Albert Einstein was charmed by Japan

[TheParser]

If you are interested in Professor Einstein's life, this book will be available in June (2018): The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein: The Far East, Palestine and Spain, 1922 - 1923.

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Here are a few points from a book review that I have just read.

1. "He was wowed by the beauty of [Japan] and the refinement of the culture."

2. "He also liked Japanese women ... although he was uncharacteristically tight-lipped about what he saw in them."

3. He "found the Japanese, yes, inscrutable."

4. "And for Einstein, Japan was refreshingly free of anti-Semitism, Einstein did not practice his religion, but he made no apologies for it, and had become increasingly involved in Zionism."

5. In a later essay, he wrote that Western culture was characterized by "individualism in the extreme, cut-throat competition ... feverish laboring to acquire as much luxury and indulgences as possible." He felt that Japanese culture was characterized by "harmony and equanimity, strong family bonds and public civility enforced by social norms."

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Title of article: Albert Einstein's Mystery Tour.
Author: Jerry Adler.
Magazine: Smithsonian (print edition for May, 2018).

 

[there4eyeM]

Using people is wrong. All cultures do it, just to varying degrees.
Some blend of all the positive points of cultures would be interesting. It doesn't appear that we are ready for that much 'diversity', however.
Our species can certainly be lamentable at times.