Confucius Lives Next Door Analysis

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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: …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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