Product Description

In THE JAPANESE MIND, Roger Davies offers Westerners an invaluable key to the unique aspects of Japanese culture. Readers will gain a clear understanding of what really makes the Japanese, and their society, tick. Among the topics explored are: aimai (ambiguity), amae (dependence upon others' benevolence), chinmoku (silence in communication), gambari (perseverance), giri (social obligation), kenkyo (the appearance of modesty), zoto (gift giving), and much more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31705 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Customer Reviews

nihonjinron -nothing useful
I've lived in Japan for 5 years and speak the language fluently and quite frankly this book offers nothing but tired concepts and a trite superficial rehash of nihonjin-ron ideology, pleasant to Japanese right wingers and 'japanologists'.

The section on 'AMAE' offers nothing but direct quotes from Doi who's work, popular in the 1960s, is largly anecdotal and discredited.

Try Peter Dale's 'the myth of Japanese unique-ness' of Sugimoto's excellent 2003 book 'An introduction to Japanese society' which is based on scientific research and fact not silly notions of Japanese as a homogenous borg like organism that can be studied from afar and defined by a few 'key concepts'.

well worth reading
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book as it is very informative but yet in a very accessible way. The information is clear and presented in independent small chapters each related to a concept or an attitude, allowing the reader to select the topic he is interested in. In addition, as it is written jointly by Japanese students and a European citizen, it develops, both from the internal and external points of view, the details and explanations that we need to know in order to better understand behaviour and habits seemingly so remote from ours.

Highly enlightening...
As a European and ‘general reader’ I found the book gave a fascinating insight into what can at first appear to the layman to be a baffling and unfathomable culture, given extra credence by the fact that, as the introduction states, the information presented is from the perspective of the Japanese people themselves. The format allows for casual study as the chapters can be read in any order you wish.
I would consider this an invaluable guide for anyone visiting Japan and/or who wishes to better understand the complexities of Japanese customs and behaviour. No book could possibly explain all the intricate facets of Japanese society, and certainly not to everyone’s satisfaction, but ‘The Japanese Mind’ goes a long way toward doing so.