Social and Psychological Aspects of Ongoing Changes in Japan: Introduction

It is well known that Japan has started a stunning development from a completely isolated feudal society at the end of the last century to the second largest economic power of the present day. Some years ago Japan was heading to be number one (ichiban) in the world. The way in which this development could have occurred is a miracle for many people and a challenging topic of research in social sciences. Many studies have been carried out to explain the "Japanese miracle" and to apply and modify theories of modernization. While Japan has undergone significant economic transitions during the last century it has often been asked whether and in how far the Japanese culture has changed and whether social and psychological factors were related to the economic changes. Obviously, Japan has preserved large parts of her traditional culture, for instance the Japanese social structure, the language, including the kanji writing, and also some of the traditional values, beliefs, and rituals. On the other hand, Japan has assimilated numerous aspects of other cultures including western societies. However, even after the rapid process of modernization it seems that Japan has still preserved her uniqueness. It has often been asked whether this uniqueness had been the crucial factor for Japan's successful development. The import of achievements from other cultures has a long history in Japan even though Japan isolated herself from the rest of the world for centuries. After the forceful opening of the Japanese frontiers in 1853 by the USA and starting with the Meji period, Japan's massive import of western civilization and culture was invested into modernization and related development of technology and economy. Significant changes came about during early modernization and before and after the Second World War. Economic changes in the course of modernization have been interrelated with changes of many aspects of the Japanese society including family, education, and work. At present, significant changes occur in Japan which had not been foreseen some years ago and which may affect the future development of Japanese culture and society considerably. It seems necessary to study these changes thoroughly and to analyze whether and in how far these changes are related to deep-rooted transformations of Japanese society, including social institutions and individual thinking and behavior. In the following we will point to some aspects of these ongoing changes which might constitute preconditions, consequences,