Abstract

Something is wrong. The illusion and reality of America, the "wonderland."

What kind of country is America?

Information about America abounds even in Japan. Every day, newspapers, television, and social media report on the outrageous remarks of U.S. President Trump, investment information on Wall Street, AI development in Silicon Valley, and the success of Shohei Ohtani in Major League Baseball.

Yet, answering the question "What kind of country is it?" is not easy.

A country where glamorous celebrities and the homeless coexist just a few blocks apart in the same city. A country where the minds of immigrants create cutting-edge technology, and where the government relies on immigrant labor for many essential services, while simultaneously being desperate to crack down on illegal immigrants. And a country where the divide between conservatives and liberals deepens, and policies change drastically with each change of government, yet it maintains the world's strongest economy and military.

To get closer to the reality of this country, it will not be enough to analyze it only from specific perspectives such as politics, economics, and culture. This book features people like a 40-year-old mother struggling with 300,000 yen a month in childcare fees, a man from Colorado who chose to receive dental treatment in Costa Rica after being told it would cost 7 million yen, a 30-year-old engineer competing at a Silicon Valley "hacker house," and a former mafia boss who left the life of crime after being betrayed by his associates.

This is a firsthand reportage by a reporter from the Nikkei Americas Bureau, who followed these people who rarely appear in typical American news, uncovering inexplicable facts.

Author’s Information

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