Japan´s Nuclear Crisis: The Psychology of Recovery

"Japan is in the middle of a catastrophe that transcends any talk of trauma and resilience. But few can doubt that the country will eventually repair itself; that´s what people do, none more so than the Japanese", Benedict Cary reports (The New York Times). Prof. Helmut Loiskandl, Sociologist in Tokyo, described the main reason - the general feature of consciousness in Japan:

"In short, a moral decision is a decision respecting the social consensus which is not for the individual to check or change. Change might come in a ground swell like the turn of the tide, but it is never left to the discretion of an individual.

This general attitude shapes an understanding of ethics in temporary Japanese society. The Japanese ethical expectation is that any societal decision should be made on the basis of consensus including minorities and groups lower in the hierarchy. It has been a long-standing tradition in Japanese villages to proceed in such a way in any decision-making process, and procedures in modern business companies are rather similar.

´Lonely decisions´may be a trademark of western hero-hagiography, but they do not have the ring of ethical authenticity in Japan. Lonely decisions imply rational analysis and separation from the life-community; in contradistinction the Japanese interpretation of what makes decisions ethical includes loyalty and trans-rationality... - negating the ultimate importance of the individual..."


Helmut Loiskandl: Truth, Beauty, Ethics: Notes on Japanese and European Frames of Appresentation.
In: G. Trommsdorff, W. Friedlmeier, H.J. Kornadt (Eds.) Japan in Transition - Social and Psychological Aspects. Pabst, Lengerich/Berlin, 284 pages, ISBN 978-3-933151-24-7

Pabst Science Publishers (Lengerich/Westfalia, Germany) is publishing ten psychological and nine medical journals; furthermore, Pabst is publishing more than hundred psychological and medical books per year – partly specialized scientific literature, partly specialist literature written for laypeople.

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