What sorts of things are Japanese and American people interested in about each other, as people and as nations? The bestselling books in Amazon.co.jp's America category and Amazon.com's Japanese History category (the closest equivalent) might shed a little light on the subject. Let's take a look at the current top ranked books in each country, as of today.
Amazon.co.jp's top-selling books in the "America" category (11/29/2010)
1. Special Report: Poverty Nation America
2. Wow! I Never Knew That About America
3. Special Report: Poverty Nation America 2
4. Special Report: The Paradox of American Democracy
5. Half of Americans Can't Place New York on a Map
6. Special Report: Poverty Nation America (Manga Version)
7. American Urban Theory
8. America's Disappearing Freedoms
9. Captain America's Dead: The American Dream and Nightmare
10. Why Are Americans So Fat?
So the Japanese are reading about economic, education, liberty, and health problems facing Americans today. Fair enough. Now, what are Americans studying about Japan?
Amazon.com's top-selling books in the "Japanese History" category (11/29/2010)
1. Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against Japan
2. Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
3. Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against Japan (Kindle version)
4. The Book of Five Rings
5. Katana: The Samurai Sword 950-1877
6. The Rape of Nanking: Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
7. Ninja Attack! True Tales of Assassins, Samurai, and Outlaws (woot!)
8. One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa
9. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
10. Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan
So what do we have? Rampaging Imperial Japanese soldiers, yakuza, samurai, swords, and ninja. Nothing about topics or issues facing Japanese for, oh, the last sixty-five years or so, let alone US-Japan relations. Admittedly this is the history category, but it seems to be the closest to a catch-all for books about Japanese culture on Amazon. So much for that whole "Japan Cool" campaign, huh?
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