Thoughts
As I mentioned, I'm reading a book entitled, Dogs and Demons, by Alex Kerr, and it is a very interesting look into the modern societial problems facing Japan. I'm not going to put anymore large quotes from the book, but I thought a listing of the chapters and the little bylines that accompany each one, as a subtle indicator of what the book actually talks about.

• The Land: The Construction State
  
  Our country, as a special mark of favor from the heavenly gods, was begotten by them, and there is thus so immense a difference between Japan and all the other countries of the world as to defy comparison. Ours is a spelndid and blessed country, the Land of the Gods beyond any doubt.
  --Hirata Atsutane(1776-1843)


• Environment: Cedar Plantations and Orage Ooze
  
  The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  --Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat


• The Bubble: Looking Back
  
  Naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret.
  
  If you drive nature out with a pitchfork, she will soon find a way back.
  --Horace


• Information: A Different View of Reality
  
  Men take their misfortunes to heart, and keep them there. A gambler does not talk about his losses; the frequenter of brothels, who find his favorite engaged by another, pretends to be just as well off without her; the professional streetbrawler is quiet about the fights he has lost; and a merchant who speculates on goods will conceal the losses he may suffer. All act as one who steps on dog dung in the dark.
  --Ihara Saikaku, "What the Seasons Brought to the Almanac Maker" (1686)


• Bureaucracy: Power and Privilege
  
  Therefore a wise prince must devise ways by which his citizens are always and in all circumstances dependent on him and on his authority; and then they will always be faithful to him.
  --Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)


• Monuments: Airports for Radishes
  
  Aujourd'hui rien.
  
  Today, nothing.
  --Louis XVI, writing in his diary on the day the Bastille fell (1789)


• Old Cities: Kyoto and Tourism
  
  To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition.
  --Dr. Samuel Johnson, The Rambler (1750)


• New Cities: Electric Wires and Roof Boxes
  
  Stricken on a journey
  My dreams go wandering round
  Withered fields.
  --Matsuo Basho (1694)


• Demons: The Philosophy of Monuments
  
  "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
  Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
  --Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias" (1817)


• Manga and Massive: The Business of Monuments
  
  Society is like sex in that no one knows what perversions it can develop once aesthetic considerations are allowed to dictate its choices.
  --Marcel Proust


• National Wealth: Debt, Public and Private
  
  These days people borrow without the slightest thought, and from the very start they have no notion of ever settling their debts. Since in their own extravagance they borrowed the money just to squander it in the licensed quarters, there is no way for the money to generate enough new money to settle the loan. Consequently they bring hardship to their creditors and invent every manner of falsehood....No matter what excuse some malevolent scheme of yours prompts you to invent, nothing can save you from the obligation of returning an item you have borrowed.
  --Ihara Saikaku, Some Final Words of Advice (1689)


• Education: Following the Rules
  
  In governing the people the sage empties their minds but fills their bellies, weakenss their wills but strengthens their bones. He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire, and ensures that the clever never dare to act.
  --Lao-Tzu, Tao-te Ching


• After School: Flowers and Cinema
  
  Tell me, gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, standing in the garden, nodding your heads to the bees as they sing of the dews and the sunbeams, are you aware of the fearful doom that awaits you?
  --Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea


• Internationalization: Refugees and Expats
  
  When the inside had become so solidly inside that all the outside could be outside and the inside inside.
  --Gertrude Stein


• To Change or Not to Change: Boiled Frog
  
  If I don't drive around the park,
  i'm pretty sure to make my mark.
  If I'm in bed each night by ten,
  I may get back my looks again.
  If I abstain from fun and such,
  I'll probably amount to much;
  But I shall stay the way I am,
  Because I do not give a damn.
  --Dorothy Parker, "Observation"


• Conclusion
  
  E pur si muove.
  
  But it does move.
  --Galileo Galilei, said under his breath after he was forced to recant his belief that the earth moved around the sun (1632)

Well there you have it, that's the book I'm currently reading for fun. I'm almost done, and I must say he does hit the situation right on the head, but he avoids suggesting action as a foreigner, which is admirable. More later.