I have just heard that Chalmers Johnson died a few hours ago, at age 79, at his home near San Diego. He had had a variety of health problems for a long time. (Photo source here.) Johnson -- "Chal" -- was a penetrating, original, and influential scholar, plus a very gifted literary and conversational stylist. When I first went to Japan nearly 25 years ago, his MITI and the Japanese Miracle was alre
![Chalmers Johnson](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/518ae0919606c00aacc7f0a10ccf912b3677d3d2/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.theatlantic.com%2Fassets%2Fstatic%2Fb%2Ftheatlantic%2Fimg%2Flacroix-default-thumbnail.png)