I’m teaching Comparative Economic Systems this semester and we just finished discussing Japan. Among other things, I had them read Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival, a new and terrific book by David Pilling. I also had them read selected chapters from an oldie but goodie called Japan: Why It Works, Why It Doesn’t : Economics in Everyday Life (edited by Kazuhiro Igawa, Shyam Sunder, James Mak, and Shigeyuki Abe). The book was published in 1997 and I really wish the authors had put out a more recent edition, but it still is a fun read. Here are some of the chapters I had my students read:
Why Do Students Take it Easy at the University?
Why Do Japanese Companies Hire Only Spring Graduates?
Why Are There So Many Small Shops in Japan?
Why is Japan a paradise of vending machines?
Why do ATMS shut down in the evening?
The…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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