2月１２日はテンプル大学に

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival (2014/01/02) David Pilling 商品詳細を見る

年初に紹介させていただいたBending Adversityという本の書評が今週のJapan Timesに取り上げられていました。先週はEconomistの書評にも出ていましたね。

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival
BY JEFF KINGSTON
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
FEB 1, 2014

書評に触れる前に最後にあった告知に目がいきました。David Pillingさんが来日されるようです。もしかしたら近々翻訳も出るのかもしれませんね。

There will be a book talk with David Pilling at Temple University Japan on Feb. 12. For more info, see

以下がテンプル大学でのトークショーの告知です。誰でも参加できるそうですから、都合のつく方は是非。トークショーはTOEICでもど真ん中のトピックですね。VenueやAdmissionsなどおなじみの語もあります。

Bending Adversity, a Portrait of Contemporary Japan
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Time: 19:30 (Door open at 19:00)
Speaker: David Pilling (Asia Editor of the Financial Times)
Venue: Azabu Hall, Temple University, Japan Campus
2F
Moderator: Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies, TUJ
Admissions: Free
Language: English
Registration: If possible, we ask you to register by E-mail ([e-mail]) , but we always welcome participants even you do not register. / 参加登録はなしでも参加できますので、直接会場へお越しください。
Facebook: Check out this event's Facebook page for discussions.

David Pilling will talk about his newly released book Bending Adversity, a portrait of contemporary Japan. Throughout its history, Japan has weathered calamities from natural disasters such as the 2011 tsunami to crushing defeat in war and its more recent loss of economic vigour. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary Japanese voices and on the author’s own experiences living in Japan as a foreign correspondent for six years his book draws together many threads – economics, history, politics and contemporary reportage – together in one volume. Bending Adversity’s publication coincides with a surge of renewed interest in Japan, still the most important US ally in Asia, as its territorial disputes heat up dangerously with China, as it attempts a radical revival of its economy and as the Fukushima nuclear disaster rumbles on.

書評に戻りますが、トークショーで司会を務めるJeff Kingstonさんが書いています。悪くは書けないでしょうから、少し差し引いて読むといいかもしれませんが、5つ星をつけています。

The title of “Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival” refers to an old Japanese proverb about making the best of a bad situation or transforming crisis into opportunity. Japan is no stranger to crisis, or to monumental “bending,” but will the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 serve as a catalyst for transformation and, if so, leading where?

David Pilling, former Tokyo bureau chief for The Financial Times (2001-08), has written a superb book on contemporary Japan that, better than any other I have read, manages to get the reader inside the skin of Japanese society. Full disclosure, Pilling is a good friend and I commented on early drafts of this astutely observed account. But trust me, this is a great read brimming with insights and should shoot to the top of your reading list.

書評でも触れていますが、フィナンシャルタイムズの看板をしょっているので幅広い取材が可能ですよね。近年出た日本についての本ではとてもよくできた本という評価には同意します。

Sensibly, Pilling refrains from declaring the recent cataclysm a game changer, instead introducing us to various Japanese and how they are responding. The yearning for greater certainty and security confronts perceptions that Japan risks even more without substantive reform. “Bending Adversity” benefits considerably from Pilling’s incredible access to a wide range of people from government, industry, academia and the arts, drawing heavily on their voices to deliver a convincing and nuanced portrait of Japan. It helps that he also shares his everyday encounters and personal impressions in crafting a colorful and rounded analysis, one that doesn’t shy from criticism, but also veers away from shrill harangue. It is evident that Pilling is keen on Japan, but it is not a naive embrace.

Natural disaster and China’s rise have jolted Japan out of cautious consensus as exemplified by “Abenomics,” but can it deliver substantive reforms? Pilling explains the logic of this high-stakes gamble, but one year on skepticism is growing. Neither Abenomics nor the 2020 Tokyo Olympics offer a magic wand, but Pilling’s reappraisal of the so-called Lost Decades in the 1990s and beyond usefully reminds us that Japan was never the basket case pundits were writing off and retains considerable strengths. He also notes how change, paradoxically, is a Japanese tradition, an incremental and gradual process the author elucidates very well. Although Heisei Era (1989-) Japan’s ongoing transformation has been fitful, Pilling draws our gaze to dramatic shifts in norms, values and practices and the emergence of a more dynamic civil society.

日本は急激にではなく、ゆっくりと変わっていくというDavid Pillingさんの主張をジャパンタイムズもEconomistもそのまま紹介しています。ただ、今は第三の開国という言葉は、冷戦後の1990年代にも聞いた言葉ですが。。。

Japan
Sitting tight
How the catastrophes of 2011 changed Japan
Jan 18th 2014 | From the print edition

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival. By David Pilling. Penguin Press; 385 pages; $29.95. Allen Lane; £20. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

THE triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that struck Japan on March 11th 2011 was an extraordinary and terrible event. According to the National Police Agency, it killed 15,856 people and left another 2,643 missing, shaking the confidence of millions. The visible horror of the tsunami and the dread of radiation and nuclear explosion provoked anxiety the world over, leading many to ask: what might this terrible event do to Japan?

The clues that emerged pointed in opposite directions. The stoicism and social solidarity of ordinary Japanese in the face of the disaster led to hopes of renewed unity. The speed with which railways, airports and factories were cleared and reopened, often beating initial estimates by months, led to predictions of renewed economic vigour.

まあ、Youtubeで動画を後ほどアップするでしょうから、無理して行く必要もないかもしれませんが、生で聞けるめったにない機会ですのでできるかぎり参加したいと思います。