Quote Originally Posted by AKEBONO
Wonder whether the named conflicts like crusades to the 'wholly land', the conquer of Latin America by spain, the iraq conflict is related to the religion ? Maby the religon was used to unify the submissed countries and just destroy the culture in order to rule them? And in case of Iraq its doubtful 'values' are the reason for the war..... Maybe the reason is simply 'money' = 'Oil' ?
You should differientaite between the real reason (honne), such as money, power or politics, and the official reason (tatemae) which the leaders tell the people going to war and which is the motivating power for soldiers, missionaries or colonizers.

Considering todays situation in some european countries the corruption is widely established.... well even in Europe the moral standards might be diffrent to ideals we have had. The reality is often diffrent....
Yes, but the main difference is that corruption is considered "evil" in the West, and corrupted politicians usually face heavy fines or emprisonment. In Japan, corruption is considered part and parcel of human nature, and thus inevitable and is treated much more leniently. Many corrupted Japanese politicians have not only continued their carreer, but even reached higher positions (even Prime Minister, like the LDP Secretary General Sato Eisaku, who received massive brobery from the shipbuilding industry in 1953, but went on to become Prime Minister anyway from 1964 to 1972, the longest term ever served by any PM in Japanese history !).

Finally is it wrong to say 'money' is important ? Everybody likes money and is working hard for it in order to have a good life. In this sense where is the diffrence between Japan and Europe or other countries/cultures ? I dont want to know from where some businesmen get their money although this people enjoy reputation in the society.
It isn't wrong, and I have included it in the Western sources of happiness (along with love, personal achievements, ideals...), but Japanese (and East Asians) notoriously place an disproportionate importance to it, and hardly care about more "philosophical" values.

Quote Originally Posted by Brooker
But I'm sure there are some Japanese ways of thinking that are better than Western ways of thinking, but they're less obvious to us because we are Westerners.

You are still judging what I said as "the Japanese way of thinking" is less good than ours, because you cannot accept that their values are equal. It is very difficult to stay neutral or impartial in this kind of discussion.

But if you want to know what makes the Japanese/East-Asian way of thinking superior, it's very easy : it promotes economic development through unrestraint capitalism. As money is one of the most important values (as opposed to love, hobbies, family, friendships...) in East-Asia, success can only be achieved by economic development.

I should also have mentioned that "face" is extremely important in East-Asia. It doesn't matter how rich and happy people really are, as long as they look rich and happy. This is the principle of tatemae in Japan, but the same exist elsewehere in Asia. On paper, compared to other countries, Japan is indeed a rich country, with a high GDP per capita, low unemployment, high education, etc. But in reality, companies are rich, not the people; low unemployment is fictional (see my thread Real unemployment in Japan reaches 25.5%), people reach high education levels because it's almost impossible to fail (see my thread Only 26% of Japanese understand their lesson at school ), and as everybosy knows, Japanese live in rabbit-hutches, usually without garden, pay more than the average Westerners for most products, and get little holiday. But as long as Japan looks prosperous, the authorities are happy; they save their face in the international community.

A little anecdote; when I asked some Japanese businessmen what Japanese could do to improve their country or lifestyle, I was told by all of them that it should do this or that to improve the economy. I expected things like getting more holiday, less corruption at the government, better medical care, better education, etc. Sometimes they cited things like having more time for hobbies, but ultimately it was to boost the leisure industry ! So people don;t count, as long as the economy works. That is how Japanese (and East-Asian) really think ! At least you can't blame them for being selfish. The group (country and companies) go first, before the individual.