Reviews for Japanese Policymaking

The average rating for Japanese Policymaking based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-07-17 00:00:00 Joseph Hernandez This was a relatively enlightening introduction, albeit full of information about Japanese politics, culture, education, and domestic life that somewhat disappointingly reflected my own gut assumptions about Japan. Not to mention that this was the 1995 edition, which is undoubtedly dated at this point. Hendry's is an anthropological approach; one comprised largely of fieldwork and some sociological surveys. It's probably one of the more well known texts on Japanese culture in English, and what's sort of remarkable, more than some of the writing in and of itself, is how concise yet broad her focus seems to be for such a short book. This all seems like a difficult accomplishment by any researcher's standards, as it possible to fall into endless assumptions and some cultural relativism about about another culture. At this point, I can only look upon these texts as tiny, structural building blocks that will be part of an endless attempt at understanding a culture which is vastly different from my own. One that I hope to understand to the best of my ability before the end of my time on this earth.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-07-28 00:00:00 Heather Bauer Sullivan Although having a very interesting look into different aspects of Japanese society in clearly separated chapters, the book definitely includes too many references to external sources, which impedes the seamless lecture. I liked the list of films and novels at the end of each chapter, but I regret they lack more contemporary positions (almost all were released before 2000 year).