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Interesting insights but the structure of the book so far is a bit all over the place so having a bit of a hard time keeping track of which part of the book I'm currently on and/or what pertinent themes are being discussed!

Re-read everything and caught up because I kind of forgot the plot since there was a wide interval between my readings. Haha

Mandated casual straight boy reading

Making! Progress!

as fundamentally insignificant. Parts of a whole. Cogs in a machine. And take pride in operating together as part of a ruthlessly efficient machine aimed squarely at state progress and growth. Indoctrinate pride and anger. That "we are owed something collectively."

...a common goal and this vague idea of a "Great Public," in return erecting institutions that at least have the interest of multiple people in mind rather than the enrichment of a few families?

I wonder if our curse (PH) is that we allowed family ties to be the primary organizing principle of our lives. Blood rather than sweat. To this end, what we can learn from this book is that we must learn to see ourselves...

Is it not better, even if "better" comes with its own "brutish" consequences, to at least organize the resources of the state around a clearly defined "common goal?" At least in the denial of self one can serve causes greater than the pursuit of profit and/or cronyism, no? At least those in public service can be conditioned to leave something behind that surpasses one's self — and one can be trained to serve...

And finally...is rule by calculated bureaucrat really so bad when democracy is slow, inefficient, and corrupt? I don't agree with all that the likes of Nobusuke Kishi stands for and does, BUT there is something to be said re: one's attempt to distill personal ties down to cold, hard, numerical relations. Where once there was only disorder...is it not better to have imperfect order vs. none at all?

...worship of authoritarian power vs. democracy. Good books that expound on this include Robert Caro's "The Power Broker."

At what point do we not allow "getting things done" to justify the suppression of one's personal rights and freedoms?

On the other hand, surely there comes a point where human rights and freedoms must make way for concrete action. We cannot dismiss the importance of the "nation builder."

This book is soooo boring — Enlightening! — but boring. Interesting though how there are so many left-wing economic principles that are grafted on to the Reform Bureaucrat's Total War state. If our race is superior then all within the race must be equal in ability...and thus resources allocated "according to need" instead i.e. the needs of the great Japanese nation.

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Some parallels here in terms of...

What's really scary is that sans the racism, there's a lot of passages and ideas here that could easily find a home in more left-wing economic and political texts...

...we can't learn anything from the decisive, productive means of governance and organization driven by reformists in Manchuria. For those allergic to right-wing ideas and thinking, a lot of their managerial and administrative theory is borrowed from Soviet-style central planning, mind.

Maybe a better term to use to come to terms with the ideas presented so far is...corporatist? Human rights abuses aside...