cover image The Eagle and the Rising Sun: America and Japan in the Twentieth Century

The Eagle and the Rising Sun: America and Japan in the Twentieth Century

John K. Emmerson. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, $14.95 (199pp) ISBN 978-0-201-08891-5

Written by former U.S. Foreign Service colleagues, this useful handbook reviews U.S.-Japan relations since World War II (particularly trade and defense issues), Japan's relations with the Soviet Union, China and South Korea, then speculates on future relations between the two rival superpowers on opposite sides of the Pacific. The authors discuss ""the major disparity between the image Japan projects to the outside world and the feelings the Japanese have about themselves,'' a disparity that is the source of much confusion. The book helps to resolve that confusion clearly and concisely. Emmerson and Holland clarify, for instance, the controversy arising from Washington's accusation that Japan engages in unfair trade practices, that it has been ``getting a free ride'' on defense, that the country has done little to help maintain the world order from which it profits so handsomely. (April)