In this engaging book, largely based on extensive interviews, John Nathan probes the pathologies, contradictions and search for identity in contemporary Japan. He ranges from dysfunctional families and "classroom collapse" to young entrepreneurs and corporate restructuring. The heart of the book, and most interesting sections, focus on the anomie and deracination that have taken a toll on society and left many Japanese feeling adrift and uncertain of their collective identity. Nathan argues that there is a palpable unease among Japanese that has stimulated soul-searching about who they are and what Japan is. In his view, growing discontent with a lopsided relationship with the United States combined with a gathering nationalism generates an unsettling volatility.
Commenting on those who seek to promote an identity rooted in nostalgic nationalism, novelist Kenzaburo Oe says, "Now we have nothing but the reflection of ourselves we see in the eyes of the West. We are confused and lost. The response to that lostness is nationalism. People like [Shintaro] Ishihara (Tokyo's current governor) gather around them those who have no basis for identity and entice them with the power of the state. They tell us we are all the emperor's children. The state becomes a crutch for those who are no longer able to stand alone, like plastic implanted in a dysfunctional penis."
Nathan's survey of Japan's contemporary quest for identity focuses on men of the right such as Ishihara and the "demagogic cartoonist" Yoshinori Kobayashi.