The Anatomy
of Dependence
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| The Cover of The Anatomy of Dependence |
This book has been the most helpful book that I have ever read in understanding how Japanese people think, what makes their society tick, and explaining some of the hard things to accept as a foreigner living and working here in Japan. Takeo Doi's book ought to be required reading for anyone who is planning on staying in Japan for longer than a month. It cuts right to the heart of matters and explores previously uncharted areas of Japanese psychological geography.
Takeo Doi, a professional psychiatrist, is able to identify an emotional expression and psychological quality that is unique to a society that claims to function primarily through group dynamics and one's individual identity as linked to that collective. The word that he uses is the Japanese word, “amae”. “Amae” is the emotional link and psychological transmitter between Japanese people, primarily rooted in the relationship between parent and child, a relationship that transfers seemingly effortlessly to the Japanese workplace, community, and society at large.
Dr. Doi does what other Japanese “experts” on all things Japan cannot. He simply explains the emotional dynamic impassionately and within the contexts that he has been able to identify it. He does not justify any Japanese behavior away, nor does he insist on the superiority of how Japanese people live. In fact, if one is to summarize what Doi identifies as “amae” and his opinions on it, we would have to admit that his exposure of this idea is not one of marking the Japanese as special or unique at all. Instead, Doi's issue with “amae” is that it is a serious pathology which is encouraged in all areas of life, and which stifles and crushes the human spirit. This is a must read, and for those who have visited Japan or who have exposure to the culture, provides cutting insights which are enlightening and shocking.
Doi is a brilliant writer and as a psychiatrist is able to see through so much of the obfuscation that outsiders experience so often when trying to crack the “Japanese code”. As a Japanese man himself, he does not wax eloquently about the mysteriousness of the Japanese, or their inscrutable and indecipherable methods of secretive communication. He is a man who tells things like they are, but with dignity and the highest respect for people who suffer needlessly from psychological illness.
A brilliant book and one that has made sense to me the more I read it. The best book around that peers inside the Japanese mind. Run out and get it today.
Mark Groenewold
Kanazawa, Japan
December, 2002
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