Confucius Lives Next Door Analysis

Confucius said: “Isn’t it a pleasure when you can make practical use of the things you have studied? Isn’t it a pleasure to have an old friend visit from afar? Isn’t it the sure sign of a gentleman, that he does not take offense when others fail to recognize his ability?” “ Confucius Lives Next Door” is a book written by T.R. Reid, the book is based on Reid’s experience with his family living in East Asia, namely Tokyo, Japan. This quote recurs throughout the book. Reid uses his knowledge of East Asia and of Confucius to help explain why East Asia is much safer than America. Most people in East Asia agree with the values and teachings of Confucius. This seems to be the reason that their society thrives. In East Asia there were two miracles:

the social miracle with low rates of crime and strong families; and the economic miracle with low amounts of unemployment even when they are in recession.
This book takes place in Japan mainly Tokyo; however other cities were explored and are mentioned in the book such as Yokohama and Kawasaki. These cities in Japan all share common values and morals as the rest of East Asia.
Japan is a place with many people everywhere.

It is an urban area, although it does have a countryside used for farming rice. However, it is mostly filled with government buildings and factories. One of the buildings would be Tokyo City Hall, costing more than a billion dollars, created by Kenzo Tange. This building looks like Notre Dame Cathedral along with two bell towers on the side soaring over 797 feet tall. As for physical, nature, characteristics, there is a mountain in Tokyo and several other mountains that are visible near Tokyo, one would be Mount Fuji. In Japan they speak Japanese, but they do have signs and posters that are in English. There is not a set religion in Japan, however; Jesuit missionaries were sent from America. Japanese people focus more on the teachings of Confucius instead of a main religion. The climate of Japan was not really described. However, we do know the time period for the book was throughout the 1990s and was published in 1999. This means that some of the descriptions of Tokyo or other cities are not as correct as they used to

be.
The people in Japan have a lot of interaction with their environment. Reid said that when he would visit Japan before he moved that the people would ride their bikes on the small narrow streets, but when he returned, the people were now driving their cars in the very compacted streets, thus starting to pollute the air. Compared to America their lifestyles are completely different, they have many customs that we do not have. One of the customs would be taking off your shoes before entering into someone’s house; other places may make you do this too, like Yodobashi No. 6, a school that Reid’s daughters attended while they lived in Japan. Other customs are the coming of age ceremony, entering the company ceremony, bowing, and many more ceremonies. They have different values than us; their values are based on the teachings of Confucius. When asked why their society has such low rates of crime, rape, murder, drug use, divorce, and single parents it is said by many that the teachings of Confucius have led to this success. Besides following these values, Japanese people also have a lot of loyalty, discipline, focus on education, and hard work. Most people interact with each other in this book at either school or work. You may see others at restaurants or at your occasional park bench, though. Japanese people are engaged in their line of work, which are mainly either factory jobs or working in business buildings. Japanese people have a lot of loyalty to their company. When a crisis happens companies always seem to step up to the plate and make sure their employees keep their jobs and make sure they have daily needs such as food, some of the major companies even provide living space as long as the employee still works for them.
Japan is constantly moving, whether it is exporting/importing goods, immigrants and migrants coming or going, or the goods sold right off the streets. Due to the loyalty they have to their companies the Japanese people are able to produce many goods and export them to other countries around the world. They export a lot of their goods to America; one of the goods they export is cars. The goods they sell on the streets are not as extravagant as cars. They sell produce, fish, and smaller goods along the streets of big cities in Japan. As a migrant Reid said that those places were always colorful and fun to visit along with a great shopping experience. Japanese people welcome immigrants and those who migrate, but one problem they have with them is that they do not want those people to have the highest position in a job, like a CEO. They want the people who were born in their country to have the high-ranking jobs. While many have moved to Japan, some Japanese people move to America for more freedom.

This book gives us the knowledge on how life is in East Asia.

It allows each person to gain an understanding on what it is like to live in East Asia, their culture, lifestyles, customs, and lets us in on their economic and work life too. Besides describing people and their life, it also describes the characteristics of the city, what it looks like, how it smells, and what makes the place unique. This book has about everything you need to know about Japan besides the climate. Most East Asian countries thrive so well because they base their actions on the teachings of Confucius and keeping the wa. Each person has a lot of responsibility to their community and to themselves to keep their cities

safe.