dead on target.If you have any interest in Japan at all, you must read the book. Please read the book, and learn what's going on here. Then spread the news. Help!Although Kerr might be disillusioned, he certainly isn't writing about disillusionment. He's writing about facts. People who read this book need to understand that. If he misses a small detail here or there, well, by and far he's exceptionally accurate. I know, I've been here through much of what he discusses.Everyone around me knows what Kerr writes about is true. There's nothing in his book you couldn't talk to the average Japanese salary man about, and get him to grudgingly agree with. The only problem would be he would probably end up saying "shikata ga nai ne." Which, unfortunately means , it can't be helped.But I just don't believe that. The more this information becomes common knowledge, the better chance Japan has of changing. Why should Japan change? So that the people living here can be happier. Is that too much to ask for?READ THE BOOK! Spread the word.

A Must Read

I have lived in Japan for seven years and thought that I was finished with the famous love, disillusionment and acceptance phases that people go through when they come to Japan, but after reading Dogs and Demons: Tales From the Dark Side of Japan, I have found myself back in the severely disillusioned stage. When I read about how the bureaucracies are purposely destroying the environment by pouring millions of tons of concrete every year and how the government continually lies to the people about how unsafe their nuclear reactors are and refuses to punish corporate criminals who have knowingly killed or sickened thousands of people it made me angrier than I have ever been since I came to Japan. In Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr has found the courage to say explicitly something that has been at the back of my mind for years but which I found difficult to admit to myself: that Japan has been turned into the ugliest country in the world; how it has become a concrete wasteland with some of the laxest environmental and health regulations in the developed world. Kerr is angry not because of Japan's problems, but because of it's leadership's bloody-minded refusal to admit that problems exist, let alone do something to fix them. When he talks about how the government purposely waited until most of the people in the famous Minamata lead poisoning case were dead before they agreed to pay out a measly $30-80 000 per person, and refused to prosecute the companies responsible; the appalling lack of safety regulations and punishments for corporate criminals; the way the country has purposely mutilated its environment and the house of cards that Japan's banking and financial sectors have become with unbelievable debts, unrivalled corruption, and insane business practices it's hard to accept that these things are actually true, but they are. This is a painful book to read, and sometimes I felt like I didn't want to turn the page, because I was dreading what horror story would be on the next page, but then I realised that if I put the book down, I would be just as guilty as the people who are running the country. This may be one of the most important books every written about Japan and I consider it a must read for everyone who lives in this country, Japanese or foreign.