The Chrysanthemum And The Sword Chapter Summary

The popular period TV series, Mad Men, set in America in the mid 1960’s, donned a peculiar reference to a mid-20th century anthropological work in the fifth episode of its fourth season. Aptly titled The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, the episode follows the creative director of an ad firm, Don Draper, as he attempts to win over the Japanese owned Honda Motorcycle Corporation. Don successfully tricks a rival agency into producing a high budget commercial to win the account (a violation of the rules of the competition set by the Honda corporation.) He then shames the Japanese execs for considering the rival agency despite the rule violation and subsequently lands the deal. This tactic was used precisely because of the knowledge of what anthropologist
Chapter two outlines key differences between the Japanese and the American soldier’s priorities during times of war, particularly Japan’s contradictory code of honor. Such a high value is placed on honor in the name of the nation-state and the emperor that you must either be victorious or fight to the death, otherwise a soldier returns to his home in shame (Benedict 1946). This fear of shame paradoxically causes Japanese prisoners of war to be very cooperative with enemy forces seeing as their nation no longer acknowledges them (Benedict 1946). The third chapter discusses the Japanese’s respect towards one’s station and the importance of social, familial, interpersonal, economic and political hierarchies. This is contrasted with the United State’s emphasis on equality and anti-aristocratic values. Debt as moral currency in interpersonal and imperial hierarchies is discussed at length in chapters five and six. Chapters nine through eleven then detail matters of personal conduct and “shame culture.” In the Japanese eye “shame is the root of virtue” and not guilt as most Western cultures believe (Benedict, 1946: 224). That is not to say they are puritan in nature. The Japanese embrace the senses and self-gratification is not condemned (Benedict 1946). These learned social behaviors and the domestic practices of everyday life are attributed to child rearing as outlined in chapter twelve. Benedict ends by asserting her belief that the U.S. would be unwise to attempt to create a democratic Japan. In her own words, “No foreigner can decree, for a people who have not his habits and assumptions, a manner of life after his own image. The Japanese cannot be legislated into accepting the authority of elected person and ignoring ‘proper station’ as it is set up in their hierarchal