Who Killed Japanese Culture?
By Robert Fiddaman Dip.Couns MOC & MSFTR I’ve just finished reading a fascinating article from 2004. It was written by Kathryn Schulz and featured in the New York Times. Kathryn describes in great detail how pharmaceutical companies targeted Japanese citizens with an angle based on their cultural beliefs rather than science. Largely before 1999 Japanese citizens were, it seems, oblivious to the world of antidepressants, depression was rarely discussed, due, in part, to the cultural belief system. Around 1999 pharmaceutical companies and their genius marketing teams used a ploy that only they could get away with. An all out attack that defies belief [at least it would have once, until I started writing about pharma] “Your soul has a cold” [Kokoro no Kaze] was the catchy terminology pharmaceutical companies used to warn Japanese citizens that mild depression can be cured by prescription drugs. For years the Japanese people showed great courtesy [they still do to this day] by wearing surg
