Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival

412 Pages·2014·9.96 MB·English

by  David Pilling

THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) LLC
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China penguin.com
A Penguin Random House Company Published by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2014
Copyright © 2014 by David Pilling Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free
speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws
by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing
Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
First published in Great Britain by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd.
Photograph credits appear here.
ISBN 978-0-69814121-6
Version_1
To Ingrid, Dylan and Travis
And to my Mum and Dad
With love and gratitude
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Maps
Epigraph
Foreword
PART ONE
Tsunami
1 Tsunami
2 Bending Adversity
PART TWO
Double-bolted Land
3 Shimaguni
4 Leaving Asia
PART THREE
Decades Found and Lost
5 The Magic Teapot
6 After the Fall
PART FOUR
Life After Growth
7 Japan as Number Three
8 Samurai with a Quiff
9 Life After Growth
10 The Promised Road
11 From Behind the Screen
PART FIVE
Adrift
12 Asia Ex-Japan
13 Abnormal Nation
PART SIX
After the Tsunami
14 Fukushima Fallout
15 Citizens
16 After the Tsunami

Afterword
Photographs
Notes
Select Bibliography
Glossary
Acknowledgements
Index
List of Illustrations
1. One of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships (copyright © Denver Post/Getty
Images) 2. Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835–1901) (copyright © Keio University)
3. Citizens of Edo take their revenge on Onamazu
4. The tsunami sweeping into the northeast coast of Japan (copyright © Reuters)
5. Ofunato after the tsunami (copyright © Toshiki Senoue)
6. Members of the Self Defence Forces, 2011 (copyright © Toshiki Senoue) 7.
Hiromi Shimodate and Yasuko Kimura, Ofunato (copyright © Toshiki
Senoue) 8. Hiromi Shimodate and Yasuko Kimura re-establish Hy’s café
(copyright © Toshiki Senoue) 9. Seizaburo Sato amid the wreckage of his
home (copyright © Toshiki Senoue) 10. The author at Capital Hotel,
Rikuzentakata (copyright © Toshiki Senoue) 11. Ippon matsu:
Rikuzentakata’s solitary surviving pine (copyright © Toshiki Senoue) 12.
Tokyo after the massive fire bombing of 1945 (copyright © Time & Life
Pictures/Getty Images) 13. Still from Tokyo Story (copyright © 1953/2011
Shochiku Co., Ltd) 14. Chewing gum and chocolates, Yokuska, 1959
(copyright © Shomei Tomatsu, c/o Tepper Takayama Fine Arts) 15. Author
Haruki Murakami (copyright © Per Folkver)
16. Cherry blossom against a castle wall in Kumamoto (copyright © Ingrid
Aaroe) 17. Tofu hotpot in Kyoto (copyright © Ingrid Aaroe)
18. Foot onsen at a railway station in Kyushu (copyright © Ingrid Aaroe) 19.
Ginza at night (copyright © Ken Straiton/Corbis Images)
20. Junichiro Koizumi campaigning, 2005 (copyright © Noboru
Hashimoto/Corbis Images) 21. Junichiro Koizumi visiting Graceland with
George W. Bush (copyright © Christopher Morris/VII/Corbis Images) 22. A
21-year-old hostess (copyright © Shiho Fukada/Pulitzer Cntr/Panos) 23.
Author Natsuo Kirino (copyright © Getty Images)
24. Artist Yayoi Kusama in her New York studio (copyright © Yayoi Kusama)
25. Noriaki Imai (copyright © Reuters)
26. Members of Japan’s Self Defence Forces at the Sapporo Ice Festival
(copyright © Reuters) 27. Anti-Japan protestors in Wuhan, Hubei province
(copyright © Reuters) 28. Testing for radiation after the Fukushima
explosion (copyright © Reuters) 29. Shinzo Abe waves from a tank, 2013
(copyright © AFP/Getty Images)
List of Maps
1. Japan and its Neighbours
2. Principal Cities of Japan
3. Northeast Honshu