The Outnation; A Search for the Soul of Japan

Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Joel Sackett (photographs). Format is approximately 5.5 inches by 9 inches. xiii, [3], 180, [10] pages. Illustrations. Signed by the author on the half-title page. Foreword by James Fallows. Jonathan Charles Rauch (born April 26, 1960) is an American author, journalist, and activist. After graduating from Yale University, Rauch worked at the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina, for National Journal, and later for The Economist and as a freelance writer. He is currently a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. In terms of political philosophy, Rauch has referred to himself as "an admirer of James Madison and Edmund Burke" and a "radical incrementalist," meaning one who favors "revolutionary change on a geological time scale." He is the author of books and articles on public policy, culture, and economics. His books include The Outnation: A Search for the Soul of Japan (1992); The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 (2018), Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America (2004); Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working (2000); and Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought (1993; revised second edition in 2013). In 2015, he published a short ebook, Political Realism, arguing that overzealous efforts to clean up politics have hampered the ability of political parties and professionals to order politics and build governing coalitions. This book takes readers through Tokyo's nighttime crowds and into quiet county hamlets, to the office of a high-tech industrialist and to a farmer's dinner table. Rauch distills conversations with dozens of Japanese, statesmen and professors as well as sushi chefs and innkeepers. He probes the public values of the Japanese, and details the workings of their political, economic, and intellectual systems. Rauch went and saw for himself, without prejudice. The result is the truest description of Japan today. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Freelance journalist Rauch sets out to decipher the Japanese mindset in an edifying volume that analyzes Japan's contradictory aspects and swift rise to prominence in the world market. His observations on Japanese politics, education, business, hierarchies and homogeneity are presented in concise segments. Fallows, who differs with Rauch on matters of Japanese economics, points out in his foreword the difficulties in creating a lucid portrait of such a puzzling culture. Rauch's praise of Japanese skin and hair may cause readers to squirm, even if some Japanese are equally curious about blonds; his acceptance of Japan's notions of fairness and discrimination against women and foreigners will likely rattle liberals. This provocative book invites attention from Americans attempting to comprehend the Japanese.