 After World War II, Japan has focused on the economic reconstruction and development, and now becomes a prosperous country. However, having been busily engaged with endless economic competition, we seem to have neglected an ethical perspective. With prevalence of too much economism as well as egotism in the name of individualism, many people tend to be indifferent to others concerning only about their benefits, and cruel events are increasing in which children do not care their parents and even parents do not care their children. In order to solve these problems, we need not only to establish legislation but also to reconsider our ways of living in ethical perspective we have not taken seriously.
The Japanese have long been practicing what a person should do ethically in accordance with a notion of ﾒTao,ﾓ the reason for life, so to speak, through which we have enhanced our spirit and have built a society with virtue. Now, itﾕs time for us to revive our spirit as the Japanese by aiming for a society with virtue.
Fundamental PoliciesA movement to build a mutually reliable society with compassion and practice as the core notion
In recent years, Tokyo JC has been working toward a reform of our society from a dependent one to self-reliant one, with the promotion of citizensﾕ proactive participation as a fundamental policy. Tokyo JC will continue to push forward this movement.
A ﾒcitizen proactively participating in the societyﾓ we are expecting here, is not the one who would reform the society for the pursuit of his or her own desire as if it were his or her own property. If people participate in the society only for the pursuit of self-interest without regard to public benefit, it must lead to a distorted society with great gaps between the strong and the weak. The image of a citizen we envision is a person who thinks of others with a belief that he or she ﾒcan live with the help of othersﾓ and practices what an ethical individual should do ― a character of a modest and honest Japanese person that has been esteemed for long time. In the midst of competitive world, we often forget such ideal image of citizen and chase for our own interests with desires. In order to develop further the movement to promote a society in which citizens participate proactively, we are required to reflect on the image of such citizen once more and to develop an environment where the image is highly valued.
A self-reliant society, built through the active participation of such ideal citizens, is a self-active society, where individual citizens would work on the society freely and actively and each one of them would create something much better by himself or herself by cooperating and competing with each other. Such kind of society would never be realized in a society where people are distrustful and suspicious of each other or try to drag others down with envy. While trusting good will of people, we sometimes need to take a stern attitude that we would not allow an unethical and irrational act, even if it were made by our nearest person. Such as, we need to create a society where trusting others is valued and a conduct that could invite distrust is hated. In such a society, people will cherish personal trust and try to be trustful.
In order to build a spiritually rich, hopeful, and bright society, Tokyo JC will promote our movements focusing on building of a society where trusting others is highly valued and kept by the citizens who respect compassion and practice. |
