Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West by T.R. Reid

Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West Reviews

• 
  David Eppenstein

  This was actually a very interesting book even if it is somewhat dated. The author is a journalist and was offered the job of Bureau Chief for the Washington Post in Tokyo. He and his wife had spent a significant amount of time in Japan many years prior to this opportunity but now they had 2 girls ages 7 and 10. Nevertheless the author accepted the opportunity and moved his young family to Tokyo for this once in a lifetime experience. While in Japan the author discovers how greatly conditions in that country and all the other nations of East Asia have improved to the point that Asian countries and especially Japan are now fierce economic rivals of traditional industrialized nations in the West. What struck the author odd was while these Asian nations have acquired wealth comparable to Western nations they have few of the social problems that usually come along with this wealth. The author wondered why and set about to find an answer.
  
  To be fair this book came out more than 20 years ago and much of the statistical data the author cites is rather stale to say the least. His conclusions based on this data therefore should be viewed cautiously. Further, I have read some criticisms of this book in that the author's examination is rather shallow and myopic which maybe true. However, the author is a journalist and not a sociologist, psychologist, historian, or philosopher. What he learns in his attempt to satisfy his curiosity about how Japan and other Asian nations managed the miracle of rebuilding so successfully following WWII while at the same time maintaining safe and stable societies is what any visitor would learn on a similar experience. This book is not a be all end all analysis of Asian culture but it sure is a fascinating look at how life is lived in the East and the author presents his findings and conclusions in a palatable and readable format that will give any reader things to think about and discuss.
  
  In the book the author covers several areas. The ones I found the most interesting were education and employment. The unifying element in all the areas he covers is his belief that all of Asian cultures rely on a Confucian set of ethics and morality and this code of behavior values duty to the community over the individual and that this manner of behavior is introduced very early in life and is continuously reinforced throughout life and everyday exposure. How this is done in the schools and in the workplace was something to envy. In the schools the kids do all the cleaning and as a result there is no littering, graffiti, or vandalism because the kids know they are the ones that need to clean it up. In business laying people off in difficult economic periods is unthinkable. In such times the company absorbs the cost and reduced profits and otherwise idle workers are assigned other duties even if it is simply make-work duties. The reason for this is that the companies understand that unemployment leads to all sorts or negative social consequences that would result in the need for even more expensive government programs that the companies would have to pay for in increased taxes. Like I stated there are a lot of things in this book to think about and even envy. Some of it wouldn't work here but a lot of other things are worth considering and discussing. An interesting book and worth reading. Enjoy.
• 
  Andrea

  I learned about some Japanese history and current affairs, but the book bothered me. The author was the Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post (now the London bureau chief) and he's no doubt a great writer. But his arguments seem a little too black-white/east-west for my tastes. He claims that there is a distinct Asian Way, which I find hard to believe, especially since "Asia" itself is a shaky, colonial concept that encompasses many different cultures. Many of his descriptions also fall into old stereotypes about the "mysterious Orient." He tries to address some of these criticisms all at once in a chapter at the end, but he doesn't fight very hard for his thesis. He merely states the possible criticisms and says "But I still think I'm right." This wouldn't have flown even as a university writing assignment.
  
  It was a clear and sometimes entertaining read, but tainted. I knew something was wrong as soon as the author insulted Nobel-prize winning writer Kenzaburo Oe and bad-mouthed green tea ice cream.
• 
  Simon Eskildsen

  When a ship-yard with 100s of employees has to close due to lack of demand, what do you do? Lay everyone off, or give the group 10 years to return to profitability in some other industry? The former is unthinkable to many co-operations in Japan. The latter would make any Fortune 500 CEO laugh. Yet, that's exactly what happened in one Japanese form--the shipyard summoned their collective creativity and decided to use their wave and snow simulation technology to create indoor beaches and skiing-hills. They have been quite successful.
  
  This is the Confucianism weaved deep into the East Asian social fabric in action: the well-being of the group above all else. Losing your job can be what pushes people out of society, as anyone who's read Evicted would attest to. This societal trait to prioritize the group, Reid suggests, is how nations like Japan have succeeded in a stunning economic recovery from the devastating fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945. In parallel, the under-appreciated simultaneous social miracle that gives Japan some of the lowest income equality in the world, 1/100s the lawyers per capita as the US, and a murder-rate of 1/25. Not a single bike-lock. Socially acceptable to send your kid and their friend to Disneyland Tokyo on their own on public transit.
  
  Growing up in Denmark, this deep sense of collectivism resonates -- the author really means "US" when he says "West." It's about as hard for an American to understand how you could possibly leave a baby carriage unattended while in a bakery, as it is for a Dane to comprehend why that's strange. There are dark sides to the proverbial 'the nail that sticks up gets hammered down' society, too. It can put a lid on ambition.
  
  While this is a book about what we can learn from the East, Reid missed the downsides. That makes it less trustworthy. Overall, a pleasant, easy-to-read book that's worth reading for those with an interest in this particular aspect of Asia.
  
• 
  Julio Pino

  "And I laid traps for troubadours who get killed before they reach Bombay".---Jagger/Richards
  Whenever Westerners grow tired of the decadent, decayed, and desiccated Occident they turn their gaze Eastward and think they've found Magic Land and The Solution to all their ills. This is as true of The Beatles (the doomed troubadours) as of Ezra Pound with his "Chinese Cantos" as Alan Watts and Zen Buddhism. (One giant exception is Arthur Koestler's brilliant THE LOTUS AND THE ROBOT.) T.R. Reid spent five years living in Japan with his family and decided "Confucianism is the thing for us", meaning the rest of us in the West. His Japan is one where students excel at school, families stay together, you can trust your neighbors and the crime rate is low. This delicious package is due to Japanese society being self-regulating; an outgrowth of adopting Confucian ethics, neither Christian nor wholly secular. You won't be punished by hell or rewarded by heaven, nor is the police presence particularly prevalent. Shame is the sentiment that holds society together. Lose face and you lose all. Wouldn't you want to move to Japan in a second, or at least copy its model? Actually, no. What Reid is too cowardly to admit, even to himself, is that conformity is the matrix of shame, and only a society where all conformed to the same norms, from sex to the law to education, will yield the utopia he thinks he's found. Take crime for an example: Japan enjoys a low crime rate, and violent crime is very rare, precisely because the Japanese, with their cultish devotion to the family, seldom intermix with strangers. By the same token, the Japanese are loathed to aid strangers; if you fall down in a Tokyo subway station don't count on anybody to pick you up. Japanese students surpass their Western peers in almost every discipline due to family pressure and an education system that does not value original thinking. If a near-feudal society running on patriarchy and unquestioned obedience are for you, by all means, follow Reid. Or, better yet, DEEP PURPLE: "My woman from Tokyo, she makes me see/my woman from Tokyo, she's so good to me".
• 
  M. Thomas Apple

  I first read this book almost twenty years ago, when I came to Japan for just two years on a teaching contract. At the time, the book seemed perfectly rational and helped me to understand a bit more about the cultural differences I perceived.
  
  I read again last week, after now having lived the past twenty years in Japan, having traveled the length and breadth of the country (and visited many, many other “Asian” countries), having made many Japanese friends and colleagues, gotten married to a wonderful Japanese spouse and raised two children...
  
  And an awful lot of the book now seems like yet more Essentialist/Orientalist rubbish.
  
  Typical of people like Ruth Benedict...who live for a short time in downtown Tokyo, hobnob with the upper crust, know only one neighborhood and one school, and then claim everything everywhere else in the country (and even part of the world!) is the same.
  
  One thing the writer conveniently forgets about Japan is that neo-Confucianism came to Japan in the 1600s, a mere 1000 years after Buddhism and (probably) 2300+ years after the various Shinto beliefs took root. His thoughts about Korea and China likewise ignore Legalism, Daoism, and other belief/political systems of thought and governance.
  
  An interesting, if quickly outdated, anecdotal view of a tiny sliver of East Asian society.
• 
  Matthew

  I could not wrap my head around what T.R. Reid had in mind when he set about to write this novel. On the one hand, the better hand, he presents a deep respect and veneration for the East Asian nations that he talks about ... he uses them as great models to enhance the American life. On the other hand, though, he uses crass and racist terms throughout the book to do this. Most notably, he often describes his subjects as "Orientals" (they are people, not furniture!).
  
  
  
  It seems that he undermines the thesis of his book by throwing away his findings as "oriental," instead of something worth looking at. It was very unfortunate, because while this wasn't a thrilling novel by any measure ... it was at least readable, and I think that there is something to be said for much of the arguments.
  
  
  
  Oh well, maybe this Occidental mind just can't figure out the ramblings of these oriental lovers. See, doesn't that just leave a distaste in your mouth after saying/thinking that sentance? That's kind of what I'm getting at. If you want to get a better understanding of Confucius and/or East Asia, there are many better books than this one.
• 
  Elizabeth Reuter

  Confucius Lives Next Door is a memoir, and as a memoir, it carries bias; Mr. Reid's observations are his own, and they are slanted indeed.
  
  He praises things about Japan that are praisworthy in certain situations, like Japan's cultural adherence to rules, and suggests Westerners do the same. However, Mr. Reid then fails to mention the downside to such obedience, and why it can be dangerous.
  
  Such a slanted book has value, because there are wonderful things about Japan, and about the "Japanese way" of doing things. But throw away your rose-colored glasses before reading, and read other works alongside it to get a fuller picture. If Dogs and Demons is slanted to the negative, unable to see much good in Japan, Confucius Lives Next Door is its opposite, blind to anything but propoganda-style perfection.
  
  -
  Elizabeth Reuter
  Author,
  The Demon of Renaissance Drive
• 
  David

  I read this book for a class in college. It was interesting and educational, but not exceptional by any means.
• 
  Glen Engel-Cox

  J picked this paperback up for me during her business trip in the U.S., due in part for her own interest in it, but also because we both had enjoyed Reid's informal talks with Bob Edwards on NPR's Morning Edition where he often provided a great first-hand view of an ex-patriate. Since we've been in that position for just a little over 18 months now, she thought I would find Reid's view of what the East gets right, and gets wrong, interesting. And I did. Reid is clear in his thesis, which may have aged somewhat since the book was written in the late 90s and thus doesn't cover some of the world changes that have occurred since. The background idea, that Asia is rapidly coming into its own and displacing the 20th century to make the 21st century the Asian century, is hard to refute. Reid's thesis, however, that this is due to a philosophy born out of Confucian thought, is a little tougher to follow, although he provides plenty of examples, both anecdotal and statistical.
  
  The best thing about the book, however, is that Reid adopts a Japanese idea and points out the flaws in his own theory in an afterward (an atogaki). This is where I understood what was bugging me the most about the book, and that is trying to define Asia as a homogenous group. My personal perspective, having lived in Malaysia and visited (albeit too briefly for many of these places) other Asian locations, is that while some shared perspective is present, there's a lot more cracks in the impenetrable front that is often portrayed within and without the region. Malaysia, in particular, has a schizophrenia from its mixed racial identity and the growth of Islamic economic power. Reid, at one point, quotes a Chinese Malaysian as saying the affirmative action put in place to bring the Malay population out of poverty (in comparison to the Chinese population) was not perfect, but necessary for the culture, might still be said today, but that commentator would also say that it is time to change that affirmative action to one based on income, rather than race, as the ongoing New Economic Plan is increasingly seen as a racial divider rather than one that is actually improving race relations.
  
  Finally, the other nice point that Reid emphasizes is that Confucian thought is actually not that far different from Christian teaching, with the golden rule of "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" expressed as "Do not impose on others what you do not want for yourself." He then proceeds to make connections between other Judeo-Christian and Classical ethical guidance and Confucius, coming to the conclusion that, in a nutshell, ethics = ethics, in all languages and cultures. The difference may lie in how much individuals are willing to concede to groups, and vice versa (i.e., where are the commons, or where does your face end and my fist begin?).
• 
  Lindsay

  Although the argument of the book is a bit simplistic (essentially, copy the "Asian way" for a safer and better society), I did learn a lot about Japan and living there. I wasn't aware of how much Confucius impacts school and society in modern Japan, and Reid's everyday examples of life in Japan were generally funny and entertaining. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in Japan; I think it would be especially interesting to anyone considering studying or moving there.
• 
  Kevin

  Very interesting and pretty well organized description of one man's view of living in Japan as an American family. Reading this in 2021 it is a bit obvious that many parts are fairly dated and some of the descriptions of daily life in Japan probably no longer apply.
  However, as I have never been to Japan but have been fascinated with their culture most of my life, I found this a fairly good way to dip my toes into gaining a better understanding of it. There was quite a bit of history and a good chunk of the book was focused on the teachings of Confucius, which I appreciated as it helped put most of the other observations in context.
  Unfortunately, I did get the sense that this book seemed to paint a fairly rosy picture of life in Japan and just barely touched on any of the negatives that have to exist. There was almost no mention of the gangs or cults and other undesirable elements that we all know do exist (as they do everywhere), and just the briefest mention of the known lack of support or growth for women. Even in 2021 we still hear about Japan being a very male centered nation and not exceptionally diverse either.
  I would have appreciated a bit more depth on how those aspects of their culture are affected or viewed by the Confucian ideology that Mr Reid describes as the underlying reason for Japan's success. But I do understand that was not the purpose of this book so I will simply have to find other sources to expand my knowledge.
  As stated earlier, I enjoyed this little glimpse into Japanese culture and feel that, except for the issues above, it was well written in plain language and avoided feeling like a text book.
• 
  Stephanie

  Maybe a 3.5? Colin chose this for our second book as his friend Sabin was reading it and had a copy. I found a lot of things very interesting just to think about a different culture and how the Japanese in particular have a number of different polite signs up reminding people of the rules how their elementary schools work having the children take much of the responsibility for cleaning as well as serving lunch and The coming of age ceremony for all 20-year-olds was also intriguing. I liked reading about Confucius and a number of his thoughts and philosophy there was a number of chilling quotes related to government and leader ship that struck me. This book was written in 1999, with so many changes yet to happen and Colin was yet to be born.🙂 Colin did connect with the concept of loyalty to employers and having them not lay people off even during economic hardship or limits in their profits.
  
  Hedlun is choosing to read the book and hoping to reengage with Colin about it later as well. Our book discussion was rather short and more related to his political views and being upset about “wokameos” Which I think is really directly tied to his social media feed and some of the rhetoric from his 15 yr old socially conservative friends that is a bit limited in perspective and analysis unfortunately. Need to continue to think about beginning with the end in mind, connection and honest and caring relationships with my children, family and friends.
• 
  Toshi

  Insightful observations and mind-boggling analysis and research of Asian culture, ethics, politics, economic system, values, written by an American lived in Tokyo with his family as Washington Post reporter. The main point of this book is that Asian value, particularly in Japan, Korea, Singapore are Confucious (儒教, 孔子の教え) values in practice daily everywhere. This book actually helps me digest and understand Analects (論語) much better than a few modern Japanese translation of Analects. And finally went on comparing his American poorer civility but individualistic democratic society vs. Asian harmony and value to prioritize society as a whole than individual, with the striking comparison of the two incidents; one in Baton Rouge a Japanese teen age boy was shot dead in Halloween night while shooting to death was acceptable right to protect his family from threat; Second incident in Singapore where American boy graffiti paint spray on vehicles was sentenced to 4 month jail and 6 cane strikes. Very interesting book and highly recommended to my friends who are interested in global business and global citizenship.
• 
  Andrea Balfour

  The purpose of the book is to show how Asian social values have created a stable, kind, and flourishing society in Asian countries and why the West would do good to find reasons to emulate them. The author did a nice job of presenting these values/ideas based on the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. His thoughts on how individuals and people and governments should conduct themselves is presented as the basis for all Asian cultures. The author studied these Eastern cultures and when he was made the Tokyo Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, he and his family moved to Japan for give years and experienced it all first hand.
  
  I knew nothing about Japan previously, thanks to my American education. However I'm fascinated to learn about the government, corporations, family life, and education as outlined in the book. Reading the book was easy, without facts and figures or droning on in too much detail. Everything was clear and related to the teachings of Confucius. I'd recommend it to someone wanting to learn more about the successes of the Asian culture over the typical American way.
• 
  Danielle

  I was drawn to this book because of the byline, "what living in the east teaches us about living in the west." The practices or lifestyles observed in Asian countries like meditation, familial harmony, corporate work life dedication/loyalty (from the company), etc seemed appealing and something to replicate.
  
  I learned so much about Japanese history, culture, societal consciousness, etc. The author is a journalist that moved his family to Japan for 5 years during his career as a foreign coorespondant. This was written in 1999 with the author's written experiences occurring in the 1970's - 1990's, and obviously didn't account for any history in the last 20 years, but nonetheless was fascinating.
  
  
• 
  Julia Liu

  Good read, but some of the points in the book are probably outdated, given the book was published in 1999 and Asia has experienced so much change within the last 20 years.
  
  I did find his contrast of "quality of life" between the east and the west very interesting. Here's a quote from a conversation he had with Kishore Mahbubani, a Singaporean diplomat:
  
  

  "Yes, it's true, if standard of living means the number of square feet in your home, or the number of channels on your television set, or the number of horsepower in the driveway-then, yes, America leads the world. But if standard of living means not being afraid to go outside that home after dark, or not worrying about what filth your children see on those channels, or not wondering when you get up in the morning if all that horsepower will still be in the driveway-if the standard includes safety and decency and security, then our East Asian societies have the higher standard."

  
  
  As a female in America, the security part (like walking around at night and even during the day sometimes) really spoke to me. That's something I notice when I'm in China, is that I do feel safer there than in America. I wish this is something our politicians would address more, since we should strive to have improvements in standard of living both in the material sense and in the security sense.
• 
  Gerald

  Culture Comparison
  
  Moving his family from the US to Tokyo late in the 20th century, the author encounters surprisingly high levels of safety, trust and honor in each of the Asian countries he visits. His next door neighbor is proves to be a vital source for identifying some of the why's behind the differences between Western and Asian society, specifically increased levels of safety, trust and honor.
• 
  Nancy Lambert

  T. R. Reid was the Washington Post bureau chief in Tokyo. He has a cute sense of humor and truly seems to appreciate the Asian culture. I first knew him from his NPR reports from Tokyo where he described how an American family navigated the Asian way of life. This book goes into some depth on what has been called chopstick culture or the Asian Way. Reid delves into the teachings of Confucius, which he views as the underpinning of the Asian Way.
• 
  Lizz

  While some of the economic aspects of this book are out of touch since it was published back in 1999, this book is a fascinating look at Eastern Asia from the perspective of a journalist from the Washington Post and his family.
  
  I read this book for my History of Japan class, but I would highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in modern Japan or Eastern Asia, and their culture, beliefs, and social mores.
• 
  Eggens

  This book was printed in 1998 so some of the information was definitely dated, however, I found the comparison between Japan and the US cultures very interesting. I learned a lot about Confucius, Confucian Capitalism, and the different expectations Japanese workers, citizens have. This book makes me want to learn more about Confucius, Japan, China, the entire East Asian area.
• 
  Brittan

  Fundementally flawed, but the Confucius parts are insightful.
• 
  Christine Ezell

  His attitude is a bit too American for my taste, but overall it was informative and enjoyable.
• 
  Angelo Montinovo

  Outdated for 2021 reader. Quite few interesting observations on the Japanese culture and East Asia shared values.
• 
  Sharon

  Thought provoking!
• 
  Gloria Lucas

  I would say 3.5 stars, so I'm rounding up. Quick, easy read. Overall enjoyable opinion piece.