In the Shogun's Shadow, Understanding a Changing Japan

Discusses Japan's triumphs and troubles--including the pressure Japanese society places on its youth and workers--and explodes the Western myths and misconceptions about the country.

Grade 6-9-This attempt at understanding modern Japan is divided into three broad sections: history and geography; contemporary society; and U.S.-Japanese relations. Additionally, there is an appendix on language and communication. Langone supplies many fascinating facts and statistics about contemporary Japan-and the U.S., by way of comparison. However, there are some factual errors, e.g., Marco Polo never set foot in Japan, yet the author not only avers that he did, but also reproduces a dubious quote; modern scholarship has not finished with Hirohito, but it is now certain that he was not a "puppet emperor" as perpetuated here. Japanese life and customs are presented in terms of privation rather than cultural difference. Langone's loaded language tends to reinforce the very preconceptions and prejudices he is avowedly trying to dispel: "antlike and robotlike" Japanese workforce; "they and their wares seem to be everywhere." With pejorative remarks about U.S. inner-city schools and labor, it is no surprise that the author seems to applaud the "healthy dose of fear of authority" evinced by the Japanese. Drab black-and-white illustrations are incongruous with the text. There is nothing else at this level that undertakes to explain the Japanese, but this opus does not succeed.
John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Langone ( Spreading Poison: A Book About Racism ) combines history, facts and his own impressions of Japan in this provocative book, "an attempt tp peer beneath what is to most Westerners a strange and incomprehensible culture." He begins with a list of 100 true/false questions designed to challenge a reader's preconceptions and knowledge of Japan and its people, then plants the answers in his swift, far-ranging text. From early Japanese history to current penal conditions (most prison walls are so low that inmates could vault over them, but escape attempts are rare), his informative discussion is enriched by well-chosen examples and anecdotes. Most interesting are his observations on the pressures and problems challenging young people in a changing Japanese society: he mentions a student who attends an after-school "cram" class from five to nine each night, receives two more hours of private guidance, then goes home to do his homework; he quotes Ian Buruma's description of such apparent rebels as teenage rock 'n' rollers as "outrageous conformists" who pursue their interests with Japanese thoroughness. Throughout the book, Langone stresses respect for and understanding of the culture, and his balanced tone encourages readers to appreciate a country and a people with different customs and attitudes. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Understanding is the theme as Langone summarizes Japan's history (succinctly, but clearly) and surveys its society-- customs, beliefs, home life, gender roles, youth, and the workplace (but not financing medical care, which would have been useful at this juncture in our own debate). In each instance, he takes pains to explain how geography, economic necessity, and culture have affected contemporary behavior, making careful comparisons to the US. The last third of the book is devoted to our perceptions of the Japanese and theirs of us and of themselves. The author is notably fair-minded; though essentially sympathetic, he doesn't so much justify Japanese thinking and behavior as explain it, exploring the effects of traditional attitudes on individuals and, especially, faulting Japan's continuing unwillingness to confront its role in WW II. His account is enriched by quotes from interviews, statistics, and surveys from a good array of sources, American and Japanese, cited in full notes. A thoughtful exploration of a culture that's of particular interest since it is so widely perceived as ``different'' and threatening, using specifics to show which stereotypes have some basis in fact and which are simply wrong, yet emphasizing the humanity and goals that people in all cultures have in common. A sensible how-to chapter on tactful ways to smooth relations with individual Japanese makes a fitting conclusion to a book that's sure to further international understanding. Index. (Nonfiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 6-12. "The Japanese are buying up all of America . . . Japanese students spend more time in school . . . The Japanese respect the elderly." Langone begins with 100 true-or-false questions and then proceeds to discuss them in all their complexity. His tone is casual and chatty as he presents information about history, geography, religion, and culture, as well as nuances of changing attitudes and values at home, school, work, and in the social scene. The author is as candid about Japan-bashing in the U.S. as he is about Japanese racism toward minorities and toward the U.S., and he condemns racism by them and by us. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages of their largely homogeneous society and looks at the value they place on restraint, on family authority, on social conformity. Sources are documented by chapter at the back, and he also draws on his own experience living in Japan. There's a lot of repetition as Langone goes over and over the false stereotypes, how they differ from us and how they are the same, and much of what he says applies to mutual misunderstandings between all kinds of diverse groups. In fact, the great value of this book is that, steeped as it is in facts and subtleties about Japan, it may also make readers think about cultural conflicts and racism in their daily lives. Hazel Rochman