School Study Guides

12

Japanese Book News

Number 17

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Atarashii chûsei: Nijû-isseiki no

sekai shisutemu [The “New Middle

Ages”: The World Order in the

Twenty-first Century]. Tanaka Aki-

hiko. Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha,

1996. 193\131 mm. 308 pp. ¥2,300.

ISBN 4-532-14476-0.

Although the term “post-Cold War”

is widely used to describe the present

international situation, in the author’s

view that label merely reflects the in-

adequacy of our understanding of the

new world order and the need for a

more appropriate and rigorous con-

ceptualization.

He argues that the complexity of

the world today, where not only the

Cold War but international domina-

tion have yielded to increasing inter-

dependence, defies comprehension

under the conceptual rubric of

“modernity.” Rather, he says, the

contemporary world is beginning to

take on a strong resemblance to Eu-

rope in the Middle Ages—hence his

concept of the “New Middle Ages.”

Common to both eras, he finds, is the

emphasis on social pluralism and ide-

ological universalism.

The author perceives the emer-

gence of this new order as falling into

different stages, however. He divides

the present world into three spheres

representing three developmental

stages in that direction: the New

Middle Ages sphere, where liberal

democracy and market economy are

already established; the Modern

sphere, which has yet to achieve

those goals; and the Chaotic sphere,

where order has collapsed. The inter-

action of these spheres, he says, will

determine the future of international

politics.

Born in 1954, the author is an asso-

ciate professor at the University of

Tokyo. In this book he constructs a

bold and intriguing theory backed by

a compelling analysis.

Daigaku bimbô monogatari [The Fi-

nancial Crisis of Japan’s Universi-

ties]. Arima Akito. Tokyo Daigaku

Shuppankai (University of Tokyo

Press), 1996. 194\133 mm. 250 pp.

¥2,884. ISBN 4-13-003309-3.

The inferiority of the Japanese uni-

versity research environment is well

known. Calls for improvement of the

situation have even appeared in the

British science journal Nature, which

asserted that the present academic

climate in Japan does not foster

scholars of an international standard.

Arima Akito (b. 1930), a physicist,

served as the president of the Univer-

sity of Tokyo, his alma mater, from

1989 to 1993. When he took over the

presidency, he already felt the state

of academic research in Japan was

badly in need of reform. Though sur-

prised at the world-class standards

that certain Japanese scholars have

attained despite the financial con-

straints, he nonetheless warns that

such achievements will soon be a

thing of the past unless action is

taken now. He made such reform one

of the central tasks of his term as

head of the university.

Statistical comparison with the pri-

vate sector graphically illustrates the

severity of the funding shortage at

Japanese national universities:

whereas auto giant Toyota Motor

Corporation alone spent ¥380 billion

on research and development in

1990, expenditure on research and 

facilities among all national universi-

ties combined was just ¥200 billion.

Arima has already aroused consider-

able public concern for this state of

affairs through articles in the press,

and his reform efforts have been a

major impetus in the emergence of

new trends in fiscal policy for na-

tional universities over recent years.

The present volume includes further

essays on the issue as well as the au-

thor’s ideas on the future direction of

science and advice to students en-

tering university.

Jôzu ni hito o yamesasetai [Skillful

Ways at Getting Employees to

Leave]. Takai Nobuo. Kôdansha,

1996. 186\120 mm. 244 pp. ¥1,400.

ISBN 4-06-264026-0. 

The jacket blurb on this book reads:

“In business, managers must be per-

sonnel experts. This book offers prac-

tical know-how on how to ‘let people

go’ amicably, that is, without inviting

lawsuits or personal grudges.” As this

suggests, this work takes the difficult

task of firing employees very seri-

ously.

The author, a lawyer with many

years’ experience in the area of labor

relations, has handled many cases

arising from corporate restructuring

in the form of employment adjust-

ment. A feature of the book, written

primarily for managers of small- and

medium-sized businesses, is that the

author addresses the problem of re-

trenchment from the managerial

point of view. His insights provide

Japanese and foreign readers alike

with an intriguing glimpse into this

increasingly important facet of small

business management in Japan. He

explains, for example, that a compa-

ny’s “bad” employees are not incom-

petent, but simply people who do not

belong, by nature, to the company.

Cover design: Studio Gibu

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13

Japanese Book News

Number 17

For managers, knowing how to dis-

miss such employees without causing

them to resent the company or, in ex-

treme cases, commit suicide, is of ut-

most importance.

A provocative account of how the

processes of hiring and firing

workers—and could work better—in

Japan.

Keinzu wa hontô ni shindanoka [Is

Keynes Really Dead?]. Kanamori

Hisao, Japan Center for Economic

Research, ed. Nihon Keizai Shim-

bunsha, 1996. 194\131 mm. 244 pp.

¥1,700. ISBN 4-532-14486-8.

April 21, 1996 was the fiftieth an-

niversary of the death of John May-

nard Keynes, possibly the most

important economist of the twentieth

century. Keynes’s works, in partic-

ular The General Theory of Employ-

ment, Interest and Money (1936), laid

the foundation for macroeconomic

analysis. The cornerstone of his

theory is the principle of effective de-

mand, according to which economic

recession is a result of insufficient ag-

gregate demand and must be rectified

by creating more demand.

This volume is a collection of es-

says on Keynes by eight of Japan’s

leading economic analysts. Keynes’s

theory has long ceased to enjoy the

kind of attention it attracted among

Japanese economists in the 1960s,

when it exerted considerable influ-

ence on Japanese economic policy.

The historical analysis in this book of

the implementation of Keynesian

policies in postwar Japan is espe-

cially fascinating.

Despite the editors’ intentions to

revive Keynes’s ideas, the contribu-

tors vary widely in their assessments

of the value of Keynesian theory and

policy, and the result is a thought-

provokingly diverse debate. The

book includes a transcript of a round-

table discussion among the contribu-

tors.

Seigiron jiyûron [On Justice and

Freedom]. Tsuchiya Kei’ichirô.

Iwanami Shoten, 1996. 182\128

mm. 174 pp. ¥1,500. ISBN 4-00-

004442-7.

By way of a commentary on Amer-

ican philosopher John Rawls’s A

Theory of Justice (1971), which

probed the limits of freedom and the

boundaries between (collective) com-

munity and (liberal) civil society, the

present work asks what direction po-

litical philosophy ought to take in the

years ahead, particularly in light of

current political circumstances in

Japan.

The author argues that liberalism, 

a philosophy that champions such

causes as freedom, respect for other-

ness and opposition to totalitari-

anism, never developed as a distinct

force in Japanese society, which is

organized, rather, on the tacit 

premise of social homogeneity.

Today, however, as societies all over

the world enter an age of ethnic, reli-

gious, and cultural diversity, Japan

cannot afford to ignore the global

trend of liberal pluralism. To that

end, he finds, Japan’s political and

diplomatic arenas are badly in need

of a political philosophy of freedom.

As a step in that direction, he ex-

amines certain forms of social orga-

nization in Japan’s past, such as the

thirteenth-century renga-kai, gather-

ings for joint composition of linked

verse, and points to the need for a re-

vival of individuals’ commitment to

realizing equal rights of freedom.

Born in 1946, the author is a

philosopher of law at Meiji Univer-

sity. He is also active beyond aca-

demic circles as a producer of Noh

and other theatrical performances.

Terebi to seiji [Television and Poli-

tics]. Yokota Hajime. Suzusawa

Shoten, 1996. 190\126 mm. 228 pp.

¥1,545. ISBN 4-7954-0124-1.

Compared with the printed media,

what the broadcast media generates is

evanescent. One can always look up

a back issue of a magazine or news-

paper at the library, but once a radio

or television program goes on the air

it is not easily saved or retrieved. De-

spite that impermanence, however,

television has the greatest power to

permeate society.

The author of this work focuses on

television news coverage of a partic-

ular series of developments in

Japanese politics beginning in the

spring of 1993 (from right before the

collapse of the Liberal Democratic

Party’s forty-decade rule to the for-

mation of the non-LDP coalition 

government in August 1993), a pro-

cess he regards as the degeneration of

TV reporting into a propaganda ma-

chine for the “reformist” factions

which advocated political realign-

ment and introduction of a single-

seat constituency system to the lower

house of the Diet. Employing the em-

pirical method, he uses transcripts

and photographs from top-rating tele-

vision news programs to consider the

extent to which the less-than-impar-

tial stance of the news may have in-

fluenced political trends. While

providing an analysis of the dangers

of television politics on the one hand,

the book is also a fascinating account

of the peculiarities and current state

of television broadcasting in Japan.

Cover design: Kurata Akinori

Cover design: Suzuki Hitoshi  

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