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Author
Lectures on Japan’s “Lost Generation”
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Michael Zielenziger, author of Shutting Out the Sun,
will give a lecture titled “Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan
Created its Own Lost Generation,” on September 28 at noon at
Pomona College.
As the world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed
poised to overtake America. In Zielenziger’s book
Shutting Out the Sun (2006), he discusses an array of
disturbing social trends in Japan, including: the highest
suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized
countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of
depression.
Zielenziger argues that Japan’s rigid, tradition-steeped
society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of
individuality and the expression of self are stifling
economic revival, political reform, and social evolution.
Giving a human face to the country’s malaise, Zielenziger
explains how these constraints have driven intelligent,
creative young men to become modern-day hermits and led to
growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to
single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear
children. Shutting Out the Sun is a bold explanation of
Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the
world.
Zielenziger, currently a research scholar at the Institute
of East Asian Studies, was, until May 2003, the Tokyo-based
bureau chief for Knight Ridder Newspapers. Before moving to
Tokyo, Zielenziger served as the first Pacific Rim
correspondent for The San Jose Mercury News, and was
a finalist for a 1995 Pulitzer Prize in International
Reporting for a series on China. He was also a contributor
to two other Pulitzer Prizes awarded to the Mercury News.
The event will be held in Pomona College’s Oldenborg Center
(350 N. College Way, Claremont) and is sponsored by the
Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College and the Asian
Studies Department. Attendees may purchase lunch at this
event.
Pomona College is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts
institutions, offering a comprehensive program in the arts,
humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Its
hallmarks include small classes, close relationships between
students and faculty, and a range of opportunities for
student research. Visit Pomona College on the web at
www.pomona.edu. |
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