“Why are the Japanese people miserable, even though their country is one of the best?” was a question posted recently on Quora, a question-answer site with a large worldwide following.
The short answer is: they’re not. The long answer is more interesting.
As someone who has lived in Japan, speaks Japanese, and has run a cross-cultural training firm for 34 years, I am very skeptical of these broad Western-centric surveys such as The World Happiness Index. Cultural nuances and values play a huge role in how people answer questions. When I look at the questions and indicators used in these studies, they are largely designed from a Western perspective.
For example, if I were to take an American and a Japanese who have the same level of contentment and ask them a set of questions, their answers could radically skew the data.
Take these two reasonably happy people and ask, “Are you happy?”
The American: “Yeah, sure.”
The Japanese: “Happy? What exactly does this person mean by happy? To say I’m happy would certainly be presumptuous. After all, who am I to imply I might be happier than others. Of course, I wouldn’t describe myself as unhappy, but who could say they are 'happy' in general?”
Japanese Answer: “Kind of.”
Next question, “Do you think suicide is an appropriate solution for saving face?”
American Answer: “Heck no. You just have one life.”
Japanese Answer: “For the good of all concerned it may be the best solution in this life.”
Everything we ask is laden with cultural assumptions. Every way we answer is shaped by cultural values.
As Stephen Benfey, longtime friend and resident of Japan for 46 years, said, “By and large, Japanese are happy and contented. They are supported by their family, their friends, and their peers; in return, they support their family/friends/peers. Yes, there are exceptions, but as far as being happy goes, the Japanese have got it down.”
The more different the cultures, the greater the opportunity for empty statistics.
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The 33 years of experience is very much apparent in this answer. Thumbs up.
This is quite spot on. The same could be said of those surveys that apparently outline how “radical” Muslims are in Muslim countries, or any similar surveys. Everything considered normal to these people has some label to Westerners and would therefore surely skew their perspective.
