Transnational Ecstasy and Japanese Ganbarism: Cultural Patterns in the Pedagogy of Outward Bound Japan

Contemporary cross-cultural happiness research commonly defines the concept of culture in regard to nation states. This paper takes up anthropological criticisms of this traditional culture concept arguing that the view on national cultures needs to be complemented by a view on transnational cultural movements. These theoretical reflections are applied to a qualitative case study that examines the transnational “Outward Bound Schools” in Japan and Germany. Based on document reviews, interviews, and observations two cultural patterns in Outward Bound Japan are reconstructed. The first one refers to an emphasis on ecstatic happiness. As this emphasis is found in Outward Bound Japan as well as in Outward Bound Germany it is analyzed as a transnational cultural pattern. The second pattern refers to an emphasis on what is often called “ganbarism” in Japan, i.e., the virtue of endurance. The analysis shows that this emphasis is unique in Outward Bound Japan and that it can be linked to the broader Japanese cultural context. With this empirical study the paper thus draws the attention to the complexity of cultural patterns in regard to cross-cultural happiness research.