Book Review: Pure Invention - How Japan Made the Modern World by Matt Alt ★★★⯪☆ (opens in new tab)

I read this book while on a long flight to Tokyo. While superficially about Japan, it's more about American anxiety about the relationship between the two countries. The constant undercurrent is an admiration about how Japan played capitalism better than the country which conquered it. There's a momentary diversion at the start of the book to look at how the Meji Restoration changed Japan's…