Takeo Doi | Japanese scholar, 89
Takeo Doi, 89, a scholar who wrote that the Japanese psyche thrived on a love-hungry dependence on authority figures, died Sunday.
He wrote the 1971 book The Anatomy of Dependence, which introduced the idea of "amae" - a childlike desire for indulgence - as key to understanding the Japanese mind.
Dr. Doi's work was a hit in Japan but has been widely studied abroad in translation. Ezra Vogel, social-sciences professor emeritus at Harvard University, has praised Dr. Doi's book as "the first book by a Japanese trained in psychiatry to have an impact on Western psychiatric thinking."
Dr. Doi's work stemmed from what he called his "culture shock" when he went to study in the United States in the 1950s and saw the difference between how Americans and Japanese act, including his patients.
Dr. Doi taught at the International Christian University in Tokyo from 1980-82, and he also counseled students and faculty members. Before that, he served as professor at his alma mater, the University of Tokyo, from 1971 to 1980.
He was working as a special adviser to the PHP Research Institute until his death, the private think tank said.
- AP
