Book Review: Dogs And Demons

I just finished reading two amazing books; Dogs And Demons (pictured) and Freakonomics (I will discuss this one later in the week). Before beginning Dogs and Demons, many of my friends encouraged me not to read it until I left Japan. They said that the book puts a negative spin on the country and that I would just end up hating Japan. I dismissed their warnings and read the book anyway and I'm really glad that I did. I disagree with their analysis of the book. It didn't make me think negatively about Japan, however it did make me realize how uninformed the common people actually are. This country is run by the politicians and they take full advantage of every financial opportunity that they can even if it does a disservice to their people and their country. Unfortunately it's hard to make the public aware, especially because many government records aren't made public. Also I was very surprised to discover that many Japanese don't travel internationally and when they do it's usually with a Japanese tour group so they are somewhat sheltered. This is important in the progression of a society. The don't see how the world is different and there is still very much the mentality that the "Japanese way" is the best way. No exchange of ideas and questioning b/c this society is groomed to just accept. I see it in the junior high schools. I think as a foreigner my role here is to expose as many people to different ways of thinking and looking at the world. I know that I'm only one person, but maybe I make a small difference and that's how change starts.

Things in the book that surprised me:
The deforestation; taking out the native trees and replacing them all with Japanese cedar (which the mass population is allergic to).
The fact that Japan uses 3 times the amount of concrete that the USA does. Concrete is poured into river banks, field walls, pathways, and really just about everywhere you look.
politicians getting major kickbacks; especially after they leave office and then take a management "retired" desk position in the highly profitable construction industry (hence all the concrete). Lots of bid-rigging going on. Click here for an article that proves my point and it's happening here in my own prefecture.
The push by the construction industry to "modernize" Japan, by tearing down old structures and putting up concrete buildings. For some reason old signifies outdated and not culturally significant. One really sad and shocking example is happening in Kyoto. The government wants to tear down a historical bridge and erect a French inspired metal and wire bridge. Finally the people petitioned and got the plan scraped, however the government is now coming up with another plan for the bridge.
The lack of real news due to the fact that Japanese reporters must be a member of an association to get any news from the government (foreign reporters aren't allowed in the association).

There is so much more in the book, but I can only blog so much about it. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn more about how and why Japan functions the way it does. (Funny b/c Rich sometimes says that he feels like we are in a third world country when it comes to how some things operate. Now I understand why he feels that way.) It's a very insightful and surprisingly easy read considering the amount of information in the book. Two thumbs way up!