"Which America?: A Superpower of Contradiction and Equilibrium"

2021/08/18

When writing a book, I have never made a detailed plan in advance. I always start writing tentatively, triggered by some chance occurrence. This time was no different.

As I noted in the afterword, I once left my watch on a table while attending a meeting. The person sitting next to me that day, with whom I spoke for the first time, noticed it and sent it to me by mail. That person was Kentaro Horikawa of Minerva Shobo, who planned and edited this book. Had I not forgotten my watch, this book would never have been published.

When we met again in Kyoto, Mr. Horikawa suggested, "Why don't you give a lecture on America?" He said that if the transcript were compiled, it could become a book.

For a slow writer like me, it wasn't a bad proposal. If all went well, a book could be finished within a year. Thinking that, I accepted, but I was being too optimistic. In reality, it took nearly six years to complete.

Why did it take so long? My spoken words in the transcript were hardly readable as prose. I rewrote the entire thing substantially about three times. President Trump's four years were so tumultuous that I felt paralyzed... There are other reasons, but I shall make no more excuses.

However, the overall theme I tackled in this book remained unchanged from the day of the lecture until the final proofing. In America, where interests, ideologies, beliefs, and values are extremely diverse, contradiction and conflict are the norm. Rather, by clashing with one another, opposing sides check and balance each other, creating a kind of equilibrium. I argued that this very phenomenon—where intense contradiction produces stability, a contradiction in itself—may be the strength of this country.

As the book neared completion, we brainstormed several title ideas, but none of them felt right. Finally, we decided on "Which America?", a play on Masakazu Yamazaki's masterpiece "This America".

Recently, I often see commentators who look at only one side of America and make definitive statements about the entire country. Certainly, Trump's America and Hollywood's America are both undoubtedly America, but they are not everything. Unless one clarifies which America they are talking about, they are not being intellectually honest. Based on that understanding, let us discuss this country extensively and learn more about it. This is another message I want to convey through the title.

"Which America?: A Superpower of Contradiction and Equilibrium"

Naoyuki Agawa

Minerva Shobo

272 pages, 2,860 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.