This book is, at its most ambitious, an attempt to answer these questions. It seeks to show where Japan is heading and how it is changing, in economic, financial, social and political affairs. It is thus not interded as a snapshot of Japan, nor as a static description of how Japan works and why. There are already plenty of books that do that more effectively and with far greater expertise than this author could achieve. Instead, The Sun Also Sets is offered as an analysis of an ever-changing subject, an attempt to show the direction in which Japan is moving as well as to measure its speed.
Such an effort is fraught with dangers since it implies, at least in part, an exercise in prediction. As Sam Goldwyn warned, 'Never prophesy, especially about the future.' In its humbler moments, however, the book is also an attempt to show how to think about Japanese power. To that end, it seeks to identify those factors that will determine how powerful Japan will become, how long its strength will last and in what sort of circumstances Japan's potential power might be unleashed in military or political from. Then, anyone who agrees with Sidney Webb that 'economists are generally right in their predictions but generally a good deal out in their dates,' can come up with their own timetable for Japan.
PART 1 POWER AND PARANOIA
PART 2 CHANGE AND SURPRISE
PART 3 HOME AND ABROAD
PART 4 A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES