Critique de Choice

A sophisticated, abstract presentation of the psychocultural underpinnings of the Japanese political system. Kyo-goku (emeritus, University of Tokyo) tries to show why the Japanese political system, although democratic and parliamentary, operates in a completely different style from Western democratic systems. His paradigms illustrate how Japanese cultural and psychological assumptions profoundly affect human interactions. The author frames his ideas in such concepts as supernatural numinous power, material power, nemawashi, honne, tatemae, amae, social death, the oncological nature of human beings, and evil. Kyo-goku's analysis takes the form of a human drama, with a plot (derived from Japanese culture), a setting, and major and minor actors. He examines many aspects of Japanese political culture, including concepts such as identification with a collectivity, the concepts of insider and outsider, internal group conflict resolution, and the application of Japanese psychocultural understanding to its relations with other states. Readers unfamiliar with Japanese culture will consider Kyo-goku cynical, but he is serious when, for example, he describes the need for ``paranoid-type individuals'' as good leaders. A scholarly contribution to our understanding of Japanese cultural and social psychology of interest to psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists. An excellent translation by Nobutaka Ike.-S. Ogden, Northeastern University