Ezra Vogel, author of 'Japan as Number One,' dies at 90

His book was obvious nonsense, even in the 80s, to anyone who knew the first thing about Japan.

Probably the book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" published 10 years later was a more realistic assessment of Japan.

Ezra Vogel taught me much when I was in college. He will be missed.

Vogel's book is now out of print as far as the commercial and academic press is concerned. You can get it a a self-published book from I Universe. I believe that much of the # 1 business left out Japan's glaring faults, like its educational system, especially its playpen universities. The crash of the Japanese economy and the prolonged recession that follow likely turned off Vogel's publishers to Japan as Number One..

RIP. I might have to get hold of the book and see how things looked in 1979.

In 1979, the population was still expanding but the birth rate had already massively plunged. There was to be no more extra demand simply from Japan having more people Japan only had 40 million in 1900, and there were more people in Niigata Prefecture than in Tokyo. In 1979, Japan was also about to embark on one of the greatest asset bubbles the world has ever seen, real estate, the stock market, and the currency all at the same time. That skewed the whole economy and we are probably still living with the fallout now in 2020.

Very sad news. Yes, being widely covered by the media. RIP.

An appropriate follow-up book would be "What Went Wrong In Japan".

Personally, I think that it was the 1980's.

His book was obvious nonsense, even in the 80s, to anyone who knew the first thing about Japan.

At that time, they had very high-quality bureaucrats.

That has changed since 1979.

Before her marriage, Empress Masako studied at Harvard University between 1981 and 1985, graduating magna cum laude in economics.

So much potential all for decoration.

Vogel served as director of Harvard's East Asian Research Center between 1972 and 1977 as well as director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at the Center for International Affairs between 1980 and 1987. 

John K. Fairbank, Jonathan Spence and the likes.

RIP.

A life well lived.

"At that time, they had very high-quality bureaucrats."

A noteworthy remark.