Book Break

You Gotta Have Wa 2009

By Robert Whiting

Thursday, September 24, 2009, 6:30PM to 8:30PM

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

Best-selling author Robert Whiting will speak about his new book You Gotta Have 2009 (Vintage Departures), an updated version of the original You Gotta Have Wa published in 1989 by Macmillan. Wa '89 was a book about the cultural conflict between Japan and America, as seen through the common sport of baseball. It was written at the height of US-Japan trade difficulties and received considerable media attention, including 3 reviews from the NY Times in the span of 15 months and a feature in Time Magazine. Mr. Whiting appeared on many TV shows, including Larry King and the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour. Bill Clinton mentioned in a ballpark press conference that he was reading it. The book was required reading at the Japan Desk in the State Department, as well as in the Japanese departments of several American universities, and has thus far been　through 22 printings in the US, selling over 125,000 copies of hardcover and trade combined. The Japanese translation was a best-seller and was named one of the best non-fiction books of the year.

The new book is in celebration of Wa's 20th anniversary. It contains a new introduction and a lengthy afterward, amounting to more than 12,000 words, describing how the US-Japan equation has changed--and not changed--and how that is reflected in the sport of baseball. Special focus is given to the influx of Japanese stars to MLB, like Dice-K Matsuzaka and the recent unprecedented migration to Japan of American managers, led by Bobby Valentine and Trey Hillman, who have all faced unusual obstacles. In his talk, among other things, Whiting will address the question of whether Japanese and Americans understand (and like))each other more than they did two decades ago and the subject of how culture still manifests itself in baseball.

Robert Whiting is the author of several highly acclaimed books on Japan including Tokyo Underworld (Pantheon), a book about organized crime in Japan and the corrupt side of the U.S. Japan relationship, which is being made into a film to be directed by Martin Scorsese. His previous book was The Meaning of Ichiro (Warner Books), chosen one of the best sports books of 2004 by ESPN.com's Jim Caple. Whiting has been in Japan for 32 of past 47 years. He currently divides his time between homes in Kamakura, Tokyo and California. His wife Machiko Kondo, recently retired as an officer for the UNCHR, after a 25 year career in which she was posted in Geneva, Mogadishu, Karachi, Dhaka and Stockholm, among others. The Wa 2009 Update was written in Paris in the summer of 2008 following extensive research in Japan. Whiting currently writes a weekly column for a Japanese newspaper.

A dinner will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at http://www.fccj.or.jp. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN