I generally like Michael Crichton's books as a time capsule of nineties futurism. They capture a certain zeitgeist and mold it into (generally) compelling narratives. Rising Sun is also such a time capsule, but of some very different aspects of the nineties. This book is not a thriller, but the lovechild of a Socratic dialogue and a political pamphlet, masquerading as a thriller. Most of the plot just serves to bring the main character into situations where other (always white, always male) characters explain how Japanese culture works. At times they literally speak over a Japanese person who is RIGHT THERE, because obviously white men know better about Japanese culture than, you know, a Japanese person. It's shameless. The bibliography of the book is a great illustration of the book's problems: it's four pages long and contains exactly two Japanese sources. The rest is American sources about Japan. Rising Sun is the epitome of the 90s American persecution complex. Poor America, being the victim of economic imperialism. Yuck.

When losing out economically to a capitalist Japan briefly surpassed egalitarianism as the American donor class’ worst nightmare.

*Vile language and sarcasm warning*

I lived in Japan, for the first time, from March 2, 1992 to late February 1994. This book was published in late January 1992, while I was in a full-immersion program in preparation for Japan and had no awareness of the outside world.

I later heard during those two years from letters from a friend, who had been THE girlfriend at the beginning of the stint, that a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment was washing over many Americans. I never really knew what she was talking about until I, much later, began sampling US entertainment produced in 1992-93. Stuff I had blissfully missed while utterly cut off from U.S. "culture."

I highly recommend the experience of a long and consistent avoidance of all advertising, news, movies, television, internet, pods, and popular books. It will give you space to find yourself.

This book is part of Exhibit A, demonstration that actual hate, based only on a person’s appearance or culture or nationality or skin tone or the shape of various facial features, is real.

I suppose it's a sign of my naivete that I was shocked to realise that this kind of thing was highly popular and “normal” at some point in my lifetime, even in my adulthood. It’s still with us, of course, but Japan has long since ceased to be an important target. Or maybe just within my little society.

Crichton, tapping into the frustration of the white working class, portrays the Japanese characters in the novel as weasel-like sneaks, liars, hypocrites, killers, ruthless capitalists, gangsters running amok killing anyone they like in Los Angeles, parasites, bandits, and wasabi-covered penis eaters. This pejorative representation is justified by the same vintage of the rationale used by the Founding Fathers of the U.S., the pre-1979 Mormon Church, and the Nazi's of the Third Reich: a Japanese person is not fully human.

“Well, the Japanese never accepted Freud or Christianity” is Crichton's evidence in this argument. "We shouldn't even expect them to have a consistent sense of “right” and “wrong”."

Rising Sun just may be the worst thing I've ever read.

Crichton is one of my favorite authors. Sprinkles in a bunch of real stuff to keep it interesting. This was published in 1992, when I remember that people were paranoid about the US being in a period of decline and how Japan would take over the world economically. Kinda how we feel about the Chinese now. And all of a sudden, sometime in the nineties, their economy stagnated and they flatlined for decades. So it helps to put things in perspective. The book had a very good tempo all the way through, which made it very readable, though this was my second time. I first read it in the nineties. Enjoy! Im gonna go read more Crichton soon.

Certainly not my favorite Crichton book. It was a very good detective story, but I felt like the author was trying to teach/preach about Japanese culture and their intrusion into American businesses.

This one played out like a couple episodes of a crime show on tv. Pretty decent though

Life changing. Made me xenophobic and I've never looked back!

Underwhelming and transparent would be the two words I would use for this novel by Crichton.

Starring two completely replaceable and indistinct noir detectives, we find ourselves tugged along an unnecessarily winding plot filled with conveniently entertaining twists and turns and at the center; a sexy femme fatale lies dead without panties.

Here are the tropes that this novel is a slave to:
1.) A car chase between the police and a sports car that ends in a flaming wreck.
2.) Dead suspects are not dead after all!
3.) Naked women distract the police so their man can get away!
4.) Foreigners are bad!
5.) Someone altered the tapes!
6.) The security team is slowing the investigation because of a cover-up!
7.) The chief of police is really riding the detectives!
8.) Oh no! Case closed, but the detectives have a hunch!

I could go on and on. This is a by-the-numbers novel that would have been considered edgy in the seventy's but certainly no later than that. Women are either the victims of crimes or the prizes of victory (except for the one who is crippled; she is just outcast) and the men are steely and determined with charming masculine flaws like drinking or failing at relationships. This is low brow, pandering fiction where the characters generate five-page conversations about Japanese/American business relations and culture clashes.

Underwhelmed. Unimpressed. Rising Sun is a book built strictly with the intention of delivering a perspective on international business that is tainted with xenophobia. It is bland in its writing and the elements are all things we've seen elsewhere. Give this a pass regardless of the name on the cover.

I don't feel this was xenophobic or attacked the Japanese influence in the US, but rather I felt it held many veracities albeit in typical Crichton fashion.

MASTERPIECE.
Of Micheal Crichton, I know very little except that he is the author of ‘The Jurassic Park’ which of course I have read and marveled at.
So when I picked up this book, I did it purely out of respect for the Jurassic Park. I had no idea what to expect.
And the genre is a little outside my comfort zone. Business relationships between America and Japan and the effect they can have on mundane life seemed like it would be a little tedious to understand for me.
And then I started reading.
At the heart of it, this book is a brilliantly crafted murder mystery which has plenty of surprises in store and just when you think it’s over, it’s not. Set against the background of the impending economic dominance of Japan over the world, it makes for a compelling read.
So after following Lieutenant Peter Smith, the student, and Captain John Connor, the teacher, on a breathtaking journey from the discovery of the murder to the identification of the murderer, I can say with some certainty that I will never think of Micheal Crichton as just “the-Jurassic-Park” guy anymore.

This was the first Michael Crichton book for me. I liked it just fine but it’s hard to know if I would have liked it as much if I hadn’t seen the movie, “Rising Sun.” It starred Sean Connery as police Captain John Connor and Wesley Snipes Lt. Smith. I really liked the movie and even though it’s s been many years since I saw it, it was impossible for me to get the voice (and face) of Sean Connery out of my mind as I read along. Regardless, I liked the book and would certainly recommend it. It was a very good whodunnit without being so complicated and convoluted (like some books are) that one couldn’t even keep track of what was going on. It was a good story, well written and well paced and a pretty quick, easy read.

This is a book from 1992, and it is 2019 now. Wow, how the relationship between the US and a Japan has been changed...

It was interesting to read this book from this period through an American’s view point.

I often listened this book through audiobook. I could not stop laughing with the Japanese accent of the narrator. I know he was trying his best, but the accents and intonations were pretty funny... especially when a character tried to intimidate some Japanese characters...

Bad predictable mystery made infinitely worse by the racist fear mongering. It’s was bad then, but it’s aged horribly 30 years later. Every other page seemed to have exposition on why Japan is bad. The attempt to deflect by calling the Japanese the real racists and therefore being racist against them isn’t racist was mind boggling.

Easily the worst book I’ve read by him. It’s like state of fear with way more racism, a worse story, and provably false 30 years later.