Sarah Paine

So the emphasis isn't on what you achieve in your life.

It's how you lead it.

It's this focus on deportment.

It's different from the West.

Second pillar is Shinto, this extreme patronism doctrine.

reverence for the emperor.

And the third pillar is Confucianism, these imported ideas from China.

Confucianism is at heart of how it's organizing a society and regulating it through interlocking social obligations, hierarchical, and through ritual and etiquette.

So in the West, there's much talk about equality, right?

And

And in the West, in the East, it's duty.

It's what you owe other people.

In the East, there is no such thing as social, in Japan, of equality.

Even twins have a birth order.

And it's not about freedom either.

It's about what you owe others.

So if you think that these value systems seems really different, yeah, no kidding.

It has nothing to do with the Greco-Roman Judeo-Christian West, completely different value system.

And so Alice, welcome to Wonderland.

Buckle up, we're off for a ride.