America in Asian Eyes

In the 1920s, Japanese managers turned to the principles of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the American efficiency expert, to make their factories more productive. In 1950, they looked to W. Edwards Deming, an American engineer, who taught them the importance of quality control. In November 2005, another American, Bobby Valentine, former manager of the New York Mets baseball team, led the Chiba Lotte Marines to their first victory in thirty-one years in the Japan Series—the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. “World Series.” Astonishingly, he did this by reversing the traditional harsh treatment of employees on teams and in businesses throughout Japan—using a kinder, gentler American touch. His success has led Hiroshi Miyata, president of Nippon Metal Industry, to call upon corporate Japan to “start treating our employees in the same way that Bobby does”1 —another demonstration of the appeal of the American Way. Asia is a region with an enormous diversity of cultures and political systems, as well as historical and geographic differences. Generalizations about attitudes toward the United States and Americans are of necessity fragile. Nonetheless, an overarching pattern does emerge: of peoples who find much in American life to admire and to emulate; of peoples greatly troubled by the role the United States has played on the world stage.

Geography · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Medicine · Ophthalmology · Optometry

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