Karel van Wolferen (born 1941, Rotterdam) is a Dutch journalist, writer and professor, who is particularly recognised for his knowledge of Japanese politics, economics, history and culture.
After finishing high school, he traveled to the Middle East, India and South East Asia, and from 1962 until the 1990s he was based in Japan. In 1972 he became a correspondent for the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, reporting from many countries in Asia. In 1987 he received the highest Dutch award for journalism for his articles on the People Power Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines (an uprising which forced President Ferdinand Marcos to flee the country).
His book writing career began in 1969, when he was commissioned to do a study on student radicalism in the West. The result of this was published as Student Revolutionaries of the Sixties, reviewed by the International Herald Tribune as "the best introduction to the subject".
After a career as foreign correspondent, he wrote The Enigma of Japanese Power, first published in 1989, which has sold well over 650,000 copies in 11 languages. In Japan this book received enormous attention. The Asahi Shimbun called it “an elaborate and persuasive study, sharply and careful analyzing a multitude of aspects of Japanese reality”. while The Financial Times wrote, “This most thoughtful of books works because it is serious, well informed and, above all, objective”.
Since writing Enigma, van Wolferen has authored more than 15 books published in Japanese that explore details of political, economic, social and historical aspects of the Japanese power system.
His books have sold more than one million copies altogether.
His analyses and policy suggestions have influenced Japanese critics and policymakers, including the reformist politicians who emerged after the political upheaval of 1993. Some of these same politicians now form the core of the party that defeated the LDP in August 2009.
He was made University Professor of Comparative Political and Economic Institutions at the University of Amsterdam in 1997. Since then he has continued to write books and articles for Japanese readers. He divides his time between East Asia and The Netherlands.
He is currently writing about the effect of American economic and foreign policies on the world.
Read more about Karel Van Wolferen: Published Books
Famous quotes containing the words karel and/or van:
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