Japan

YOUTH: Does that mean you dropped out of competition? That you somehow accepted defeat? PHILOSOPHER: No. I withdrew from places that are preoccupied with winning and losing. When one is trying to be oneself, competition will inevitably get in the way.

famous analogy to describe Japanese religious practices (see Appendix D): • Shinto: the roots of a tree; imbedded in the very heart of the Japanese people • Confucianism: the trunk and branches; politics, morality, and education • Buddhism: the flowers; religious feelings bloom as flowers

In just two generations, Japan evolved from a defeated imperial militarist country to a functioning democracy, ultimately moving beyond prolonged one-party domination. It became a manufacturing powerhouse, for a long time the world’s second-largest economy and now its third largest. Japan also embraced a constitution that limited its military’s

Just a little north is the National Art Centre, a magnificent venue which hosts a range of temporary exhibitions.

Seventeen years later, father of the emoji Shigetaka Kurita would create the first one—a heart—for Japanese telemarketing company NTT Docomo,