Rising Sun

I read the novel Rising Sun by Michael Crichton. The story is about the grand opening of the Nakamoto Tower in Los Angeles, the new American headquarters of a Japanese corporation. On the night of the opening a young girl was killed on the forty-sixth floor, one story above the floor of the party. The Japanese liaison, Lieutenant Peter James Smith, was called to help the investigation begin, as the Japanese businessmen tried to stall …

…other nation does. In Rising Sun, Michael Crichton provides a look at the heart of business on both the American and Japanese sides. One slowly recognizes how the world is changing around them through the relatively benign presence of business. While his book is about the investigation of a murder, the information revealed about business allows the reader to make a judgment for themselves about our nation’s pride, or lack thereof, for American industry.