Hi everybody! よろしくお願いします！
I am a japanese student. Lately I’m trying to find the best topic for my bachelor’s thesis. I have read the book “Omoiyari: the japanese art of compassion” written by Erin Niimi Longhurst and I was impressed! This concept is so interesting and I would like to study it in deep. My thesis should be about literature so I need to link this topic to a japanese author. Which author do you think I should choose for my project? Moreover, do you know where I can find more academic bibliography about the Omoiyari concept? Thanks in advance for the answer❤️
2 comments
Just going to post this expert for others to lol at before mods delete this.
Care, consideration and empathy underpin all aspects of daily life in Japan and are essential to the social spirit. From Omotenashi (Japanese hospitality), Kirei (cleanliness and organisation) and Mottainai (reducing waste) to Zakka (finding beauty in the mundane) and Senbazuru (the origami art of folding one thousand paper cranes), there are so many different ways that the Japanese emphasise the importance of community and helping others.
Things are so much more deep when they’re written in an asian language aren’t they?
First it was Ikigai (literally just ‘raison d’etre’), then it was Kaizen (literally just ‘improvement’, and inappropriately used anyway), now it’s Omoiyari.
Come on folks, let’s take bets on the next utterly mundane term that’s going to get turned into the ‘uniquely brilliant Japanese approach to the world’!
Sorry, OP, the word 思いやり just refers to ‘putting some thought to others’. There is precisely nothing unique about the concept itself beyond the presumptuous assertions placed upon it by foreigners looking to make themselves sound worldly and high-minded.