The Coming War With Japan

by George Friedman

Argues that the post-Cold War world will see the United States and Japan emerge as opponents, traces Japan's increasing power, and contends the United States holds the trump cards in the economic contest.

Genres: Politics, Japan, History, Nonfiction, Military History, War

429 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

George Friedman is an internationally recognized geopolitical forecaster and strategist on international affairs and the founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures.

A New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Friedman's most recent book, THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond, published February 25, describes how “the United States periodically reaches a point of crisis in which it appears to be at war with itself, yet after an extended period it reinvents itself, in a form both faithful to its founding and radically different from what it had been.” The decade 2020-2030 is such a period which will bring dramatic upheaval and reshaping of American government, foreign policy, economics, and culture.



His most popular book, The Next 100 Years, is kept alive by the prescience of its predictions. Other best-selling books include Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, The Next Decade, America’s Secret War, The Future of War and The Intelligence Edge. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages. Dr. Friedman has briefed numerous military and government organizations in the United States and overseas and appears regularly as an expert on international affairs, foreign policy and intelligence in major media.

For almost 20 years before resigning in May 2015, Dr. Friedman was CEO and then chairman of Stratfor, a company he founded in 1996. Friedman received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of the City University of New York and holds a doctorate in government from Cornell University.

Reviews

[Dustin Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated. Like much of George Friedman's writing, it brilliantly describes the past and gives context for the present, while going off the rails predicting the near future.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has nothing to do with Japan, war or otherwise ( there's a whole mini-subset of publishing ' Japan-bashing ' with an even minnier subset ' Japan is about to attack us at any moment ! ' ) However, the first half is a very good assesment of the US postion after the somewhat unexpected end of the cold war ( that couldn't get published by itself I guess, so they tacked on some bullshit about Japan to get it on the shelf )

[Collin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hindsight is 20/20, and nothing makes that statement more evident than reading a predictive geopolitical book from 30 years ago. The U.S. and Japan have not gone to war since the publishing of this book, and likely are no closer today than anytime in the past 70 years. The first half was very interesting, giving an in-depth analysis of the geopolitical history of Japan in the modern area. Obviously the forward-looking claims made by the authors turned out to be false, but it was a fun hypothetical to ruminate over while reading. The most notable errors in analysis was a failure to predict the rise of China and a belief the world economy would regionalize following the break up of the Soviet Union.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, but things didn't quite work out as the author expected.