Japan Behind the Lines

An interpretation of post-war Japan as it seeks to redefine its identity in the world, this book examines the way social upheaval is taking place beneath the surface of this secretive, ancient civilization. It focuses on the workplace, schools, minority groups, crime and leisure activities.The author of this text was an eyewitness to the overthrow of the democratic world's longest reigning government, the most devastating earthquake for a century, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, and a poison gas massacre by a doomsday cult. The book concentrates on the way these events have affected ordinary and extraordinary Japanese. Through Mayu Kanamori and her family we learn their opinion of these radical changes, the "honne" or truth, rather than the "tattamae' or public pretence behind which the Japanese have traditionally concealed their opinions. People like the cattle farmer, the sacked salariman, the suburban policeman, the AIDS patient and the student trying on her first kimono, are shown alongside a Shinto priest, an Ainu activist, a retired kamikase pilot and the boss of a yakuza gang. These turbulent times in Japan are observed and interpreted in this book from an Australian perspective.In 1991 Ben Hills won the Walkley journalism award, and was runner-up in 1990 for the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year award.