Rating: 
Summary: Talk about a GREAT Whodunnit!!
Review: Let me start off by saying that I absolutely DESPISE books written in first person...however I LOVED 'Rising Sun' BECAUSE it WAS written that way. Once again, a little different than what I had read before by Chrichton, easily one of my all-time favorite authors. I'm beginning to think that he can write a book in almost ANY genre and make it as good as ANYONE. I am a BIG fan of muder/mysteries, and kinda felt as I began 'Rising Sun' that Chrichton might be in over his head with a storyline like this...but let me say that I was wrong...oh sooo wrong. Let me also say right here that IF you had seen yet another embarassing adaptation of a Chrichton book-to-movie like 'Rising Sun' was, you will be in for a pretty big surprise. As I watched the movie, I kept wondering WHO was behind this tortuous waste of time...? But at LEAST I knew who the killer was...but wait-a-minute! They changed EVEN THAT in the movie! Don't even bother. This story is VERY timely even today, and despite it's anti-Japanese undertones, I couldn't help but be impressed with the pacing of this incredibly fun story. It takes the Japanese literal thought of 'Business is war' and gives us a reason to figure out why their country has come to dominate the World Economy so quickly since the mid 70's. This book isn't so much a book against the Japanese as it is a wake-up call to American's that if we don't want them to own so much of our country, STOP SELLING IT. All in all another home run for Chrichton.
Rating: 
Summary: Business is a Mystery
Review: I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5. If you are interested in a book filled with mystery, suspense, and action, the Rising Sun can be very appropriate. The Rising Sun by Michael Crichton, is a story based on a Japanese motto "business is war". It teaches you how the Japanese view business and how serious is its for them. The whole story is based upon a character who shows big attraction towards business. The story line starts with a dead body of an American girl. From the beginning to the end, the whole plot is filled with suspense and action. Even though the book uses some vulgar language and includes some racial views, Crichton uses them the right way only making the book seem more interesting. The curses are only from the characters' dialect making the book sound more realistic and the racial view are the same perspectives one can have in real life. This book with an unexpected ending and a very suspenseful story line, it makes the reader keep on reading. With false foreshadowing made by the audience, many ironic things are found at the end. The ending is very different from the what the reader would expect. If you are really interested in finding out the ending, you should really get this book and read it.
Rating: 
Summary: A sub-literate, badly-dated polemic
Review: "Rising Sun" has all the subtlety that one expects from a Michael Crichton book -- in other words, none whatsoever. This book is an appalling failure on numerous levels: as a look at Japanese people, society and their business practices; as a predictor of future trends; and even as a halfway decent mystery novel. I'll restrain myself and list only a few of its shortcomings. The most irritatingly phony of them was the precisely-paced little speeches Crichton stuffs into the mouths of even minor characters. Like clockwork, every two or three pages someone has to make a little speech about a) how the wily Japanese are eating America's lunch economically and technologically; b) what terrible habits Japanese society and people have; and/or c) how America is letting itself go to hell in a handbasket. These dopey little polemics are uttered by *everyone* the narrator encounters, from LAPD detectives to TV news editors to business people. At one point Crichton resorts to a couple of people in the same waiting room as our hero, suddenly discussing Japanese real estate speculators buying up Montana. I expected parking valets and potted plants to start contributing monologues at any moment. I'm no Japan expert, and I'm certainly not an apologist for Japanese society or its business practices, but this kind of modern-day "Yellow Peril" throwback makes my blood boil. If you want to learn about Japan, try reading a factual book, instead of this lurid fictional mishmash of half-baked facts and made-up innuendo. T.R. Reid's "Confuscius Lives Next Door," for example. Even (God help me) "Dave Barry Does Japan" probably has more truth in it than Crichton's sub-literate, badly-dated polemic does.
Rating:
Summary: Rising Sun
Review: This book deals with everything from murder to racism. It especially deals with the ongoing battle of business between the United States and Japan. Just when you think that you know what is going to happen next, a whole different thing happens than what you expected. What's great about this book is that it is non stop action from the beginning to the end. Whether it's a high speed chase or bodies that are found in swimming pools to people jumping off of buildings, this is the book to read if you are looking for these kind of things. Now that I have read this book, I know how serious the Japanese feel about business and believe me, they take it very seriously. If you are looking for abook with lots action, this is the book to check out. You won't be dissapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Setting Sun
Review: As incredible as it seems now, it really was just a few years ago that America's intellectual elites worked themselves up into a tizzy over the ascendancy and supposed pending world dominance of Japan. Several factors contributed to this phenomenon. First, there was the general feeling (hope) on the Left that the U.S. was in decline, perhaps best expressed in Paul Kennedy's best-selling Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Second was the fact that Japan's centrally planned economy appealed to many on the Left, who hoped to see the U. S. adopt a similar system. Third, let's face it, was a persistent strain of anti-Asian racism in American society. Though Germany and Japan shared many qualities in the late 80's, it was Japan's rise in particular which was greeted hysterically. It is no coincidence that while German immigrants faced a significant degree of ethnic animosity during WWI, though little or none during WWII, it was Japanese-Americans who were actually rounded up and put in concentration camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Oddly enough, despite the American Left's generally impressive record on racial matters, both the internments of WWII and the outbreak of Japanophobia in the late 80's were led by the Left. I can't explain this blind spot, but it's interesting to note that it persists in the diametrically different ways in which the Left today treats Castro's Cuba as opposed to Red China, the last two remaining outposts of communism, advocating a lifting of sanctions on Cuba, while seeking to deny China a range of Free Trade opportunities. At any rate, whatever it's causes, it was less than a decade ago that intellectuals, academics and politicians joined together to proclaim that Japan was the next superpower and that America would be left in her wake. Today, with the American economy in the best shape that any economy has ever been in and Japan's economy a complete mess, these doomsday predictions can correctly be seen as ridiculous. But even at the time they were being made, calmer heads perceived the endemic weaknesses confronting Japan. The best book from the period was Bill Emmott's The Sun Also Sets, in which he pointed out many problems with Japan's economic system. Having not read the book in many years, I don't recall whether all of the following come from his discussion of the issues, but problems included : (1) Lack of natural resources (2) Lack of a military (3) Low birth rate and aging population (4) Hostility towards immigrants all of which are pretty self evident. But more significant were the factors which were conventionally perceived as strengths which properly understood were really weaknesses: (5) Japan's high rate of personal savings, though understood to reflect frugality, actually derived from the complete absence of other outlets for consumers. With no opportunity to buy a home and no need for a car, the citizenry had nothing else to do with their money but to put it into low-yield savings accounts. (6) Extensive trade barriers, which on an artificial level seemed to protect Japanese industries, actually stifled competition and drove up prices for domestic consumers. (7) The homogenous population and practically one-party government, which were thought to provide stability and societal cohesion, predictably lead to stasis, insularity, and corruption. (8) The conformity and obedience which made for such a good workforce also made for a supremely unimaginative people. Japan became an economic force by manufacturing high quality products cheaply, but the products themselves were invented elsewhere, mostly here. This was double trouble because there were several other nations (Korea, Taiwan, etc.) with equally disciplined labor corps, capable of meeting the same quality standards, and willing to work for lower wages. But more importantly, as the world economy moved from the old heavy manufacturing model towards one based on intellectual capital, Japan found itself unable to compete. (9) and, of course, centralized planning, as is recognized by all except intellectuals, is so inefficient that it is almost entirely unresponsive to any changing circumstances, but especially to such an enormous paradigm shift. If no one, or very few, even recognize or understand what's going on in the economy, how are a few bureaucrats supposed to intelligently direct the economy. These factors all combined to make it obvious to anyone who was not caught up in the mania of the moment that and was not ideologically committed to authoritarian government, that, far from being the next dominant world power, Japan was headed for a precipitous decline. All of which brings us to another trend-sucking bestseller by Michael Crichton. Rising Sun is an interesting mystery, a fascinating clash of cultures, and a completely over-the-top anti-Japan polemic--kind of like Robert Ludlum interspersed with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. As the detectives pursue their murder investigation, characters launch into extended disquisitions on the cunning and the treacherous business practices of the Japanese. As a result, a competent techno-thriller ends up being buried in so much pedantry, and what's worse, inaccurate pedantry, that the most compelling reason to read it now is that it serves as a reasonably entertaining proof of one of our central tenets here at Brothers Judd : the accepted wisdom is always wrong. Read it to be reminded of how little attention you should pay to the ideological ravings of our intellectual elites. GRADE : C
Rating:
Summary: Depressing...and racist
Review: I was sorely depressed by this book. Dr. Crichton applies his well honed potboiler pulp fiction talents to a semi-interesting murder mystery laden with racist undertones, both subtle and blatant. While criticism of Japanese corporations certainly may have validity, the blurring of the Japanese people and the conduct of these international conglomerates is the height of literary irresponsibility. I was astounded when Dr. Crichton has one of his characters state that the Japanese in general are more foreign than human. The rest of the book clearly paints the Japanese (including companies and culture) as the "bad guys." As a loyal American of Asian ancestry, this type of popular culture that is imbued with racist messages makes living in this country more difficult and dangerous for me and my family...You only have to read some of the other reviews posted here to fully understand why I find this book so disappointing. If you were inclined to give this book five stars, please think long and hard and imagine similar stereotypic diatribes against [other religions or ethic] minorities.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Yarn
Review: I read this book when I was in the seventh grade and found it to be quite compelling. Since it has been a years since I read it, the plot and characters have faded from my memory. What I do remember is what Mr. Crichton was saying about business in America involving Japan. He alerted me to the considerable problem that was at hand-though in the years since has dwindled, with American technology behind that of Japan. He wanted Americans to recognize the importance of buying American, since the Japanse were/are aware of the importance of buying Japanse. Many good ideas lie in this book, and it should be read for them, although it should be noted that the book is likely becoming dated.
Rating:
Summary: What a way to learn about the Japenese culture!
Review: Rising Sun is a great book by all means. It was a very creative idea by Michael Crichton. It is about one murder but it turns out to be more than that. It becomes a conspiercy to turn all heads. It almost seems to Japenese bash but in the same tense it doesn't. I'm not sure if it was meant to be that way. Anyway it is a must read by all standards.
Rating:
Summary: Actually, 4 and 1/2
Review: I hate to keep up this book's average 4 star rating (it's actually 4 and 1/2), but as Amazon offers us now "1/2s" I have no choice, as I cannot bring myself to give it a 5 because of it's anticlimatic ending. Anyways, here's my review... Overall, this is a very good book, not MC's best, but better than most books by other authors. This is the first Crichton novel that I read, and as you can see (just look at my About Me page) it got me hooked. The mystery and suspense are first-rate. You will guess wrong as to the murderer, and in all likelihood, more than once. Also here Crichton uses the technique of short chapters to keep the suspense meter turned up and to keep those pages turning. As another reviewer has pointed out, the story seems somewhat naive 8 years after the book has been published, in the eyes of Japan's now crumbling economy, and 10 years down the road it may be viewed as a historical footnote of the paranoid past. So, maybe it won't stand the test of time as well as The Andromeda Strain or Jurassic Park, but it is still a very good book. Yeah, this review is already long (sorry), but I just have to say it... "... a lot of bad language, which is unusual for Crichton". Man, what books have you read? Certainly it was not Disclosure or Airframe.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Suspense Novel
Review: Crichton did a wonderful job with this novel. It takes you into the world of Japanese business in America and gives you a unique insight into the structure of a fictional Japanese conglomerate. The business conduct and customs are suprisingly correct, from the minor details of exchanging of business cards to the hidden social standards of honor and dishonor that interweave the typical Japanese corporate echelon of power. The action and mystery of this book unfold quite cleverly, and will leave you guessing until the final pages. A great blend of suspense and betrayal in a maze of industrial intrigue. I really enjoyed this one.
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