A scathing critique of the global consumer culture that's bound to cause controversy among Western readers, Practical Ethics for Our Time argues that Japan's future success as a nation depends upon the ability of its citizens to uphold traditional family values and to fashion new, environmentally sustainable patterns in their daily lives. The author of this manifesto, Eiji Uehiro, is the chairman of one of Japan's largest and most popular non-profit organizations, the Practical Ethics Association. Every morning, in every part of Japan, thousands of Japanese rise before dawn to join the Association's Early Riser's Club, whose members undertake programs that attempt to strengthen community bonds. The organization's membership spans the socioeconomic spectrum, and includes businessmen, farmers, fishermen, housewives, and students. Mr. Uehiro's argument is not unfamiliar. He posits that Japan's rapid industrialization and Westernization since the Meiji Restoration has created a nation of people with an insatiable appetite for designer clothing, luxury cars, and high-tech gadgets but with a profound sense of spiritual emptiness. Uehiro suggests that as human beings move farther and farther away from the process of producing goods themselves, they begin to take their abundance for granted, and thus lose a sense of thankfulness for what they have. This leads to a world in which human interactions become superficial and commodified, and ethics take a back seat to other, more quantifiable concerns. While Japan has gained tremendous international respect for its rapid industrialization since World War II, Uehiro believes that Japan has a greater role to play on the international stage as a model of proper ethical behavior - but only if it can reverse Western-influenced trends. The most conservative part of Mr. Uehiro's belief system concerns the role of women in society.
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