Leaving Japan

"This book is a critique of America's flawed Asia policy that centers on U.S.-Japan relations but harkens back to the same disastrous views that drew America into Vietnam. The technique is a narrative flow of short vignettes woven into longer chapters; the main strands are personal reflections and interviews. Among those interviewed are former USTR negotiator Glen Fukushima, James Fallows of U.S. News and World Report, author Karel van Wolferen, Chalmers Johnson, and many Japanese. This is an incisive, assessable, keenly observed, enlightening and enlightened account by an American journalist living and working in Japan." "The main themes of the book are: (1) Criticism of the long-term (since the nineteenth century) assumption that Asian countries will become more like America as they reap the benefits of capitalism. This approach, the author argues, is not only arrogant and led to disaster in Vietnam, it is also souring U.S. relations with Japan. (2) Exploration of why Japan will not become a "little America." (3) The positing and analysis of potential solutions in the hope that another disaster will be avoided."--Jacket.