Grab a sneak peek at Alice in Wonderland

Stephen Bayley

Where am I?

Japanese trading practices are an unlikely villain for a best-selling thriller. But Rising Sun by Michael Crichton dramatises a threat to the West from unfair Japanese competition. It was published in 1992, but it might as well date from the Jurassic for its relevance today.

Japan turned out to be not a juggernaut of wealth creation, but a bubble economy on the point of collapse and prolonged stagnation. Twenty years on, it is China that is the economic superpower of the East. Its economy grew by 8.7 per cent in 2009. It is set to overtake Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.

The shift in fortunes is dramatic. It is...