Dogs and demons : tales from the dark side of Japan / Alex Kerr.

Includes index.

1. The Land: The Construction State -- 2. Environment: Cedar Plantations and Orange Ooze -- 3. The Bubble: Looking Back -- 4. Information: A Different View of Reality -- 5. Bureaucracy: Power and Privilege -- 6. Monuments: Airports for Radishes -- 7. Old Cities: Kyoto and Tourism -- 8. New Cities: Electric Wires and Roof Boxes -- 9. Demons: The Philosophy of Monuments -- 10. Manga and Massive: The Business of Monuments -- 11. National Wealth: Debt, Public and Private -- 12. Education: Following the Rules -- 13. After School: Flowers and Cinema -- 14. Internationalization: Refugees and Expats -- 15. To Change or Not to Change: Boiled Frog.

"In an ancient tale, a Chinese emperor asks his court painter about the easiest and most difficult subjects to paint. The painter replies, "Dogs are difficult, demons are easy." To Alex Kerr, a longtime resident expert and observer, Japan's "dogs" are the vital activities that sustain an ecologically and culturally responsible economy, while the expedient "demons" are the million-dollar boondoggles that have bulldozed and cemented over so much of Japan today.".

"Dogs and Demons offers tales from the dark side of Japan's well-known modern accomplishments. For Japan's problems go far beyond its dire economic plight, beyond the failures of its banks and pension funds. And Kerr discusses subjects that are all too often disregarded in the Western press when the focus is on finance and business: Japan's endangered environment (seashores lined with concrete, roads leading to nowhere in the mountains), its "monument frenzy," the decline of its once magnificent cinema, the destruction of cities such as Kyoto and construction of drab new ones, the attendant collapse of its tourism industry."--BOOK JACKET.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.