Prompted by increasing evidence of the world’s shift to the right, not least among the industrialised nations, here is a cri de coeur from almost the last survivor from the post-war crop of European sociologists and scholars of Japanese Studies. After six decades following developments in Japanese society, economy and culture and as a well-known ‘leftie’ – he describes the evolution of his cognitive and evaluative/emotional perceptions of Japan, and explains why he can no longer be described as a Japanophile. To which are added essays on more general issues of the day, such as events in the Ukraine, Iran and Israel. The key words are indeed ‘cantankerous’ (because he is greatly exercised by the ‘conspiracies of silence’ embedded in the culture of modern political and public life); ‘musings’ (because this is not so much a single-focus monograph, rather a collection of spontaneous, but deeply-considered reflections on matters of the moment) and ‘disillusioned’ (both by Japan’s reversion to chauvinistic nationalism, and because, as a youth, he hoped for and expected an enhancement of the role of reason in international affairs.) This will be of special interest to all who know or have accessed the author’s vast literary output relating to Japan; but it also has considerably wider relevance among those who are in any way connected with contemporary society, politics and economics and wish to confront the ‘conspiracy of silence’ within our interdependent world.
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introductory Musings
- Addendum 23 January 2015
- 1. The Return of the Near-Native
- The Inequality Debate
- Collective Self-Defence: A Revitalized Oposition?
- Press Reaction
- 14 September 2014
- 22 September 2014
- 27 September 2014 The China Dog That Didn’t Bark
- 2. The Social Conditions for Economic Performance: And The Pikety Boom
- Economic Performance: EP1 and EP2
- Economic Conditions of both EP1 and EP2
- Social Conditions for EP1
- Print Money, not Bonds
- Social Conditions for EP2
- Inequality: The Mechanisms
- The Heart of the Matter
- 3. OPMF, Central Bank Conservatism and Financial Economics
- Sacrosanct Targets
- Problems with OPMF
- Abenomics
- The arguments for OPMF
- Medicine Turning into Poison?
- Be Bold. Try it!
- 4. Japan and China: Collision Course
- Senkaku: Recent History
- The Quiescent Period
- The First Scuffles
- Enter Mischief
- Nationalization to Thwart Ishihara
- Sheer Implausibility
- First Exacerbating Factor: History
- Second Exacerbating Factor: Totalitarian Solidarity
- The Official Records
- Third Exacerbating Factor: Strengthening of Strategic Military Alliance Against China
- China’s Diplomatic Stance
- 5. Japan and North Korea
- What Actualy Happened
- The Secret Negotiations
- Promise Broken
- North Korea’s Sporadic Attempts at Resolution
- Recent Stirrings
- 6. A New Beginning?
- Entrenched Stalemate
- Breaking the Log-Jam
- 7. The New Cold Wars
- The Ending of the Cold War
- The Putin Era
- The Counter-Bloc
- What are the United States’ Goals in the Region?
- Mad and the Medvedev Interlude
- Good Fences Make Good Neighbours: The Problem of Buffer States
- Ukraine
- Crimea
- Round Number 3
- States and Nation-States
- Conclusion
- 8. Friends, Allies and Enemies
- 9. Human Progress…?
- Changing Perceptions: Aggression
- Games Theory
- Towards World Government?
- The United Nations
- The Evolution of the UN
- Index
- Back Cover
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
Login to your account