Amae
Book Review
Understanding Amae
Amazon US
Understanding Amae
Amazon UK
Understanding amae in greater depth
Sukehiro Hirakawa / Special to The Daily Yomiuri
It is nice to know that there are Japanese scholars who write in good clear English to express their original views about the Japanese psyche. Takeo Doi, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Tokyo, is the author of Amae no Kozo, a book on the Japanese concept of need-love that has sold 1.5 million copies since its publication in 1971.
It was translated as The Anatomy of Dependence and was welcomed, in Ezra Vogel's words, as "the first book by a Japanese trained in psychiatry to have an impact on Western psychiatric thinking."
Doi's collected papers, written in English and presented at international academic conferences over half a century, were published this year as Understanding Amae.
Amae is the noun form of amaeru, a verb meaning to depend on and presume another's benevolence. Amae is a key concept for an understanding of many aspects of Japanese culture.
Though there is no single equivalent word in English, similar psychology exists in everyone. Particularly interesting in his new book is that Doi astutely analyzes works of literature using the concept.
Doi's amae theory would have wider repercussions outside the field of psychiatry, if applied to other disciplines. For instance, is not Japan's dependence on the United States worth closer attention from this psychological point of view?
Sukehiro Hirakawa, professor emeritus of comparative literature at Tokyo University, is the author of "Japan's Love-Hate Relationship with the West," published by Global Oriental.
Yomiuri Newspaper, December 25, 2005
Understanding Amae
Amazon USUnderstanding Amae
Amazon UKUnderstanding amae in greater depth
Sukehiro Hirakawa / Special to The Daily Yomiuri
It is nice to know that there are Japanese scholars who write in good clear English to express their original views about the Japanese psyche. Takeo Doi, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Tokyo, is the author of Amae no Kozo, a book on the Japanese concept of need-love that has sold 1.5 million copies since its publication in 1971.
It was translated as The Anatomy of Dependence and was welcomed, in Ezra Vogel's words, as "the first book by a Japanese trained in psychiatry to have an impact on Western psychiatric thinking."
Doi's collected papers, written in English and presented at international academic conferences over half a century, were published this year as Understanding Amae.
Amae is the noun form of amaeru, a verb meaning to depend on and presume another's benevolence. Amae is a key concept for an understanding of many aspects of Japanese culture.
Though there is no single equivalent word in English, similar psychology exists in everyone. Particularly interesting in his new book is that Doi astutely analyzes works of literature using the concept.
Doi's amae theory would have wider repercussions outside the field of psychiatry, if applied to other disciplines. For instance, is not Japan's dependence on the United States worth closer attention from this psychological point of view?
Sukehiro Hirakawa, professor emeritus of comparative literature at Tokyo University, is the author of "Japan's Love-Hate Relationship with the West," published by Global Oriental.
Yomiuri Newspaper, December 25, 2005
