Friday, May 30, 2025

Discover the hidden forces behind Japanese society — a must-read exploration of social conformity and power

Doshisha University

Cover of the book — image:
*The Politics of Conformity in Japan* by Yukiko Nishikawa
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Credit: Taylor & Francis

This compelling book sheds light on one of the most defining yet often overlooked forces in Japanese society: dōchō atusryoku (conformity pressure). Far beyond a matter of individual psychology, this book argues that conformity acts as an important force in shaping politics, governance, and the legal system in Japan. It is a force that binds people together, enforces unspoken rules, and even fills the gaps where laws or clear leadership are absent.

At the heart of this analysis is the concept of “sekken”—the collective social gaze or the “public” or “society” that influences behavior through expectations rather than laws. The book traces how this traditional social framework has transformed into modern-day norms such as “reading the air” (kuuki wo yomu), making Japanese society particularly vulnerable to widespread, invisible social pressure. These pressures extend into every aspect of life, from daily interactions to national responses during crises.

Drawing on both historical and contemporary examples, the book investigates how social conformity has impacted Japan during key moments: the wartime era, the economic miracle of the post-war years, the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, and recent societal reactions to high-profile cases of sexual violence. These cases vividly illustrate how social pressure can influence not only individual behavior but also institutional responses and national policy.

Building on classic works like Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword and Nakane Chie’s Japanese Society, which explains the vertical structure of interpersonal relationships in Japan, this book offers a fresh lens through which to understand Japan’s unique social dynamics. It resonates with Karel van Wolferen’s seminal 1989 analysis in The Enigma of Japanese Power, where Japan is described as a "stateless nation" ruled by diffuse systems rather than clear lines of accountability.

For readers interested in Japanese culture, society, group dynamics, or legal and political systems, this book offers both accessible explanations and deep analytical insights. It doesn’t just describe how Japanese people act—it asks why, and reveals the underlying social currents that shape behavior in ways outsiders (and even insiders) may not always see.

Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the true mechanics of Japanese society—not through language or laws, but through the unseen forces that move people and shape the nation.

Keywords:
Japan, dchō asuryoku (conformity pressure), kūki (atmosphere or mood), social forces, social influence, social relationships, social psychology, social control, sociology, group dynamics, collectivism, law and society, seken, the COVID-19 pandemic, social pressure, a historic sexual assault scandal, war-time Japan, situational justice, politics, corporate practice, corporate seken, economic success, entertainment industry, media, positive and negative effects, governance

Author:
NISHIKAWA, Yukiko Ph.D., is a professor at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan. Her research interests include politics and society in Japan, Japan’s diplomacy, and security and politics in East and Southeast Asia. She has published several books on Japan and Southeast Asia. Her main publications include International Norms and Local Politics in Myanmar (Routledge, 2022); Globalization and Local Conflicts in Africa and Asia (editor: Springer, 2022); Political Sociology of Japanese Pacifism (Routledge, 2018); Human Security in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2010); Japan’s Changing Role in Humanitarian Crises (Routledge, 2005).

DOI

10.4324/9781003605799

Cross-cultural differences in the socio-cognitive abilities of non-autistic and autistic individuals

Cross-cultural analysis reveals differences in mentalizing and socio-cognitive abilities between Japanese and British autistic and non-autistic adults

Waseda University

Cross-cultural Analysis of Mentalizing and Social Interactions in Autism — image:
Communication challenges may result from a mismatch in perspectives between autistic and non-autistic individuals. While social interactions and behaviors differ across cultures, their impact on socio-cognitive abilities remains unclear. A cross-cultural analysis by researchers from Japan reveals differences in the mentalizing performance of Japanese and British autistic and non-autistic adults, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive measures to diagnose autism accurately.
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Credit: Bianca Schuster from Waseda University

Autism spectrum disorders are associated with difficulties in social communication, long attributed to individual socio-cognitive deficits. As a consequence of this perspective, stigma and pressure to conform to neurotypical social norms often lead to mental health challenges among autistic individuals. Emerging theories suggest that communication difficulties may rather arise from mismatches in perspectives between autistic and non-autistic partners. Addressing this mismatch collaboratively could transform the understanding of autism and improve communication outcomes.

Social behavior also varies significantly across cultures. Gestures, eye contact, and body language that are considered appropriate in one culture may be perceived differently in another. Nevertheless, current socio-cognitive assessments largely reflect Western norms, limiting their applicability to non-Western populations.

To bridge this gap, researchers from Japan conducted a cross-cultural analysis to compare mentalizing difficulties, or challenges in understanding the thoughts and feelings of others, in British and Japanese autistic and non-autistic adults. Led by Dr. Bianca Schuster, a researcher at Waseda University, Japan, with co-authors Associate Professor Yuko Okamoto and Professor Rieko Osu from Waseda University, Professor Hirotaka Kosaka from the University of Fukui, and Dr. Masakazu Ide from the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons With Disabilities, the study highlights the importance of considering neurodivergent perspectives rather than attributing difficulties solely to autistic individuals.

Explaining the rationale behind their work, Dr. Schuster says, “Autistic and non-autistic people have different experiences and therefore perceive and interact with the world differently. Such a mismatch in perspectives can lead to difficulties in understanding each other’s respective social cues – a problem termed the 'double empathy problem.’ This theory has received a lot of attention in recent years, but there are still very few studies that have formally tested it.” Their findings were published in Volume 16 of Molecular Autism on May 14, 2025.

The researchers used animations showing social scenes, depicted by moving triangles, and asked participants to interpret what was happening. They found that non-autistic British adults struggled to interpret animations created by their autistic peers. In contrast, British autistic adults demonstrated similar performances when interpreting animations made by both autistic and non-autistic people. The fact that British autistic adults did not perform better with animations made by their own neurotype may reflect that, in comparison to neurotypical groups, the perspectives of British neurodivergent individuals may be too varied.

Conversely, Japanese autistic and non-autistic adults interpreted animations created by their own and the respective other group with comparable accuracy. Notably, cross-cultural analyses revealed that while there was no difference in performance between Japanese and British non-autistic adults, Japanese autistic participants outperformed both groups of British participants. In addition, animations created by Japanese autistic adults were interpreted with higher accuracy by all autistic participants. Nevertheless, motor performance was comparable across all participants.

Overall, these findings support a paradigm shift toward treating autism as a different way of experiencing and interpreting the world, while recognizing it as a social disability shaped by challenges within a predominantly neurotypical environment. An inclusive environment that values socially diverse behaviors can support autistic individuals and enhance their mental well-being. Furthermore, the observed results do not likely mean that Japanese people are better at mentalizing than British individuals, because real-world difficulties in communication and social understanding do exist between autistic and non-autistic people in Japan, too. Instead, the findings may indicate that the task used in the current study may not be sensitive enough to detect mentalizing differences in the Japanese culture, highlighting the need to develop more culturally sensitive research and diagnostic tools.

“Cultural differences related to the diagnosis of autism may be subtle but can still lead to misclassification of cases and therefore have a significant impact on the lives of individuals. The results of this study highlight the urgent need for culturally inclusive research and the development of diagnostic criteria and tools that accurately reflect and respect the diverse manifestations of autism in different cultural contexts.” Dr. Schuster adds.

***

Reference
Authors: B. A. Schuster1,2,3, Y. Okamoto2,4, T. Takahashi1, Y. Kurihara1, C. T. Keating5,6, J. L. Cook5, H. Kosaka7, M. Ide8, H. Naruse7, C. Kraaijkamp5, and R. Osu1
DOI: 10.1186/s13229-025-00659-z
Affiliations: 1School of Human Sciences, Waseda University
2Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University
3Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna of Vienna
4Department of Sports Science, Faculty of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University
5Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham
6Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
7University of Fukui
8National Rehabilitation Center for Persons With Disabilities

About Waseda University
Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university that has long been dedicated to academic excellence, innovative research, and civic engagement at both the local and global levels since 1882. The University has produced many changemakers in its history, including nine prime ministers and many leaders in business, science and technology, literature, sports, and film. Waseda has strong collaborations with overseas research institutions and is committed to advancing cutting-edge research and developing leaders who can contribute to the resolution of complex, global social issues. The University has set a target of achieving a zero-carbon campus by 2032, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.
To learn more about Waseda University, visit https://www.waseda.jp/top/en

About Dr. Bianca Schuster from Waseda University
Dr. Bianca Schuster is a researcher at Waseda University, Japan, and the University of Vienna, Austria. She is interested in the computational and neurochemical processes that shape our everyday social behavior. She conducts computational modeling to investigate how humans utilize uncertainties in their prior knowledge and new information to draw maximally optimal conclusions in social settings. Additionally, Dr. Schuster uses psychopharmacological approaches to better understand how certain neurotransmitters, like dopamine, modulate these social precision-weighting processes in healthy individuals and disorders such as Parkinson’s. She is also investigating how motor function and cultural differences affect social cognition.

Journal

Molecular Autism

DOI

10.1186/s13229-025-00659-z

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

A cross-cultural examination of bi-directional mentalising in autistic and non-autistic adults

KIST develops next-generation materials for integrated solutions to water treatment challenges

Disinfection and highest phosphate recovery environmental protection and resource circulation at the same time

National Research Council of Science & Technology

Nanomaterial control devices using magnets — image:
A magnetic sea urchin-shaped material (developed by KIST) is placed inside the pipe where wastewater flows in, and magnets are used on the outside of the pipe to induce self-assembly. The arranged urchin-shaped material can also be easily cleaned by adjusting the magnetic field when it is contaminated by suspended solids in the wastewater.
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Credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology

The water we use every day is purified in wastewater treatment plants and discharged into rivers, and in recent years, the reuse of treated water for domestic and industrial use has been expanding to solve the water shortage problem. The purification process removes various harmful substances, including phosphorus, which causes green algae, and disinfects microorganisms such as total coliform. Phosphorus is an essential component of domestic and industrial waste, including fertilizers, detergents, and animal manure, but when it remains in the water, it causes algae blooms in rivers and lakes.

A research team led by Dr. Jae-Woo Choi and Dr. Kyungjin Cho of the Center for Water Cycle Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has developed a new water treatment material that can recover phosphorus in a short time with high efficiency and disinfect harmful microorganisms at the same time. The developed material has the dual function of effectively inactivating total coliform in water and quickly removing and recovering phosphorus, which causes algae blooms. The recovered phosphorus can be recycled into various industrial materials such as fertilizers, cleaning agents, and detergents, contributing to the realization of a circular economy beyond simple purification.

In particular, the team utilized a "sea urchin-shaped" nanostructure to achieve world-class phosphorus recovery performance. The developed material can recover about 1.1 kilograms of phosphate per kilogram of material in just five minutes, which is extremely fast and efficient compared to existing technologies.

In particular, the technology is designed as an eco-friendly system operable without electricity. By utilizing the magnetic field of an external magnet, the movement of the material can be precisely controlled, reducing energy consumption by more than 99% compared to conventional water treatment technologies. This also reduces carbon emissions and energy costs, making it a promising alternative technology to combat water scarcity and the climate crisis.

The new materials and control technology developed are applicable to a variety of water treatment environments, including sewage treatment plants, water purification plants, livestock and industrial wastewater treatment sites. In particular, it is possible to simultaneously remove algae-causing substances and recover resources at industrial and agricultural sites with high concentrations of nutrients such as phosphorus. The technology also has a disinfection function, which is effective in obtaining safe water resources. It can be installed and operated without additional power or complex facilities, making it easy to utilize in areas lacking energy infrastructure or in rural areas.

In the future, it is expected to be applied to portable water treatment devices, emergency purification systems for natural disasters, and mobile facilities for underdeveloped countries, and it can also be used in various eco-friendly technology-based industries such as smart farms, precision agriculture, and eco-friendly industrial parks, as well as public water and sewage systems.

"This research is significant because it integrates the two processes of phosphorus removal and microbial sterilization into one, which enables us to present a low-energy water treatment solution that can be applied to various water quality environments," said Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of KIST. "This study is significant in that it shows that we can effectively disinfect total coliform without chlorine or electricity, and it can be developed into an energy-saving disinfection technology in the future," said Dr. Kyungjin Cho, another co-corresponding author of the study.

"The key to our research is the rapid recovery of phosphorus from sea urchin structural materials and the implementation of a process that precisely controls particles in water with magnetic fields," said Dr. Youngkyun Jung, first author of the study, adding, "It holds strong potential for future expansion into multifunctional water treatment platforms"

Magnet-based nanomaterial control devices can enhance water treatment capacity thorough scalable modular design by connecting multiple pipes with magnets attached. Nanomaterials fouled by suspended solids can be easily cleaned by a simple process of controlling the magnetic field, allowing for low-energy, long-term operation.

Nanomaterial-controlled water purification device using magnets developed by KIST

Credit

Korea Institute of Science and Technology

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KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://www.kist.re.kr/eng/index.do

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) through the KIST Institutional Program and the Sejong Science Fellowship Program for Outstanding Emerging Research (RS-2023-00209565). The research was published in the latest issue of the international journal Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials (IF 23.2, JCR field 1.4%).