Book Review: The Japanese Nation
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204600100211 |
| Published date | 01 April 1946 |
| Date | 01 April 1946 |
| Author | C. J. L. Bates |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book
ReIviews
THE
JAPANESE
NATION.
A
Social
Survey.
By
John
F.
Embree.
1945.
(New
York:
Farrar
and Rinehart.
Toronto:
Ox-
ford.
308
pp.
$3.75)
"Of
making
many
books
there
is
no
end."
So
it
seems
with
refer-
ence
to
Japan
these
latter
days.
This
one
appeals
to
me
as
one
of
the
soundest and
best
balanced
works
on
that
charming
but
ill-fated
land
and
her
people.
THE JAPANESE
NATION
by
Embree
is
an
attempt
to
fill
the
gap
in
the
knowledge
of
world
affairs
that
caused
the
complete
psycho-
logical
unpreparedness
of
America
for
war
with
Asia.
For
while
Japan
had
made
it
a
point
to
learn
about
America
and
Europe,
the
average
American
gave
little
heed
to
Japan
and
the
Japanese
beyond
the
interests
of
a
few
traders
and
missionaries.
The
introduction
be-
gins
with
the
topic
"Japan the
unknown," and
what
follows
is
an
attempt,
by
outlining
the
social
organization
of
Japan,
to
open
the
way
to
a
better
understanding.
"It
is
difficult,"
Dr.
Embree
writes,
"for
an
American
to
under-
stand
the
nature
of
Japanese
culture.
It
is
an
Old-World Asiatic cul-
ture,
in
contrast
to
the
United
States,
a
New-World,
machine-age
cul-
ture
with a
population
just
now being fused
in-to
a
single
people."
And,
"One
must frequently
turn
to
recently
industrialized
Old-World
European
cultures
such
as
France
and Germany
for
meaningful
com-
parisons
with
Japan,
rather
than
to
the
immigrant-settled,
machine-age
culture
of
the United
States."
"This
book
is
primarily
a
study
of
the
social
organization
of
a
nation,"
an
attempt
to
apply
the
methods
of
social
anthropology
to
a
social
survey
of
a
modern
nation.
It
pays
little attention
to
the
material
aspects
of
Japanese culture,
such
as
art
and
architecture.
but
deals
with
government,
religion.,
schools,
and
the
network
of
social
relations
making
up
the
national
structure,
with
the
purpose
of
supply-
ing some
content for
the
interpretation
of
the
behaviour
of
the
Japanese
and
some
basis
for
an
understanding
of
future
developments
in
Japan.
While
the
author
disclaims
any
attempt
to
deal
with
Japanese
art,
he does
refer
to
the
ge-ographical
setting
of
the
Japanese
nation
in
these
words:
"The
mountains
and the
seas
have
also
influenced
artistic
and
religious
developments,
providing
Japanese
artists
with stimulat-
ing
art
motifs
and
the
people
with
a
sacred world
of
mountain
and
forest
spirits
and- deities
of
land
and
of
sea."
Mr.
Embree's
concern
is,
however,
mainly with
the
social
organi-
zation-the
economic life,
the
governmental
structure,
the
social
class
system,
the
family
and the
household,
religion,
etc.
With
reference
to
the
system
of
government
he says:
'"The
form
of
government
is
a
combination
of
the
old
Tokugawa
structure-that
is,
feudalism-and
European
forms
adapted
to
this
old
structure,
to-
gether
with
a
special
emphasis
on
the
central
position
of
the
throne."
This
chapter
is
comprehensive and informative. Here,
as
indeed
throughout
the
book,
Dr.
Embree seeks
to
do
full
justice
-to
Japan,
and
is
appreciative
rather
-than
critical.
He
states
the
case,
giving
177
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