Despite attempts to problematize and reconsider the roles of commerce and culture in shaping America’s informal empires in West Pacific, it remains a puzzle why, after World War II, America privileged Japan—“the enemy”—over the Philippines—“the friend” and erstwhile colony. Japan’s economy grew by leaps and bounds, enough to create a dent in global affairs during the latter half of the twentieth century. In sharp contrast, America chose to maintain the Philippine ruling elite, which contributed greatly to political instability, economic collapse and over-all sorry state throughout the archipelago from the late 1960s onwards. Still, Fujiwara and Nagano’s book creates an opening for future scholars to explore many possible paradigms of understanding on the subject. Many other hows and whys of informal empires deserve to be constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed in the context of America’s dangerous precedents.