EBook Bending adversity antonym
He discusses the triple disaster of 2011 in chapter one and in chapter two looks at the concept of Bending Adversity a term that he as adopted to explain the resilience to catastrophic events in Japan over the years Part Two Double bolted Land is comprised of a historical overview of Japan and its society as well as a discussion of Japan s relationship with the outside world These chapters are the ones you find in every book in Japan in that they are trying to create a context for discussing contemporary Japan in a historical context Part Three Decades Found and Lost focusing on bending adversity in context of the rebound from the 1923 earthquake and WWII.
How to write about adversity
And gender relations in contemporary Japan Part Five Adrift looks Japan s precarious relations with China and Korea as well as the wrestling with the pacifist constitution and the role of Japan s self defense forces which Shinzo Abe challenges in his first term Part Six After the Tsunami focuses on Tohoku after the devastation through personal stories and a discussion of weak government vs strong citizens And in the Afterword he muses on whether or not these tragedies resulted in Japan reassessing its society and their place in the world Pilling does an especially excellent job of explaining economics and politics since the post bubble years especially the Koizumi years He interviews scores of everyday citizens.
EBook Bending adversity antonym
Review to follow 9781594205842 Bending Adversity is a remarkable achievement In combines quality on the ground journalism with synthesis of a wide range of secondary sources The book is especially pleasant to read I enjoyed the blend of first person story telling interviews and history I m hard pressed to find anything wrong with the book other than to say that it is 8 years old Much has happened since the March 11th triple disaster The subsequent events have not undone any of the insights of the book but they have necessitated an update I would love to see a new edition of this book with an extended chapter covering Japan s response to the Corona virus 9781594205842 Over the years I have read many books about Japan from foreign pundits some good classic books by old Japan hands such as Ian Buruma and Donald Richie among the best of those and some not so good TR Reid s Confucius Lives Next Door and Pico Iyer s The Lady and the Monk for example Nonetheless I was compelled to read David Pilling s latest addition Bending Adversity 2014 in that he analyzes and discuses the country in light of the last triple disaster of the earthquake tsunami and nuclear meltdown of 2011 In Part One Tsunami and the economic collapse of the housing bubble in 1990 Part Four Life After Growth is comprises of five chapters focuses on the post bubble years and subjects as China s economy overtaking Japan the Koizumi years in the 2000s the graying of Japanese society the hiring ice age and decline of lifetime employment but also cultural figures like authors Haruki Murakami Natsuo Kirino and the Prime Ministers who ruled Japan in the last two decades There are savvy observations of Japan and its society through as well And he discusses all the major media stories of the last few decades such as the Afghanistan hostage women as an untapped resource nationalism and its effect on its Asian neighbors and Japan s strange victim mentality in relation to WWII among others Obviously much of the material was reused from articles he wrote for the Financial Times I think he did an excellent job of explaining what has happened economically politically and socially in Japan since the bubble 9781594205842 I didn t mean to read this book enjoyably since I first had a Penguin paperback some months ago but I decided to trade it in at the DASA BookCafe in Bangkok due to its small fonts However early last month there I came across this hardcover its presence challengingly astonished me so I decided to have it hopefully for my casual reading at least its fonts are larger and its 29 illustrations illuminating From the author s journalistic writing style I found reading its 6 parts and 16 chapters arguably knowledgeable on Japan s practical resilience leadership in terms of her economies high technologies politics etc and formidable fortitude famously admired by foreigners as well as probable jealousy by counterparts worldwide One good thing about this book is that it has not been written from his ideas or imagination alone rather he has written from gathered data opinions ideas and so on from innumerous Japanese locals informants and interviewees I think this excerpt may help you decide that is to read or not to read that is the question Pilling meets everyone from students to prime ministers in his quest to understand the history and values of this extraordinary country Bending Adversity is a superb work of reportage and an essential book even for those who feel they already know Japan well inner front cover 9781594205842 Any reader of Bending Adversity who has also read John Dower s Embracing Defeat will have a very hard time not comparing the two books The titles share a structure and David Pilling makes several references to Dower s work In the acknowledgements he refers to Dower as his hero Unfortunately this comparison does not serve Bending Adversity well Dower s book has a fantastically clear focus on historical detail and context that cuts through the noise of both war time propaganda and historical revisionism I m sure Pilling wasn t trying to compete with one of the best regarded books about modern Japan but I m not sure what he was trying to do either In a way I found much of Bending Adversity indicative of trends that I find frustrating in modern journalism generally Because it is structured around a series of interviews that Pilling conducted when working in Japan for the Financial Times so much of the book reads as hearsay An interview subject will spout some of the same old cliched nonsense be it pro or anti Japan and Pilling will respond with some balancing ideas but there is never any real investigation or examination of the facts As a result the views within spill all over the place from one extreme to the other from flowery cliche to Let s get real seriousness The result is some very muddy water This problem is only compounded by the lack of any real focus or point to the book Pilling starts off by looking at some different disasters and their aftermaths but he never really draws any connections or conclusions from one disaster to the next How could he when he s really just recycling interviews that don t share his wider scope Also the phrase I m reminded of a story a friend told me really has no place in serious journalism despite appearing here several times. Bending Adversity society insurance Overall I wouldn t recommend Bending Adversity for anyone that already has a degree of familiarity with Japan It will only frustrate you by covering the same ground as better books in a haphazard way It might make an ok primer for someone just beginning to look at the country or for fans of Haruki Murakami since he appears many times throughout 9781594205842
In Bending Adversity Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision of Japan drawing on his own deep experience as well as observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry including novelist Haruki Murakami former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi industrialists and bankers activists and artists teenagers and octogenarians Through their voices Pilling captures the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Japan.
The adversity advantage Pilling s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake tsunami and nuclear meltdown His deep reporting reveals both Japan s vulnerabilities and its resilience and pushes him to understand the country s past through cycles of crisis and reconstruction Japan s survivalist mentality has carried it through tremendous hardship but is also the source of great destruction It was the nineteenth century struggle to ward off colonial intent that resulted in Japan s own imperial endeavor culminating in the devastation of World War II Even the postwar economic miracle the manufacturing and commerce explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory than it seemed.
Economics bending adversity pdf In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was lost in the country s blind aborted climb to 1 With the same rigor he revisits 1990 the year the economic bubble burst and the beginning of Japan s lost decades to ask if the turning point might be viewed differently While financial struggle and national debt are a reality post growth Japan has also successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social cohesion And while life has become less certain opportunities in particular for the young and for women have diversified.
Economics Bending adversity quotient Still Japan is in many ways a country in recovery working to find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow growth Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the 2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his radical antideflation policy might mean for Japan and its future Informed throughout by the insights shared by Pilling s many interview subjects Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the social spiritual financial and political life of Japan to create a nuanced representation of the oft misunderstood island nation and its people Bending Adversity Japan and the Art of SurvivalDavid Pilling has reported from at least 50 countries over two decades as a foreign correspondent working for the Financial Times That probably makes him 50 times confused than the average person but it has also made him inquisitive and unafraid of asking dumb questions Pilling became accustomed to writing about the economy growth and GDP early in his reporting career But only as he moved around the world from supposedly stagnant Japan to booming China and Brexit Britain did he begin to realise just how deluded the public debate can be about what an economy is and what it is for He wanted to use an entertaining style interviews and anecdotes from around the world to write a short book that would shed light on matters we of David Pilling has reported from at least 50 countries over two decades as a foreign correspondent working for the Financial Times That probably makes him 50 times confused than the average person but it has also made him inquisitive and unafraid of asking dumb questions Pilling became accustomed to writing about the economy growth and GDP early in his reporting career But only as he moved around the world from supposedly stagnant Japan to booming China and Brexit Britain did he begin to realise just how deluded the public debate can be about what an economy is and what it is for He wanted to use an entertaining style interviews and anecdotes from around the world to write a short book that would shed light on matters we often leave to economists but really shouldn t The result is The Growth Delusion.
Bouncing back from adversity quotes David Pilling has worked for the Financial Times since 1990 in various writing and editing roles He was in Latin America 1993 96 London 1997 2001 and Tokyo 2002 2008 He was Asia Editor of the FT based in Hong Kong 2008 15 and is now Africa Editor and an Associate Editor of the FT He has won several awards in the UK and Asia for opinion pieces and feature writing His first book Bending Adversity Japan and the Art of Survival Penguin Press 2014 received outstanding reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific He is based in London but travels frequently to Africa site_link Japan provides delicious opportunities to compare east with west old with new gaudiness with elegance etc as cases and examples of these different categories are intensely present in Japan and throughout its culture While this review may be a little than such a comparison I can guarantee that Pilling s book does a much interesting job One major theme here is how Japan defies categorization The author convincingly argues that this is a source of strength and resilience for the Japanese hence the book s title To demonstrate his point he uses the beautiful example of the Ise Shrine often called the most sacred shrine in Japan This Shinto shrine dates back to the third century AD but every 20 years since its inception it is dismantled and built anew to the exact specifications As you may have guessed the shrine cannot be categorized as new or old But it is safe to assume that it will virtually endure forever or at least much longer than any usual shrine I believe the example can also be used to illustrate how the Japanese are comfortable with the Buddhist idea of impermanence.
Adversity strengthens the foundations Less abstract examples are ubiquitous especially in the domain of religion While in many surveys the Japanese turn out to be of all things atheists ironic given that they talk about yaoyorozu no kami which translates roughly into 8 million gods a very well known saying by the Japanese is that they are born Shinto marry Christian and die Buddhists showing little queasiness in adhering to many belief systems at once Followers of Shugend a syncretic religion widely practiced in Japan proudly tell how their belief incorporates elements of Shinto Taoist and Buddhist thought I happened to be in Tokyo last week the reason I read the book and was recommended to visit an exhibition called The Universe and Art In the exhibition halls solemn Buddhist mandalas were at home with scrolls of the tale of Princess Kaguya along with futuristic robots promising a future of delicious and convenient VR sex I couldn t help think that in societies where everything needs to be categorized and defined such a wide array showcase would be unthinkable.
Bending Adversity society insurance This resiliency is extensively demonstrated by Pilling in the domain of politics and economics and specifically in the relation of the 2011 Tsunami and the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima But if I give the impression that the book is nothing but praise to the extraordinary resilience of the Japanese then let me correct the impression While Pilling clearly likes Japan he finds issue with many aspects of the Japanese society such as The prevalent conservatism and isolation mentality of the Japanese many proudly call their country shimaguni meaning island nation Japan s extreme bureaucracy that hinders social and economic progress Japanese employment practices that require workers to dedicate most of their waking hours to work and rewards them based on seniority rather than merit Women participation in the workforce and alarmingly the high rates of sexual harassment And last but definitely not least Japan s troubled relation with its historyA British MP on visiting Japan in the early 2000s and seeing the high standard of living the Japanese enjoy told the author If this is a recession I want one In a world obsessed by GDP growth and investment returns a deep examination of life in Japan today could be a good exercise in getting one s priorities in order and this book does a very good job in that vein 9781594205842 35 starsIt took me ages to read this book so that gives an impression it may not be very good Which would be a lie because it is Pilling managed to present a very complex and detailed image of Japan full of respect but he also doesn t shy away from criticism.
Book Bending adversity meaning The book consists of several topics that are discussed in great detail I loved the ones about society be it the reaction of people after the latest tsunami or Fukushima explosion or the attitude different people adapt towards life in the times of the lack of previous economic stability Pilling avoid generalizations or at least overgeneralizations and gives voice to Japanese people themselves What a fascinating account it is There are however also chapters about history which was rather boring as I knew most of it and felt it being presented in a rather chaotic way and economy that almost won against me unfortunately it was so difficult and boring for me that I nearly gave up I do understand its importance and yet the only brighter parts were when Pilling wrote about individuals and their influence on economy or economy on them Otherwise all the numbers and statistics managed to put me to sleep every single time.
What kind of adversity have i overcome If you are interested in Japan I guess you will be really satisfied with this book If you work or live there I m than sure you should give it a try 9781594205842 Most Japanese don t have any sense of direction We are lost and we don t know which way we should go But this is a very natural thing a very healthy thing It s time for us to think We can take out time There is always a bit of hesitancy when picking up a book about a country culture that the author is not native to There is always this fear of whether the author will do a good job in discussing the culture of the country without bias seeping in This is especially true in books dealing with Japan I ve noticed that authors either take one side over the other Either the book ridiculously admires Japan or ridiculously admonishes it David Pilling does something new something I think all books discussing country and culture Pilling remains unbiased throughout the entire book He stated in his book that he will continuously provide both sides of the argument regardless of topic and we go into some pretty hefty topics There are moments where even Pilling gets uncomfortable with what is being told to him but he knows that he has to provide both sides of the coin otherwise you have no argument And I think that does a good job of presenting Japan in a well rounded way In fact I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to understand Japan better It s a good starting point because it creates a sturdy foundation of knowledge in an easily understandable way Regardless of whether you branch off into other books or veer away you ll leave this book with a better understanding of a nation that has been secluded for a long time Pilling s book circulates around the Fukushima Explosion so it s pretty recent He uses the explosion as the starting point to go into a nation that has continuously picked itself up from the ground to the point where the act has become a sort of art A country we often think of as strong collectively but weak individually had shown itself to be the exact reverse Japan it turned out was a nation of strong individuals and a weak state Japan is a country of good soldiers but poor commanders One very important thing that Pilling brings up in this book that I ve never encountered in any other nonfiction book but it got me wondering why is the idea of Westernization It is something he discusses in the introduction and the section on Japan s history and it s a big culture shock Most countries that are not European nor North American are misunderstood and they have been for centuries Japan is no exception too Japan has been isolated and secluded from the rest of the world by way of its Island remoteness and cultural seclusion The only exception to this isolation were the Dutch merchant ships and they too were only allowed to trade at the port in Nagasaki to prevent their culture from spreading too much So it wasn t until 1853 probably the height of colonialism mind you that Japan entered the rest of the world The man responsible for opening up Japan was Commodore Mathew Perry from the US and he arrive with his flock of boats to push the nation into doing trade with the rest of the world Regardless of how you see it you cannot deny that the first people to see Japan and the Japanese were white men And the first people Japan was to see outside of itself and China were white men The men were religiously Christian regardless of which division and the Japanese were primarily Shinto and Buddhist So you could argue that at the height of colonialism where nations were continuously and purposely destroying edifying altering controlling subjugating other nations misunderstanding Japan was inevitable It probably didn t help that Japan was quite closed off in discussing itself with foreigners One argument is that Japan saw itself as above the rest of the world and so interaction was not necessary The other argument is that to be brought into the world when there was colonialism everywhere to see Asia struggle against Europe no doubt sent fear into Japan It didn t want to be colonialized Review Continued Here 9781594205842 Having read a number of books on Japan I was hoping to encounter fresh and new perspectives in Bending Adversity The author broke down the book into 6 parts of which I can only comment on the first three parts Part One Tsunami is a good read and very moving Part Two Double bolted Land felt like a regurgitation of several books on the history of Japan with no original analysis Park Three Decades Lost and Found really started to feel like a poorly constructed section It talks about history the founding of Sony and Honda some Japanese films and the views of Japan by some Japanese people or those familiar with Japan and so on and so on The section hops from one topic to another and bounces back and forth between past and present I browsed the latter 3 sections and concluded that this book is a collection of the author s views on Japan combined with the views of some people he knew while working in Japan and written in the style of a personal memoir while filling pages about the tsunami history culture sociology and politics of Japan that could be better learned by reading other books While I think it may be possible for someone to write a book using this approach this book did not succeed in grabbing my attention simply because it felt like the author was trying too hard to cover too much Is it about the tsunami Japan in post WWII modern Japan Japan sociology Japan culture a memoir of a person s experience living in Japan or about Japan through the eyes of its own people For readers who want all of that in one volume maybe this book is for them For readers who have read other books dedicated to specific topics of Japan for example on the tsunami there is Richard J Samuel s excellent 3.
The adversity advantage 11 Disaster and Change in Japan on Japan in the immediate aftermath of WWII there is John Dower s scholarly work Embracing Defeat for a comprehensive overview of Japan s history there is W G Beasley s The Japanese Experience and The Rise of Modern Japan or Ian Buruma s quick read Inventing Japan which acts like an appetizer from which readers may go on to read other books on Japan s history in which the author indicates was his intent 9781594205842 I have a lot of respect for books that refuse to make generalisations and broad judgements as is the case here On the other hand I find lack of clear structure in non fiction somewhat frustrating which also applies Pilling reflects on Japan s past and present only briefly touching on its future with a reluctance to settle for easy answers He considers Japan s so called lost decade s of very low economic growth its politics and how the population handled the tsunami and Fukushima catastrophes in 2011 I found his economic commentary especially thoughtful perhaps not surprisingly as he was Asia editor of the Financial Times The discussion of culture and society as seen by an outsider was suitably guarded and deeply ambiguous As books in which Westerners claim to wholly understand China or Japan after spending a couple of months there seem terribly arrogant this approach was welcome It doesn t leave the reader terribly enlightened however Japan has changed in the past two decades and also stayed the same The economy has performed badly in some ways and not so badly in others Democratic engagement has waxed and waned Of course the same could be said of the UK or any country nowhere can be reduced to simple cliches What I found muddled though was the book s structure It drifted about from interview to reportage to history without each chapter having a clear theme I found the content readable yet hard to pin down All that I could finally conclude was that Japan is a complicated and distinctive place which I could already have inferred Nonetheless there is some useful context for the conflict with China over tiny islands Japan s current economy and the experience of women in Japanese society All very interesting stuff I just wish it had been edited into a systematic chapter structure The fact that I work in academia may be showing here 9781594205842
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