Unmasking Japan
Subtitle: myths and realities about the emotions of the Japanese
By: David Matsumoto.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Stanford, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 179
Subjects: Japanese -- Psychology; National characteristics, Japanese; Emotions -- Cross-cultural studies
Description: The last twenty years have seen a growth of fascinating with the Japanese, and the emergence of Japan as a world economic power has stimulated many works that have attempted to understand Japanese culture. The focus of this book is not on Japanese culture or society per se: rather, it is on how Japanese culture and society structure, shape, and mold the emotions of the Japanese people.

All cultures shape and mold emotions, but the degree to which Japanese culture shapes emotion has led to several misunderstandings about the emotional life of the Japanese, which this book attempts to correct.

Describing the findings of over two decades of research, this book presents the Japanese as human beings with real feelings and emotions rather than as mindless pawns caught in the web of their own culture. In the process, it unmasks many myths that have grown up around the subject and reveals important similarities as well as differences between the emotional life of the Japanese and that of people of other cultures.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-176) and index.