A Comparison of the American and the Japanese Health Care Systems

Both the United States and Japan are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, an organization composed of industrialized countries) and as such both countries are under the pressure to live up to a certain median when it comes to the quality of health care. Apart from the median created by OECD countries, the US and Japan are also equally pressured by such organizations as the World Health Organization (WHO) that sets up checklists for good health care systems. In a report last 2000 on the health care systems of 191 countries, WHO set some goals for a health care system.

These goals are the following: good health, responsiveness, and fairness in financing (WHO in Bureau of Labor Education of the University of Maine 2001, 1). By “good health” WHO refers to the good health status of the entire population although out the human being’s life cycle. “Responsiveness,” on the other hand, refers to “the extent to which caregivers are responsive to the client/patient expectations with regard to non-health areas such as being treated with dignity and respect” (Bureau of Labor and Education o the University of Maine 2001, 6).

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Fairness in financing generally refers to the progressiveness of the health care system wherein those who have less are also to spend less on medical care. These goals shall be utilized to evaluate and compare the Japanese and the American health care systems. But before an effective evaluation and comparison could be done, it will be important to individually describe the health care systems of these two countries. As such, this paper shall consist o the following parts: a description of the American health care system; a description of the Japanese health care system; an evaluation and the comparison of the two health care systems.

The American Health Care System A. The Framework of the American Health Care System The American Health Care System could best be illustrated using figure 1. In figure 1, it could be noted that there are two insurance systems in America, public and private. Public insurance system refers to Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), and the Veteran’s Administration (VA). Private insurance system, on the other hand, refers to either employer-sponsored insurance or private non-group insurance. We shall discuss each of these types.

Medicare is a federal program that insures seniors aged 65 and above as well as some disabled individuals (Chua 2006, 2). This is a single-payer, government-administered program that covers hospital services, physician services, as well as prescription drug services (Chua 2006, 2). Medicare is financed three ways: federal income taxes, payroll tax (paid both by employers and employees), and individual enrollee premiums (Chua 2006, 2). There are individual enrollee premiums because even if Medicare provides the above-mentioned services, there are still important services that are not covered without the premium coverage.

These premium services include nursing facilities; preventive care coverage; and coverage for dental, hearing, or vision care. This means that the elderly who are covered by Medicare would many times still need to avail of premium services and as such, they contribute a total of 22% of their income for the cost of health care (Chua 2006, 2). Medicaid is a state-administered health insurance program that provides coverage to low income citizens and disabled; specifically, this insurance “covers very poor pregnant women, children, disabled, and parents” (Chua 2006, 2).

As for its administration, Medicaid is paid for by the state and the federal government. At the very least, the federal government pays $1 for every dollar that the state pays for (Chua 2006, 2). Unlike Medicare, Medicaid offers a more comprehensive health benefits. S-CHIP is like Medicaid as regards administration but it is specifically for children whose parents do not qualify for Medicaid due to their income but still do not make enough money to provide insurance for their children. VA is a state-sponsored health insurance service for the veterans of the military.

This insurance provides comprehensive health benefits that make the veteran spend almost nothing for health care. Employer-sponsored insurance refers to private health insurance services the premium of which are largely paid for by employers. Under this system are the many organizations that offer health maintenance (HMOs). This is where corporations like Aetna and Kaiser Permanente fall. The coverage offered as well as the degree of co-sharing by the different HMOs differ also (Chua 2006, 3).

Private non-group health insurance is the sort of insurance availed by those who are self-employed and those that could not avail of employer-sponsored insurance. This sort of insurance allows the insurance company to impose rules regarding pre-existing conditions. Usually, pre-existing conditions are not covered by the insurance. This sort of insurance is fully administered by the HMOs and the benefits vary widely as well. B. Characteristics and Problems of the American Health Care System The American Health Care System is mostly a combination and interaction of public and private entities.

This is most exemplified by the two general types of health insurance services: the public and the private. This fact could be demonstrated by a 2003 statistics on Health Insurance Coverage of the nonelderly (in Chua 2006, 1). This statistics shows that 62% of nonelderly Americans receive private employer-sponsored insurance, while 5% purchase their insurance in the market (Chua 2006, 1). 18% of these nonelderly individuals are in public insurance like Medicaid or Medicare, while the remaining 15% are uninsured (Chua 2006, 1).

Elderly Americans aged 65 years and above are mostly insured through Medicaid (Chua 2006, 1). Or, better yet, we might as well look at statistics from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid represented as a pie graph in figure 2(American Hospital Association 2005, 6). In the 2003 statistics on the “Distribution of US Health Care Expenditures by Payer Source,” of the total $1. 7 trillion expenditures on health care, more than half are paid for by private entities. The lion’s share goes to private insurance. In this statistics, 35.

8% are paid for by private insurance (American Hospital Association 2005, 6). Consumer’s out-of-pocket spending on health care account for 13. 7% of the 2003 health care expenditure, while other private expenditure account for 4. 8% of the expenditure. Medicare, a government health insurance system, pays for 17% of health care expenses, while Medicaid, another government health insurance system, shoulders 16% of the expenditure. The remaining 12. 7% of expenditure is paid for by other government systems like the S-CHIP and VA (Centers American Hospital Association 2005, 6; Chua 2006, 2).

As such, we could see that the American Health Care System’s expenditure is more than 50% private. In spite of the big percentage in the budget that the federal government allots to health care, probably the biggest budget allotment in the OECD countries, a big percentage of health expenditures is handled by private entities. It is worth mentioning that America is spending on the average 15% of its GDP on health care when the average on OECD countries is only 8. 6% (Chua 2006, 5).

This also means that America has the highest per capita spending on health care compared to other OECD Countries. It was documented that almost 10 years ago, the US was already the biggest per capita spender among its OECD colleagues. It spent $4,178 per capita while Switzerland, then second to the US on per capita spending, spent only $2794 per capita on health care. In spite of the big role of private entities and the high percentage in budget that health care system has, a big percentage of non-elderly adults are uninsured (15% are uninsured as we saw above).

This means that millions of adults in the working age have to spend their own money for health services. This also means that probably America is the only developed country that does not provide health services to all its citizens (Bureau of Labor Education in the University of Maine 2001, 3). Another problem is the fact that the United States has a high infant mortality rate compared to the other OECD counties. In fact, the United States ranked 26th in infant mortality rate among the industrialized countries (Bureau of Labor Education in the University of Maine 2001, 5).

Neither did America rank well in disability-adjusted life expectancy ranking 24th among OECD countries (Bureau of Labor Education in the University of Maine 2001, 5). This means that a number of Americans expect to live parts of their lives in disability which probably is a consequence of not having access to health care (as a big percentage of nonelderly are uninsured). Aside from these problems, American health care is also characterized by a deficit in resources as most emergency departments in hospitals report of being “at” or “over” capacity (American Hospital Association 2005, 25).

In figure 3, we could see a bar graph showing how some hospitals (especially teaching hospitals) could be at 43% beyond capacity. Such a lack could be accounted for largely by the lack of critical care beds, and not necessarily by overcrowding, in these emergency departments (American Hospital Association 2005, 27). This would mean that a number of hospitals, both in their emergency departments and intensive care units, would need to spend time on diversion (American Hospital Association 2005, 26). These are all ironical problems in a country that is supposed to be most advanced in economy and technology.

The Japanese Health Care System A. The Framework of the Japanese Health Care System The Japanese Health Care System, in contrast to the American system, offers coverage for all the citizens. This system offers services that are fairly comprehensive. Currently, the Japanese Health Care System provides “a basic package of benefits (including medical consultation, drugs, and other materials; medical treatment, surgery, and other services; home care treatment and nursing; and hospitalization and nursing at medical institutions) and they may offer additional benefits (e.

g. , funeral benefits, maternity allowances) under the collective scheme” (Ward and Piccolo 2004). This system is best illustrated by figure 4. Health services are paid for in four ways: health insurance contributions, by patient co-payments, by taxes, and by out-of-pocket payments (Jeong and Hurst 2001, 10). Health services are given by providers which could be categorized according to the following: hospitals, doctors’ clinics, health centers, and pharmacies. Most hospitals are categorized as general hospitals which mean that beds are allocated for long term care.

These hospitals are closed to doctors who have clinics, these clinics being capable of minimum bed capacity of 12 (Jeong and Hurst 2001, 11) and may have the latest medical devices needed for diagnosis. Pharmacies may have their own doctors who may dispense their own prognoses and prescriptions. Nursing services are also considered as health providers. The insurance services, though provided by more or less 5,000 HMOs, are largely non-autonomous non-governmental bodies (Jeong and Hurst 2001, 13). These HMOs are basically in charge of operating the compulsory national health insurance system (Jeong and Hurst 2001, 13).

These HMOs experience control by the national and local governments. In fact, even doctors’ fees as well as other health services fees are standardized. The Japanese Health Care System may be categorized into two big divisions: the Social Insurance System (SIS) and the National Health Insurance (NHI) (Ward and Piccolo 2004). People are assigned to a health insurance such that those who are working in a company or office are assigned in the SIS, while everyone else who cannot be classified as working in a company or office (including self-employed professionals) should fall under the NHI (Ward and Piccolo 2004).

63% of the population is insured under the SIS. Under the SIS, employers pay 50 to 80% of the premium while employees, depending on their income, pay around 8. 5% of their income for health insurance premium. In this system, the insured and their dependents pay 20-30% of in-patient and out-patient costs, at the same time act as co-payers in prescription drugs (Ward and Piccolo 2004). The NIH system, on the other hand, covers the remaining 37% of the population. Premiums paid by the insured depend on incomes and assets. The insured as well as their dependents are required to be co-payers of 30% of the cost.

In spite of the requirement for co-payment, Japan offers a co-payment cap: “The cap is at ? 63,600 (US$600) per month, with the average monthly disposable income being ? 561,000 (US$5,300)” (Ward and Piccolo 2004). In addition, those who are elderly may benefit from long-term insurance which covers 90% of long-term maintenance costs. B. Problems with the Japanese Health Care System The Japanese Health Care System boasts of having state-of-the-art equipment accessible to its citizens. In fact, Japan has the highest CT and MRI scanners per capita among all countries.

Japan also has low infant mortality rate in spite of lower GDP spending (7. 6%) for health care, well within the OECD median (Ward and Piccolo 2004). Japan is also able to provide co-payment cap though like the United States, Japan’s health system is also highly paid for by private entities: “Japan spent ? 29. 8 trillion (US$280 billion) on healthcare, of which 53% was covered by insurance, 32. 3% by the government, and 14. 8% by patients' co-payments” (Ward and Piccolo 2004). Nevertheless, the Japanese Health Care System has its own share of problems.

For one, unlike in most Western countries, specialization does not matter as much as in America. What matters is where a doctor is affiliated, thus making the distinction between a general practitioner and a specialist blurred. This makes having a “family doctor” difficult to have and standardization difficult to come by (Jeong and Hurst 2001, 13). Also, Japan has 2 to 3 times longer hospitalization time compared to other countries which means that Japan would need more beds to accommodate patients (National Coalition on Health Care, 3).

Probably the biggest problem that the system is facing is the increasing number of elderly population which would obviously strain (National Coalition on Health Care, 3). There is also the problem of weak preventive care as well as low public awareness on “taboo” illnesses such as HIV and AIDS (Ward and Piccolo 2004). Comparison Between the Two Health Care Systems In the introduction, we spoke of the WHO requirement for good health, responsiveness, and fairness in financing. Let us evaluate the two systems based on these WHO goals.

The American system, aside from the problems posed above, obviously lacks in its ability to provide “good health” for the entire population. For one, the American health care system does not cover the entire American population. There is just no mandate for such. The Japanese system is obviously different. Japan has a national mandate for universal coverage. This means that the Japanese system is made in such a way that all Japanese would have to fall into one of the two insurance systems.

The fact that all Japanese are insured at the same time Japanese spending on health care against GNP is well within the OECD median is something that Americans would have to learn from. The very concept of a co-payment cap is a very good thing that makes health care more responsive to the call for “good health for the entire population. ” As regards responsiveness, the fact that millions of Americans are uninsured automatically makes them not capable of even evaluating client/patient relations for issues such as dignity, respect, etcetera.

Nevertheless, the Japanese system also has room for improvement as the existence of “taboo” sicknesses would obviously compromise the treatment of patients with dignity and respect. Lastly, as regards the requirement for fairness in financing, the Japanese system is way better than the American system. To a certain extent, the American system would make it difficult for certain parts of the population to be insured as they are not too poor to qualify for Medicaid but they are also not employed nor financially endowed enough to pay for private insurance. This is totally not a problem in the Japanese system.

A comparison of American and Japanese Animation

The origin of the modern day term ‘Animation’ derives from the Latin word  ‘Animatus’, meaning simply ‘ to give life’ yet perhaps the earliest known form of animation, the phenakistoscope, derives it name not from Latin but from a Greek term meaning “deceiving viewer”.

The phenakistoscope, invented in 1833 by the Belgian Joseph Plateau was the forerunner of the more famous (and more commercially available) Zoetrope (Greek: Zoe – life / trope – wheel) invented in 1834 by George Horner,

The earliest fully animated cartoon (as they were then more widely known) was produced by a French strip cartoonist Emile Courtet, who, working under the name Emile Cohl used individually drawn images to create the 1908 two – minute long cartoon named Fantasmagorie which subsequently received release in Britain under the title Black and White.

The world’s first ‘Cartoon Star’ Felix the Cat “walked” into the picture and onto the screen in 1919, the creation of already successful comic strip artist Pat Sullivan, Felix was to both revolutionise cartoon making and introduce many

clichés that are still in effect today. Sullivan utilized all the aspects of the comic

strip such as speech bubbles, ‘idea’ light bulbs and the quite literal use of items such as the humble question mark, in order to bring Felix to life. As Denis Gifford explains:

…[I]f a question mark could be drawn popping out of Felix’s head, then it could just as easily be plucked physically from the sky and used as a handy hook, especially if a milk bottle stood just out of reach. (The Great Cartoon Stars, a Who’s Who!)

While the first cartoon hero may have been a cat, arguably the most famous of all animated stars however, is Mickey Mouse. Featured in “Steamboat Willie” (1928) the first commercial cartoon film to ever include sound, Mickey Mouse, looks quite different from the incarnation familiar to the children of today

Indeed, the ever-changing appearance of animated characters, due mainly to increased improvements in technology has undoubtedly led a much more demanding audience.

picture from IMDb

 Where we were once charmed by the grainy black and white image of a happily whistling mouse, more sophisticated techniques and the introduction of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has opened the door to such astonishing animated films as the Disney-Pixar release “Shrek”, the visually stunning “Final

Fantasy- The Spirits Within” (the first animated feature to ever attempt to

produce photo-realistic CGI humans) and the deservedly Oscar™ winning Miyazaki Hayao creation “The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro”.

Today, animation is everywhere, from televised adverts, children’s shows, video games and cinema, animation is no longer simply an art form, but a cultural icon embraced by almost all and guaranteed to instil a childish air of wonder even in the most jaded and cynical of adult hearts.

The application of animation in feature films is by no means a new occurrence – yet the scope of creativity and imagination shown by today’s innovators is undeniably impressive and has also been shown to influence more ‘mainstream’ movie directors such as Quentin Tarantino choosing to add an entire “Animé” sequence to his movie “Kill Bill”, to Richard Linklater’s decision to make his version of Philip K Dick’s “A Scanner Darkly” a wholly animated affair.

The kings however of the art could only be considered American Disney Studio and Studio Ghibli of Japan.  The purpose in essence of this essay is to conduct a comparison between these two very different innovators of animatic design.

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Japanese Family

Japanese family is known for being industrious, hardworking and for being responsible; but they have time for leisure. Japan is instituted through what they call the ie system. The ie or household is considered as the basic unit of Japanese law until the end of World War II. It consists of grandparents, their son and his wife and their children.

Each family was required to follow to the ie system, with a multigenerational household under the legal authority of a household head. (Japanese Family” access 2007) This ie system is patterned after the Confucian’s of the upper classes of the Togukawa period.

The ie lay legally the authority and responsibility to the household head. Every generation supplied a man and woman , with a preference to acquire by the first son and for the patrilocal marriage. In Japan daughters were expected to get married and the younger sons were expected to establish their own family.

Japanese woman have no right to legally own or control property at the same time to choose her man to be her husband. The ie system are very restricted to the development of each individual, women’s rights and most of all the individual rights. During the late World War II, Allied occupation forced to create a new family beliefs based on the equal rights for women , equal rights required by all children and the freedom to choose of spouse and field. In the late 1960’s also most Japan marriages have been based on the mutual feelings and attraction of the couple and not the parents arrangement.

Actual negotiations do not start until all the concerned parties including the husband and wife are satisfied with the relationship. Japanese family current lifestyles the husband and wife are satisfied with the relationship. Japanese family current lifestyles is that the father or husband may travel to work and return late.

They spend so little time for their children except Sundays which is the favorite day for family outings. While the wives called as “expert or professional wife” which have a total responsibility for raising their children, to guarantee their career and marriages, managing the household and at their children, to guarantee their career and marriages, managing the household and at the same time the family budget. Wife also responsible in maintaining the social relations to their relatives, neighbors and for maintaining and managing the family’s reputation. Social life of wife is separated from that of her husband.

She also required to participate in the adult education or other community activities. Mother and the children are the closest emotional ties. The question whether the contemporary Japanese families still have preferences for entertainment during their free time, is obviously an interesting one. Base on research conducted, despite their busy schedule Japanese family are engaged in different forms of entertainment. Fathers in Japan, choose the following entertainment during their free time are singing in the karaoke ,listening in the Japanese music and going to the department stores.

They are doing this to make them feel relaxed, enjoyed and satisfied. On the other hand, mothers in Japan are only in the house and much comfortable in serving and cooking for their family. Most of them likes to watch TV movies. They are close to their children just because they are the one staying in the house always. Children in Japan like to watch movies, reading the anime, and listening Japanese music. The two leading forms of entertainment in Japan by family members are the Karaoke and Anime. Japanese love music. They usually sing and dance even though they are not good singers.

They like to hear and sing different interesting melodies like “What a Wonderful World”, Love Spreads”, “99 Red Balloons”, “Bigorouf Strikes again”. Karaoke is one of the best choices of entertainment in Japan. Karaoke is very well-known in Japan. “Karaoke as a form of entertainment…, is as much a part of life as music itself. ”[For Japanese people]. (Newman, 2001) Japanese Japanese are very passionate in singing in the karaoke. Karaoke have different kind of shows to choose from by amateur and professional. One of the shows is a glance inside the private karaoke rooms.

In Japan. And the other one is the Home karaoke systems are located at electronic stores. Fathers in Japan are very busy because of their work but they have also time to enjoy their selves and go to some karaoke bars to sing their. This is the reason why they are returning home very late. Fathers in Japan have so little time for their wife and children but they see to it that they are all together during Sunday, their favorite day for their outing. Not only have the fathers loved to sing in the karaoke also the children specially the youth sing together with their friends They expressed their feelings by singing.

Mothers or wives also love music but they only sing in the home karaoke, because they are only staying in their house to serve their husbands. Japanese families second choice of entertainment is the Anime. Anime reminds the Japanese culture Good example of this is the Manga which every Japanese people loves specially the Japanese children. Mr. Tezuka Osamo is recognized as the Father of Anime in Japan. He was distinguished as the Mangaka or cartoonist. Tezuka Osamo introduce anime to the TV screen, one of his own Manga on 1963 which is the Tetzuwan Atomu also known in the other country as Astro Boy. (“Modern Japan “)

Other well known cartoonist is the Gundam in the 80’s and Neon Genesis Evangelion on 1995. Japanese had a very eager appetite for Manga or comic books during rush hour on a train. In the West mainstream comics are almost entirely for children. Japanese Manga has different types and some are not appropriate for children. Examples of this are the graphic violence and sex. Two main forms of Manga come weekly, twice-monthly and monthly magazine . style Manga and paper books. Some good examples are in the sections on animated movies and TV cartoons.

Japanese used Mangajin, one of a classic magazine as a fun and effective method to learn Japanese. It was promoted last 1990-97, it also contains interesting article on different aspects of Japanese culture. There is a shonen manga which is for young guys and shojo manga which id for young girl. They deal with a science fiction, young guys and shojo manga which id for young girl. They deal with a science fiction sports and romance and tend to portray male. Characters as the male manga do with the male characters. One of the popular female manga is Sailor Moon, which became a very successful TV show.

Manga become popular and exceedingly large in Japan. One of the important things learned in this course is the reality of distinct family values among different cultures. That there is a difference between an Asian culture specially to the Japanese. According to Mr. Yakamoto “I love singing in karaoke it makes me feel relaxed and happy” Based to Mr. Yakamoto’s statement he chooses karaoke as his entertainment because he find it relaxing and happy. Almost the father in Japan, their choice of entertainment is the karaoke . While in the other Asian country like

Philippines loves to watch movies and play basketball. His wife Mrs. Yakamoto loves to cook and sing in the home karaoke because according to her she wants to give the excellent service to her husband and kids. Their little son Aikihiru Yakamoto says that “For me my choice of entertainment in our country is the Anime. I really enjoyed reading it. ” Based to the Yakamoto family they emphasized that they have their own choice of entertainment which give them satisfaction. They feel relaxed and happy too. Every country has different choices of entertainment but in Japan they emphasized that the karaoke and anime are their best choice during their free time.

Their favorite day is Sunday which all the members of the family are join together to have their outing. Mr. John E. Lamuth, 45 years old author who finished his Master of Science Degree in Counseling from California State University who wrote “The Essential Guide to Family Values under the Grand Unified Theory of Ethics and Morality” which the title involve new moral scheme is the first grand combination theory of its kind: the ethical values establish in traditional Greek philosophy improved by the writings of the great Church theologians for the past two years.

The typical groupings of ethical values defined within this scheme all happen to be related on an perceptive level, recommending a clear sense of essential cohesiveness. The source of innovation behind this alteration arises as a direct result of the emerging field of Communications, Theory, borrowing the critical concept of the met perspective. Based on this theoretical example, the conceptual groupings of virtues and values are cooperatively seen as subsets within this ladder of met perspectives, each more theoretical grouping constructing upon those which it succeed.

There are ten levels hierarchy of met perspectives somewhat reproduced like GLORY reproduced as PRUDENCE, PROVIDENCE reproduced as FAITH, GRACE reproduced as BEAUTY, TRANQUILITY reproduced as ECSTACY , HONOR reproduce as JUSTICE, LIBERTY reproduced as HOPE, FREE WILL reproduced as TRUTH and EQUALITY reproduced as BLISS. The consistent hierarchy of qualities, morals, and best proves extremely complete in scope , accounting for almost every major ethical term renowned within the Western ethical tradition.

It is simple to achieve a sense of the development towards increasing theoretical when examine each of the individually represent columns from top to bottom. Such external similarity, however, has an inadequate claim to be the complete picture; for it further proves probable to stand this hierarchy of family values completely within a behavioral organization; specifically the vocabulary of operant conditioning recommended by the famous American psychologist ,B. F Skinner. The complete ten level of hierarchy of family values lastly accomplished the degree of authenticity applicable such accurate “technology of behavior.

” Definitely, this new system proves particularly well appropriate for launching moral values to a new generation of youth. One of the important things learned in this course is the reality of distinct family values among different cultures. That there is a difference between an Asian culture specially to the Japanese. The grand unified theory of ethics in moral by Mr. John Lamuth is very applicable to Japanese family because they are very aware to their family reputation and moral. They give this kind of responsibility to all the housewives.

That’s why all the mother or wives are responsible in maintaining social relations to their relatives, neighbors and for maintaining and managing the family reputation. In this theory we learn the importance of ethics and morality in a person itself. Because of this they can get the respect and love of others people. It is not hard for them to talk to them and ask for some help because we already planted a good moral for yourself. Japanese families gain this kind of high reputation. They possess some characteristics like being responsible, honest,loving and respectful from within and to their love ones.

Meaning their family are intact and with a good relationship to each other. Japanese families are very ideal and somewhat to idolized by every family in Asian country and Western country too. They are really different to other families because even they are so busy they can save time too for their family specially Sunday. This is one good reason why they are so successful. Being successful and happy start first in the relationship we had for your own family. Family gives us the totality as a person. No one can understand you and love you like what your family gives you.

Love, Care and Respect your family. Don’t be so selfish to give your love and attention to other member of the family and you will see in return that love and attention you give makes them feel better and very happy. Happiness makes a person successful because of doing their work easily.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“http://en. wikipedia. org. /wiki/Japanese_family”

Http: www. furious. com/perfect/karaoke. html Modern Japan - Entertainment - Anime. htm Lamuth, John E. 1999, The Ultimate Guide to Family Values: A Grand Unified Theory of Ethics in Morality, California U. S. A

Japanese Period

Japanese Period Background The Japanese period is known as the era with the most brutalities in Philippine history. Unlike our previous capturers, the Japanese had no shame in hiding the cruelty that they imposed on the Filipino people. With their aim of capturing the Philippines in a p of 50 days, they did not hold back on the meaner of getting what they wanted. No one could escape the torture and hardships, and some could not even escape death. The Japanese had motives. They wanted the Filipinos to stray from the western culture, and become part of the east-Asia co prosperity sphere.

They wanted a complete reformation of the people, for them to forget about their materialistic ways and to focus on vocational education and love of labor. Whenever someone would go against what they wanted, they would result to imprisonment and torture. They had no mercy for those that they suspected were against them. Conditions of the Prison The Kemp-ATA, or the Japanese military police would usually pick up Filipinos on the streets or in their houses, and throw them in prison cells either in Fort Santiago, in Blind prison, or in any compound that the Japanese have taken over.

Some accounts say that the Japanese would keep them in small rooms, with nothing to do. Whenever they would look out the window, all they could see were ill-fed and unhappy Filipinos roaming the streets. Everyday, they would do the same things, and they would be fed tasteless and inadequate food twice a day. Most times, it's Just boiled vegetables and rice. Sometimes, they would add fish to the prisoners' food, but only the heads and the parts that they have thrown in the garbage. One source told his story of being kept in a hospital by the Japanese.

He mentioned that two garbage dumpsters were located right outside the building where they were staying in, so flies would come in thousands each day. Whenever they would close their eyes, after about five minutes, the bed would be covered with flies, literally making a black blanket. Another source, quoted below, wrote his accounts of torture and hardships in his memoir, and what he experienced in the cell that he stayed in: "After a pause of a few minutes, I felt the searing Jerks of slivers being extracted.

Minutes later, I could not remember how long, I regained consciousness. I was shivering and wet lying in a pool of water mixed with blood, semi-digested food, excrement and urine. The smell was terrible. I must have moved my bowels, vomited and urinated in my unconscious state. " The Japanese didn't care about the condition of each prisoner. They would Just leave them there, bruised and unconscious, until the next water cure session.

Some rooms can only occupy a limited number of people if they allocate a bed for each person; therefore, what the Japanese did was to fit about 70 men inside one empty room, where the prisoners would sit in a squatting position. Most of the rooms couldn't have a bathroom; so instead, the Japanese would provide the prisoners squatting Rules Inside the Prison There were no exact rules as to what should and shouldn't be done inside the prison cell, but the Filipinos were smart enough to know what the Japanese didn't like and what they capable of.

Whenever a Filipino is captured, he is tied up and beaten, sometimes until he is unconscious, then he will be brought to a prison cell, where he will stay indefinitely and will continue to be tortured. Almost everyday, they will be questioned and tortured until they give an answer that would satisfy the Japanese en watching over them. Of course, like in any prison, no one was allowed to leave the facility. If anyone attempted to leave, they would be beaten and tortured to death.

Family members were not allowed to visit them, except on April 29, when the emperor would celebrate his birthday and is considered a special holiday for the Japanese. They were not allowed to leave their cells, unless they were told to do so. Even bathing was limited to once a week, sometimes once every two weeks if they were unlucky. In 1941, a new Blind prison was available for use of the Japanese. Upon entering he facility, there was a standard procedure followed to accommodate the new prisoners: 1 . The carpets (bio-data) were taken and supplemented by fingerprinting 2.

Heads of prisoners will be shaved 3. Clothes will be deposited for safekeeping, and replaced with a uniform 4. Medical examination of physical condition of the prisoners, and giving of immunization shots 5. Photos are taken with a prison number tag 6. Brigade assignments are issued. The new Blind was seen as a chance to live anew, and the prisoners noticed that the prison officials were more lenient than the ones in the old Blind facility and the nest in Fort Santiago. Rights Human rights were non-existent during the time of the Japanese.

The torture methods were so inhumane that some prisoners felt like they were being treated like animals. They were not allowed to speak or do what they wanted, they weren't even allowed leave their prison cells unless they were told to do so. There was no regard for human life, at least for those who were imprisoned and tortured. Illustration of the water cure method of torture The methods that the Japanese used to get answers from the Filipinos were severe and barbaric. The water cure was the most used method for prisons.

The prison officials would dip the head of the prisoner in a tub of water, or a wet material is placed on top of the nose and mouth of a prisoner until he starts gasping for air. They would then ask questions, and if they don't get a "satisfactory' answer, they would repeat the process. In the case of a prisoner drowning, they would immediately untie him and place him face down on a barrel. The Prison guards would then roll the barrel back and forth like a rocking chair to remove the water from the poor prisoners stomach and lungs.

Then the process will continue once and striking with a baton or a slab of wood. Reasons for Imprisonment Most of the prisoners during the time of the Japanese were accused of being part of guerrillas. This was the main trigger for the Japanese to capture people in the streets or in their homes because they didn't want any secret anti-Japanese organizations to plan revolts, as well as keep in the Filipinos under the influence of the Americans. Although they captured many accused Filipinos, they were not able to fully and completely silence the guerilla groups.

Japan’s Development & History

Those legends that give the history of Japan indicates that, Japan was founded in 600 BC by the emperor called Jimmu. Jimmu is said to be a direct descendant of sun goddess, and also the present ruling ancestor of the imperial family.

Japan adopted the Chinese writing system, together with the Buddhism religion. This actually brought in an influence to the Japanese culture. The Japanese indigenous culture is based on the emperor concept, and has Buddhism as the focal point. The culture in the Japan entered in successive waves in the continent.

Different concepts in Japan that has resulted back into past, entails all the human activities manifestation from the moment the man first populated the archipelago of Japan.

Research has shown that during the Pleistocene period Japan was inhabited. Those who inhibited Japan during those times left behind cultural remains such as chipped stones. The chipped implements of this time are categorized into four groups. The first category consists of the shale core implements.

The shale core implement in some case are defined as hand axes. The second category is the obsidian and flake shale implements. These somehow consist of the upper European Paleolithic industrial flakes. The third categopry comprises of the spearhead. This in most cases is identified with the Solutrean of the Europe. The last group is made by the blade implements. These implements have got their microlithic proportion specimens increasing progressively.

The culture of Japan took shape in the period of Yayoi. The present anthropologists argue out that, Japanese are direct descendants of the Jomon people. The Jomon culture in Japan is subdivided into five periods. These periods include the: earliest, early, middle, late and latest phase. The phase of the earliest Jomon was dominated by base pointed connoid potteries.

The second phase of Jomon was characterized by the cylindrical potteries of a fibrous temper. The third phase, that is, the middle phase was characterized by the emergence of the cultural subareas: central, northeastern, and southeastern.

The middle phase of culture in Japan came up with multitudes of problems. In the late phase, three distinct subareas are blanketed by pottery that was cord marked that is black or grey, thin walled and well fired.  At present most of the cultural practices in Japan are similar to those of china (Shenfield, 1998, pp 55).

The relationship that exists between languages is expressed by correspondence in: vocabulary, grammatical structure, as corroborated by the law of phonetic. In Japan, with respect to grammar, it is quite different to Austroasian, Chinese, and Austronesian.

However, Japan has some structural similarity in its language with the Altaic group. Japanese and Korean share many grammar points as well as an ancient vowel harmony use. They also share at least two hundred cognates of vocabulary.

The linguistics data of Japanese can be traced back to the 3rd century A.D. but came to be more after the 9th century. When compared with the neighboring language the Japanese language is in a better state. To compare them with the ancient Japanese is hard. The reason for this seems to justify the somatic variation along a running cline from southeastern to north eastern (Shenfield, 1998, pp. 57).

In the process of its development, in 1542 Japan started to experience contact with the western countries such as Netherlands, England, Spain, and Portugal. The main aim for these countries coming to Japan was to trade with Japan.

Later in 17th century Japan realized that the traders and the missionaries from the west countries were being used as military conquest forerunners by the European powers. This led to shogunates to place very tight restrictions on the foreigners. Finally, this forced those foreigners who stayed in Japan to leave.

This barred the relation between the Japan and the outside countries except the china and Dutch merchants. The restriction lasted for 200 years, when Matthew Perry of the United States navy came for negotiation so that Japan could be opened for the west.

The renewed contact with the west after several years profoundly changed the Japanese society. There was restoration of the emperor into power as the shogunate resigned. The 1868 Meiji restoration brought in so many reforms in Japan.

There was abolishment of feudal system, adoption of several western institutions which included the government constitution together with the parliamentary lines, and the western education and legal systems (Mulgan, 2000, pp. 70).

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