Upon reading a Mutantfrog post last Friday, I went out and purchased a copy of Fujiwara Masahiko‘s massive best-seller 「国家の品格」 (Dignity of a Nation) — a book that openly describes itself as “画期的な日本論” (An epoch-making theory of Japan). According to this Time Asia article, this book has sold 2 million copies (now 2,000,001), which is a lot of copies for a book that openly calls for the end of democracy and the return of “warrior ethics.” Instead of arguing against imaginary “nationalist” straw men, we can read this book and critically consider the whether there actually are strong arguments for Japan digging back in its history to find adequate social, economic, and political direction.

Topics include (from the back cover):

* The illusion of capitalism’s triumph
* Pride in a civilization based on emotion
* The importance of Japanese and kanji over English
* Knowing the limits of logic
* The revival of bushido (samurai spirit)
* Why foreign aid is unnecessary
* Love of family, love of hometown, love of the fatherland, love of humanity
* Seeking out a “true elite”

So for the next week, let us consider the persuasive arguments of Japan’s favorite upper-class, right-wing mathematician. 2 million Japanese readers can’t be wrong!

On to Part One: The Limits of the Modern Spirit of Rationality