“[A]n excellent book...” —The Economist
Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision
of Japan, drawing on his own deep experience, as well as
observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry,
including novelist Haruki Murakami, former prime minister
Junichiro Koizumi, industrialists and bankers, activists and
artists, teenagers and octogenarians. Through their voices,
Pilling's Bending Adversity captures the dynamism and diversity
of contemporary Japan.
Pilling’s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of
earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. His deep reporting
reveals both Japan’s vulnerabilities and its resilience and
pushes him to understand the country’s past through cycles of
crisis and reconstruction. Japan’s survivalist mentality has
carried it through tremendous hardship, but is also the source of
great destruction: It was the nineteenth-century struggle to ward
off colonial intent that resulted in Japan’s own imperial
endeavor, culminating in the devastation of World War II. Even
the postwar economic miracle—the manufacturing and commerce
explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned
Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory
than it seemed. In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was
lost in the country’s blind, aborted climb to #1. With the same
rigor, he revisits 1990—the year the economic bubble burst, and
the beginning of Japan’s “lost decades”—to ask if the turning
point might be viewed differently. While financial struggle and
national debt are a reality, post-growth Japan has also
successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social
cohesion. And while life has become less certain,
rtunities—in particular for the young and for women—have
diversified.
Still, Japan is in many ways a country in recovery, working to
find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow
growth. Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the
2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his radical
antideflation policy, might mean for Japan and its future.
Informed throughout by the ins shared by Pilling’s many
interview subjects, Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the
social, spiritual, financial, and political life of Japan to
create a more nuanced representation of the oft-misunderstood
island nation and its people.
The Financial Times
“David Pilling quotes a visiting MP from northern England,
dazzled by Tokyo’s lights and awed by its bustling prosperity:
‘If this is a recession, I want one.’ Not the least of the merits
of Pilling’s hugely enjoyable and perceptive book on Japan is
that he places the denunciations of two allegedly “lost decades”
in the context of what the country is really like and its actual
achievements.”
The Telegraph (UK)
“Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times, is perfectly
placed to be our guide, and his ins are a real rarity when
very few Western journalists communicate the essence of the
world’s third-largest economy in anything but the most
superficial ways. Here, there is a terrific selection of
interview subjects mixed with great reportage and fact
selection... he does get people to say wonderful things. The
novelist Haruki Murakami tells him: “When we were rich, I hated
this country”... well-written... valuable.”
Publishers Weekly (starred):
"A probing and inful portrait of contemporary Japan."