Chanpon

I've become increasingly wary of foreigners who tell Japan what to do - the recent economic decline in Japan has been a fantastic chance for too many armchair technocrats to prognosticate sagely on the state of affairs in a country they've never lived in.

Still, there are people who have paid their dues, living in Japan and studying its culture. Ian Buruma is one such person - he was studying theater in Japan decades ago, and his well-received cultural criticism has been focused on outsiders in Asia.

Now he's published a short book with a strong thesis: the modern state of Japan has been crafted, not born: Inventing Japan, 1853-1964. Casual students who know of the Meiji-era, with its selective but decisive adaptation of Western modes, might have already understood Baruma's thesis before the New York Times did. Their review by Christopher Benfey promotes Buruma's book as a "concise and penetrating" examination of the political choices that have been made to shape modern Japan, and it sounds like a short, sharp study. Any reviews from Chanpon?