Every Human Intention: Japan in the New Century

Journalist Richard debuts with a keenly observed yet uneven study of modern-day Japan. Spotlighting the country’s Nigerian immigrant community; the depopulation of Wakkanai, Japan’s northernmost city; and mismanagement by the government’s nuclear regulatory agency, Richard illustrates the complexities of a nation with an aging population in industrial decline, a monocultural xenophobia that all but closes off economic opportunity for immigrants, and an entrenched, corrupt bureaucracy that multiplies the dangers of its nuclear power industry while concealing them from the public. Discriminated against by Japanese society, the Nigerian men Richard profiles work in Tokyo’s red-light districts, where they are treated with suspicion by the police and get caught between the desire to return home and the need to make money. Wading deep into the weeds of post-Fukushima reform efforts, Richard documents everything from the geochemical composition of nuclear plant sites to bitter infighting among the regulatory judges. The book shines in its poignant profiles of elderly Japanese people in the “second-class city” of Wakkanai, who remember their community’s post-WWII heyday. Though full of rich detail and nuanced insights, Richard’s trio of niche subjects doesn’t quite amount to a full-dimensional portrait. (Feb.)