"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

//snip//
After VJ Day MacArthur was given the job of changing the Japanese
national character, and did he ever!

Recently the telly has shown WW II-era pictures of Okinawan
civilians jumping off cliffs to avoid captur by American troops. I
can't imagine them doing it today! Nor young men flying Kamikaze
missions, or even wives toddling along a respectful ten feet behind
their husbands.

It's been a long time since I read Benedict's book......'76-'77 was the
year of anthropology and paleontology for me.....Boas, Mead, Montagu,
Dart, Chagnon, Leakey, etc......a trip down memory lane.

Even more interesting than her analysis of Japanese national character
(still controversial, but highly respected nevertheless), I think, is
Benedict herself as a harbinger of great changes to come in American
culture. It was quite a step forward for a woman to be entrusted with the
critically important task of assessing such a formidable enemy as the
Japanese in WWII.


I bought Ruth Benedict's book (I have it on the same shelf with Chagnon's
book about the Yanomamo) when I went to Japan with the Navy in 1970.
Remarkably insightful book, and I still read portions of it from time to
time. 1970 was my year to read about Japan (Lady Murasaki, Kawabata,
Mishima, Reischauer, etc.) Combined they gave a pretty good insight into
Japanese national character, which Americans seldom understand. (Actually, I
don't think many Americans understand our own national character.)

It's unfortunate that Benedict's book seems to have been about the last
analysis of "national character" that got much attention from U.S.
policy-makers before taking on the job of running another country.

Bob