PRAISE FOR
THE JAPANESE MIND:
UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY
JAPANESE CULTURE,
EDITED BY ROGER J. DAVIES AND OSAMU IKENO
“Bursting with powerful analysis”
The Daily Yomiuri, September 8, 2002
The best introduction to Japanese society since Takie and William Lebra’s landmark 1970s reader Japanese Culture and Behavior.
The text is a model of plain, clear English.
A book stuffed to bursting with powerful analysis and sparkling intuition.
“Required reading”
The Times of London, January 15, 2004
Cited in The Times of London as required reading for individuals wanting to learn more about contemporary Japanese culture.
“A marvelous book”
Shinichi Yamanaka: Director, General Affairs Division
Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbukagakusho)
The Japanese Mind will benefit many foreign students who want to study about Japan and will also help many Japanese students who would like to explain key concepts of Japanese culture.
I hope this book will help to span East and West.
“Immensely enlightening”
Robert O'Neill: Author and EFL textbook writer
Clearly written, extremely informative, and very useful.
Helps enormously in understanding what is going on in the minds of Japanese students.
A good and useful book—a classic.
“Thought provoking”
Emeritus Professor Carl James
Chairman: The Association of Language Awareness
A highly commendable book that should appeal to a wide readership.
“Outstanding writing”
Susan Keith, International Culture Major, Boise State University
Letter to Tuttle Publications
As a student, I sincerely applaud this book—it is honest, dedicated, experienced, and supremely understandable.
My highest compliments to the authors—I have never been so intellectually enlightened and informed.”
ROGER J. DAVIES
JAPANESE CULTURE
The Religious and Philosophical Foundations
TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore
ABOUT TUTTLE
“Books to Span the East and West”
Our core mission at Tuttle Publishing is to create books which bring people together one page at a time. Tuttle was founded in 1832 in the small New England town of Rutland, Vermont (USA). Our fundamental values remain as strong today as they were then—to publish best-in-class books informing the English-speaking world about the countries and peoples of Asia. The world has become a smaller place today and Asia’s economic, cultural and political influence has expanded, yet the need for meaningful dialogue and information about this diverse region has never been greater. Since 1948, Tuttle has been a leader in publishing books on the cultures, arts, cuisines, languages and literatures of Asia. Our authors and photographers have won numerous awards and Tuttle has published thousands of books on subjects ranging from martial arts to paper crafts. We welcome you to explore the wealth of information available on Asia at www.tuttlepublishing.com.
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Text & Photos Copyright © 2016 Roger J. Davies
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-4-8053-1163-9; ISBN 978-1-4629-1883-6 (ebook)
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CONTENTS
Approaches to Japanese Cultural History