Name: Dogs and Demons
ISBN: 9780809095216

Dogs and Demons

"In an ancient tale, a Chinese emperor asks his court painter about the easiest and most difficult subjects to paint. The painter replies, "Dogs are difficult, demons are easy." To Alex Kerr, a longtime resident expert and observer, Japan's "dogs" are the vital activities that sustain an ecologically and culturally responsible economy, while the expedient "demons" are the million-dollar boondoggles that have bulldozed and cemented over so much of Japan today.". "Dogs and Demons offers tales from the dark side of Japan's well-known modern accomplishments. For Japan's problems go far beyond its dire economic plight, beyond the failures of its banks and pension funds. And Kerr discusses subjects that are all too often disregarded in the Western press when the focus is on finance and business: Japan's endangered environment (seashores lined with concrete, roads leading to nowhere in the mountains), its "monument frenzy," the decline of its once magnificent cinema, the destruction of cities such as Kyoto and construction of drab new ones, the attendant collapse of its tourism industry."--BOOK JACKET.

What Hacker News says

nradovOct 2023

The asset bubble was a problem, but Japan has also suffered from excessive economic central planning leading to malinvestment. They squandered their resources by literally building bridges to nowhere. The book "Dogs & Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan" by Alex Kerr gives a thorough and balanced explanation of what happened.

http://alex-kerr.com/html/dogs___demons__english_.html

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nradovMay 2023

The book "Dogs and Demons: Tales From the Dark Side of Modern Japan" by Alex Kerr covers this well. It's over 20 years old but not much has really changed. The Japanese government is still engaging in major capital misallocation through unnecessary infrastructure projects, and they allow insolvent companies to continue operating.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781466804500/dogsanddemons

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jinto36May 2022

They mostly run construction companies now, an industry where there's been a wild amount of corruption for a long time- in part why most rivers have completely unnecessary concrete banks, ostensibly for "flood control". See "Dogs and Demons" by Alex Kerr (http://alex-kerr.com/html/dogs___demons__english_.html).

Anecdotally, I know someone who owned a house in Okazaki (a city outside of Nagoya). Someone decided they wanted the land for a construction project, so they resorted to threats to get him to move- such as smashing his car windows. No way that was a random punk smashing windows- when I lived in Okazaki, a defaced public bathroom would make the local news. Classic Yakuza tactic, and unfortunately he ended up moving because of it.

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suctionJan 2022

If you're looking for books on the subject of organised crime in Japan, it's hard to recommend anything. Maybe this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762585.Yakuza

To get a grasp of the darker sides of modern Japan, I wholly recommend these two books: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254259.Japan and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93803.Dogs_and_Demons

Both are real eye openers. The first is a must-read and very good overview. The latter concentrates on post-WW2's construction state but don't be repelled by that, because the construction sector is what is at the base of Japan's current problems.

For a more scholarly but dryer take, the end-all book for people who want to know what's behind the curtain in Japanese society is this (I really enjoyed it but it's a long read): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274912.The_Enigma_of_Jap...

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suctionAug 2021

I'd recommend you read "Dogs & Demons" by Alex Kerr, which is specifically about land use in modern Japan.

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nradovNov 2017

I don't think that's an accurate description of what's actually been happening in Japan. They have literally paved over ecologically sensitive sites and built bridges to nowhere in a misguided, counterproductive attempt to stimulate economic growth. For details see "Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan" by Alex Kerr.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809039432

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