In order to prop up the island nation as a bulwark of anticommunism, U.S. academics presented the country as a land of harmony, hard work, and long-term vision. And long-term vision was little more than a fiction designed to impress outsiders. The books demonstrate that Japan achieved its prominence by playing follow the leader. In other words, Japanese companies, or kaisha, copied the West's high-growth industries and caught up with the United States more through competitiveness and efficiency than through innovation. It may be that effective change can be led only by Japan's younger generation.
Japanese students are likely to demand a higher standard of living than their parents had.
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