If Confucius Lives Next Door takes a positive view of the Asian Social Miracle, Dogs and Demons, from all I hear, holds modern day Japan up under a much harsher magnifying tool. For one, the author Alex Kerr has lived there for 30 years, and his first big book Lost Japan celebrates many of the traditional Japanese arts (as best I can tell from web surfing about the book).

The New York Times dot com features a portion of the first chapter and a book review (which I will not read until I've read the book myself).