archive

China-Japan

Michael J. Green (Georgetown): Japan’s Confused Revolution. Japan surrenders: James Fallows returns to his old Tokyo neighborhood and finds an inward-looking country that has lost its ambition. A review of Nihonjin no Otoko wa Motenai ("Japanese guys aren’t popular") by Meiko Mochizuki Swartz. An interview with Ian Buruma on books on Japan. A review of Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s by Jeff Kingston (and more). Practical lessons in world hegemony, as Japan’s attempt to strike an independent course is cut down by the Obama Administration. Jeffrey Kingston on the untapped potential of Japanese civil society. Japocalypse Watch: The latest entry in the increasingly popular genre of Japanese decline-watch stories in the U.S. media. Wada Haruki on resolving the China-Japan conflict over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. China's teetering on the verge of its own lost decade, and a meltdown in Beijing would make Japan's economic malaise look like child's play. A review of As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers Are Transforming Everything by Karl Gerth. A review of When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save Mankind — Or Destroy It by Jonathan Watts. Beijing is paying for Chinese-language schools all around the world, including scores in the US — should we be concerned? The World's fairs have always existed to entertain the West — the Shanghai World Expo, however, has its own ideas. The Next China: An interview with Stephen Roach, author of The Next Asia. China also rises: Will China seek revenge for its century of humiliation at the hands of the West? Beyond East vs. West: China's frictions with the modern, liberal world don't conform neatly to old binaries. It is not quite true that China is rejecting Western values such as democracy — rather, it is fighting over them. Religion in various forms is burgeoning in the PRC today, and the ruling Chinese Communist Party cannot decide what to make of it — or do about it. Can you give my son a job? Slavoj Zizek reviews The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor.