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I haven't read that particular book, but I have read others, and I have never read a book about Japanese society, written by a foreigner, that doesn't write about Japan from a Western point of view. That is the inherant problem with such books, and many writers just don't seem to get the idea of cultural relativity. They have some great observations, but haveing lived here for aome time now, I tend to find some of their opinions obviously stem from misunderstanding.

Anyway, as for National Party members talking on the street with megaphones: Japan is a free country, and in fact all politcal parties have street rallys up to election time. To ban the Nationalist Party would be against their civil rights. Just like the USA everyone gets their time on the soap box. In Japan people generally let people be, and regardless of how they personally feel about another person's views, they walk on by.

Us Westerners could see that as weakness, and herd mentality, but I have come to appreciate the many layers of social and individual expression in the hearts and minds of the Japanese. They are not weak people, and they certainly will speak their mind when it is the right time and place.

Also as to the so-called "rising tide of Nationalism" in Japan, there is certainly some merit to that idea, but I don't see it in the people I talk to and pass by everyday. I think for the most part people just walk in the middle of the road, so to speak. Just like in the USA or any other country, most poeple don't follow the radical, and are balanced and even minded poeple. We shouln't confuse Japan's openess about various things with whole-hearted support. From my understanding, and it is a gernalisation, Japanese people tend to try to reduce the number of ripples and waves on the pond. I don't have a reference for that, it is just from what I seen from living here in Japan.

Poeple talk about Nationalist textbooks and literature, and it is certainly there, but from what I have seen, not to the extent and acceptance that the media make out. Last I saw, that particular controversial revisionist history text was in less than one percent of Schools in Japan. I read that many of those schools had in their library for the sake of providing a counter to accepted history. If you look hard enough you will find similar literature and pervasion of similar ideas in every country, they might just be harder to find. Western society has largly driven radicals more underground, but they are still there.

A writer above talked about Japan being split over whether it is Western or Asian. I think that Japanese history is extremely interesting in that after a very long time of isolation, Japan was threatened with attack to open it gates to Western trade. The resulting Meiji period came at a price of a great social and cultural upheaval, but Japan absorbed as much knowledge from over seas as it could, and in a very short time - since around 1868! I think that while this makes Japan a quick learner, what does it mean for its identity?

After WWII they were a decimated country, not just from two hydrogen bombs, but also from the removal of their political system, and the installation of a constitution and system of government chosen not by the Japanese poeple, but by the Western World. I read that reasearch about radiation sickness was dissallowed by the occupying forces, and many victims of the bombs could not get the help they needed, or were taken overseas. I can only imagine what affect that would have. Some would argue that that was "war", and I am not trivialising any of Japan's actions in any of its wars, but these were civilians, and destruction of that magnetude had never been seen before then, and thankfully never has again.

Since that time I feel, and it is only my opinion, that Japan has been in a form of self-denial, an over-reaction to the guilt that it is repeatedly told that it should have, by Asia and the West. Again, I am not saying Japan shouldn't have to come to terms with its past, and admit past crimes, but I wonder if Japan has been able to, or allowed to, come to terms.

However, it seems to me that Japan is changing. the youth are no longer caring about being "Japanese", they travel more and more, dream of other worlds, and have but a passing interest in many traditional things. They are interested in what their country is, and who they are. The Government talks about removing Clause 9, and allow the Japanese to have a military, but that is just clinging to past ideas of what a independant Nation is. I think that poeple want to be a Japan that they can be proud of, a fresh Japan.

In this climate of change, there are people and opinions along the entire spectrum of thought, some could be called Nationialist, others Patriotic, but I think that many others just want to love their country, and honestly, who doesn't? I see Japan as place of constant change and adaptation, but it is also a place of learning, and unless something radical occurs, I doubt that they would re-tred past mistakes.