Publisher Description

"In Curing Japan's America Addiction, Morita says publicly what a lot of Japanese think and say privately, in sharp contrast to whatever pleasantries they offer at cocktail parties with foreign diplomats and policy wonks, or in speeches they give abroad. For that reason,Curing Japan's America Addiction deserves to be read by anybody tired of the Orwellian doublespeak coming out of Washington and Tokyo." - The Japan Times

Curing Japan's America Addiction is the first work in English from longtime political commentator Minoru Morita. It includes translations from several of his more than forty books. For decades, Morita has been chronicling in passionate, straightforward prose the corruption of the Japan-US relationship since the era of Reagan and Nakasone in the 1980s. Morita argues that Japan has become addicted to the Republican Party's vision of America, with its widening wealth gap; huge, aggressive military; and dog-eat-dog economy. This book is the progressive Left's answer to Shintaro Ishihara's The Japan That Can Say No.

For years, Minoru Morita, clad in a kimono, would greet Japanese TV viewers with insightful political commentary on national news shows. But then he went too far. Morita began criticizing the wildly popular Junichiro Koizumi ("the most irresponsible and frivolous prime minister in Japan's postwar history") and connecting the dots between the premier and Japan's largest advertising agency, Dentsu Inc., which Morita claimed was silencing critics by threatening to pull ads. Soon, the offers to appear on TV dried up.

Undaunted, Morita took to the lecture circuit and began publishing books describing how the Koizumi administration has "Anglicized Japan's military and Americanized its economy." He has urged voters to overthrow the ruling party, and they seem to be listening: In July 2007, the opposition took over the upper house for the first time in sixty years.

Author Biography

Minoru Morita used to appear on Japanese TV regularly as a political commentator, but his progressive views and outspoken criticism of the popular former prime minister Koizumi alienated major media outlets. He now runs a thinktank, Morita Research Institute, and lectures and writes. He has published more than 30 books in Japanese on politics, media and society.

Promotional

We will target Japan societies around the US and universities with strong Japan Studies programs. We also will target the diplomatic community and progressive media, billing Morita as a Japanese Howard Zinn. His message of building a healthy democracy in Japan that isn't controlled by one party should resonate with voters in the US who still remember the 2000 election fiasco. Morita can do interviews in English, although he might not be able to do live radio effectively. We plan to have him tour some campuses on the west coast in fall 2008, before the US elections.

Description for Sales People

This is the progressive version of "The Japan that Can Say No," a largely succesful, right-wing book by current Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara. Morita's arguments resemble those of Howard Zinn. They both put the people first. Morita argues that the ruling LDP's addiction to the American Republican Party is destroying Japan's social fabric, making it less egalitarian. Morita used to appear on national TV every week in Japan. But as the political leadership turned toward the right in the 1980s and 1990s, he found that fewer media organizations would invite him to speak. Today, some journalists claim he is blackballed by the Japanese media. Ever the fighter, Morita, at age 75, has turned to the lecture circuit and the foreign press to get his message out. He has been quite successful at both attempts. In July 2007 alone he was quoted in the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Financial Times and the Times of London. Morita has written more than 30 books in his career, many of them strong sellers. This title will combine passages from his latest book with excerptts and chapters from earlier works that will be especially revealing to American readers. Morita's prose sizzles with passion. This is not an academic piece, but a passionate and well-reasoned argument that Japan needs to thrust the LDP from power, create a two-party system and restore its social fabric.

Details