When neoconservatism was riding high, a leftwing cartoonist drew a pastiche of Edward Hopper's famous painting of a sad roadside diner, and then imaginatively peopled it with three of the conservative icons of the past two decades: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Does Yasuhiro Nakasone deserve a place in this picture?
Christopher Hood would argue that the former Japanese prime minister probably does, but for reasons that will make Nakasone's many critics rather uncomfortable. Indeed, Hood's insistence that we should let the facts about politics speak for themselves is refreshing because so rare.
And interesting facts abound in this well-researched, clearly written and jargon-free book. Hood takes the reader in hand and guides him through the intricacies of the key reform bodies and the Japanese educational system as a whole. It is also a tour of Nakasone's mind.