The JapaneseThinkers

Alcohol is a vehicle by means of which one can act inappropriately with a wide birth of tolerance.

Alcohol is constructed as necessary in bringing individuals (particularly males) together and allowing for informal exchanges socially coded as otherwise impossible while sober.

The Art of ignoring is mastered such that, in a crowded subway, one doesn't even feel the pressure, even if one is physically close.

The Atomic bombing of Hiroshima is, for moderates, a supreme opportunity to turn the tide against the die-hards and to shake the government from the yoke of military oppression.

Bureaucracy is made up of public and private-sector elites who are left to steer the economic and the social revolution of the country.

Child-rearing is a process of socializing the asocial child (i.e. Training the child in dependence) whereas the American child is socialized for independence.

Copying is a term applied too liberally. For example, the Japanese do not copy things as is often suggested. Rather they reinvent things, studying things that have already been invented until they understand it better than the original inventor.

Cultural contact is always a matter of receiving and adapting to foreign cultural elements.

Culture is privileged over economy in language, which focuses more on interpersonal emotions than, say, english, which has many words expressing self-focused emotions.

Darkness is not troubling because it is resigned to as inevitable. How very different from the progressive westerner who always wants to better his lot.

Darkness brings out the beauty in Japanese lacquer works, temples, and Japanese cuisine which depends upon shadows and is insurable from darkness.

Death is not death when one is brain-dead. That is a western technoscientific notion.

Death is not only a choice interpreted by the individuals involved but also the deceased-to-be and their family members.