Japanese Culture

Christopher writes to educate Americans about Japanese culture in the late 20th century and to improve relations between the two countries, presenting "a psychic and institutional guidebook to today's Japan" (Christopher 7). Aiming at the lay reader, Christopher's book is deliberately non-scholarly, but his intentions are serious. The urgency of his book is rooted in his belief that the Japanese can serve as models for and allies of the United States in the uncertain future. Their economic and cultural recovery after the devastation of World War was an indication, says Christopher, of how they will continue to prosper in the future in the face of the great changes which will inevitably confront the world in the next century. The Japanese "have an uncommon talent for survival--which may . . . be the most compelling . . . reason that it is in America's interest to bind them to us as closely as possible" (Christopher 328).

Christopher wants American readers to learn from his own experience with and knowledge of the Japane

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, resources and opportunity in Japan" (Christopher 185). Again and again, Christopher emphasizes that the people nd leaders of Japan have found economic and political success through flexibility: "Japan's political leaders have been far more flexible and far more successful in adapting to change over the last thirty-five years than any other national leaders I can think of" (Christopher 238). In economics, politics, technology, domestic and international policy, the Japanese have demonstrated a capacity for making the best of whatever circumstances confront them. Christopher concludes that this "talent for survival" is what most marks the Japanese culture and makes it a model for the rest of the world. The communist threat has largely passed since Christopher's writing, diluting some of his argument about Japan's possible turning away from the U.S. and toward the "communist bloc." However, the fact remains that the incredible recovery of the Japanese since World war II, in establishing economic vitality and political stability, recommends that culture for serious study for any nation which seeks ways to deal effectively with the profound changes sure to come in the next century. Benedict's study of the culture of Japan e
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Approximate Word count = 1552
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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