Japan Watching: Society, Politics, Culture, Economy, Environment, And the World

Is life getting better? Are our societies making progress? Indeed, what does “progress” mean? These are some of the questions that OECD’s statisticians are now asking themselves.

Is life getting better? Are our societies making progress? Indeed, what does “progress” mean? These are some of the questions that OECD’s statisticians are now asking themselves.

In Japanese society, it is the group and group harmony that count, much more than the individual.  What the Japanese call shudan ishiki, or group consciousness, is the foundation of society.  Without this, it may not have been so easy to reorganize society and reconstruct the econony after World War 2.