ABSTRACT
Attitudes of Japanese and Americans toward each other have moved in lockstep with deteriorating economic relations. Communication is at the heart of much of the difficulty in the United States (US) Japanese relationship. Differences in leadership styles and patterns of communication tend to complicate the management of relations and inhibit personal friendships between Japanese and Americans. Japanese communication style can be a mystery to foreigners. Eloquence may be equated with suspicion. US-Japanese relations are on the receiving end of a rising tide of mutual vituperation from irreconcilable people who are blinded by prejudice and misguided nationalism. Substantial minorities of Americans appear to go further. James Fallows and other leading members of the “revisionist” school of US-Japanese relations argue that Japan, for its own good, should be “contained” by the United States. Japan has no civil rights movement because little incentive exists to push such a program.
