This book is an exploration that shows us how sentiment and duty form the core of Japanese culture. It looks at how the combination of common sense, culture, and social norms influence people’s ways of thinking and behavior. Although the focus is Japan in looking at these interrelationships, the author draws on his experience and knowledge of other countries from his days before graduate school, when he traveled the world as a backpacker. Now, from the world of academia, he uses his knowledge of economic analysis to consider the similarities and differences in human behavior among countries and cultures. The wide-ranging scope of the book takes in marital life, education, sports, business, and culture in modern Japanese society. Why, for instance, does linguistic heterogeneity generally have negative effects on FIFA rankings of national soccer teams, and what does this have to do with the difficulty of technology transfer among businesses in multilingual countries? Why was the demand for the film Bohemian Rhapsody, about the British rock group Queen, so high in Japan? How do Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels resemble scenarios related to Japan’s long-term public finance prospects? How does the depiction of contemporary life compared with “the old days” in the films of Yasujiro Ozu provide a cautionary tale for aging societies today? How are older people with grandchildren more likely to accept tax increases to support future generations? And how is the Japanese government actively drawing on behavioral economics to appeal to public sentiment to contain the spread of COVID-19. These and a multitude of other questions are tackled by the backpacker who entered academia to become an economist and who now goes on a journey to find the answers. Readers can take the trip with him under his expert guidance, as he artfully combines sentiment, duty, and economic analysis.

Written in 1759 by Scottish philosopher and political economist Adam Smith, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" provides much of the foundation for the ideas in his later works, most notably in "The Wealth of Nations." Through this initial text, Smith expresses his general system of morals, exploring the propriety of action, reward and punishment, sense of duty, and the effect of numerous factors on moral sentiment. In so doing, Smith devised innovative theories on virtues, conscience, and moral judgment that are still relevant and accessible today. Though somewhat surprising to find a philosopher of Smith's abilities discussing aspects such as luck and sympathy and how they affect self-image or relationships, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" never loses its critical excellence in its good-natured understanding of the human exploration for the meaning of being good. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and includes an introduction by Herbert W. Schneider.

Part I: Of the Propriety of Action Part II: Of Merit and Demerit; or, of the Objects of Reward and Punishment: Consisting of Three Parts Part III: Of the Foundation of our Judgments concerning our own Sentiments and Conduct, and of the Sense of Duty Consisting of One Section Part IV: Of the Effect of Utility upon the Sentiment of Approbation Consisting of One Section Part V: Of the Influence of Custom and Fashion upon the Sentiments of Moral Approbation and Disapprobation Part VI: Of the Character of Virtue Part VII: Of Systems of Moral Philosophy Consisting of Four Section

Sentimentalism, Ethics and the Culture of Feeling defends feeling against customary distrust or condescension by showing that the affective turn of the eighteenth-century cult of sentiment, despite its sometimes surreal manifestations, has led to a positive culture of feeling. The very reaction against sentimentalism has taught us to identity sentimentality. Fiction, moreover, remains a principal means not just of discriminating quality of feeling but of appreciating its essentially imaginative nature.