Shame and guilt in the Japanese culture: A study of lived experiences of moral failures of Japanese emerging generation and its relation to the church missions in Japan.

摘要

Traditionally, Japanese culture has been labeled as shame-oriented culture where as the West is guilt-oriented culture. Guilt was defined as the violation of absolute norm and fear of punishment. Therefore, western missionaries may have emphasized sin in relation to transgression of the law in Japanese context and omitted shame aspect of Japanese culture. However, while agreeing shame orientation in Japanese culture, some scholars found that guilt in Japan is different from traditionally viewed legal terms of guilt. Rather, Japanese feel guilt through interpersonal relationship where one's moral failure caused harms done to their significant others and failure to meet family obligations and duties.;From apparent two different terms of guilt, this research seeks to discover two inquiries: what are the emerging Japanese generation's experiences of shame and guilt from moral failure and how do they resolve shame and guilt? The research was conducted through qualitative and descriptive methods. The data was collected through in-depth interviews of thirty-five Japanese Christian and non-Christian college students from the greater Tokyo area.;The interview data revealed that Japanese college students' guilt experiences resulted from interpersonal orientation in relation to "personal injury" to significant others, failure to meet the expectations of significant others and one's own personal goals, and neglected responsibilities. The closer the interpersonal relationship, the more guilt felt by the student. Christian students' guilt was somewhat associated with the violation of law, but more so because of the aspect of their personal relationship with God. They viewed God as Father and sin as hurting God's own heart.;Shame was elicited from social-cultural orientation in relation to self-reflection of other's negative evaluation of one's failure to follow model-identity and the public norm. While students did not experience any shame in the context of home, exposure of one's moral failure to peers and neighbors caused students to experience shame and embarrassment.;Apology with gift giving, and forgiveness and acceptance within the community setting played a major role in the resolution of shame and guilt. For Christian students, understanding the love, forgiveness of God and faith community's acceptance were the major contributions for resolving guilt.