Confucius Lives Next Door

Anyone who has heard his weekly commentary on NPR knows that T. R. Reid is trenchant, funny, and deeply knowledgeable, and now he brings this erudition and humor to the five years he spent in Japan, where he served as The Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief. He provides unique perspective on the country and its 2,500-year-old Confucian tradition, a powerful ethical system that has played an integral role in the country's "postwar miracle". Reid explores the Confucian ideals of respect, responsibility, and group unity and the way they color every aspect of Asian life. Whether describing his neighbor calmly asserting that his son's loud bass playing brings disrepute on the neighborhood, or the Japanese custom of having students clean the schools, Reid inspires us to consider the many benefits of the Asian Way -- as well as its drawbacks -- and to use this to come to a greater understanding of both Japanese culture and America.