- 14 Mar 2002
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On January 1st, Daily Yomiuri published an article by Toshiyuki Sawaguchi, who works at the Laboratory of Neurobiology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, and who claims that the recent wave of crimes among youth is related to "brain damages" caused by westernization. Please read the article below:
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Young people suffer from immature frontal lobe
Toshiyuki Sawaguchi Special to The Daily Yomiuri
This may seem extreme, but I fear that many young people today are mentally dysfunctional and unless measures are taken immediately, this country will be confronted with a serious situation this century.
Of course, people throughout history have expressed anxiety about younger generations. Even papyruses, one of the world's oldest writing materials, are said to have included complaints about "people these days."
However, what is happening in this country today appears to be totally different from what took place in the past. This phenomenon can be put down to the mental dysfunction present in many young people.
They seem to be completely indifferent to what other people might think of them. Oblivious to other people, they kiss on the street, change clothes at railway stations, apply makeup on trains and talk about their private lives over mobile phones. And in class, they unconcernedly munch on bread and answer mobile phones.
If they were aware that such actions were shameful in the eyes of others, the problem would not be so serious. However, reality is different--they cannot care what others think about their behavior. This definitely can be put down to mental dysfunction.
The frontal lobe, situated behind the forehead, is the most developed part of the human brain. Those who suffer from disorders of this part of the brain exhibit the same symptoms as young people today--they do not care what other people think of them. These people ignore the situations or people around them. For instance, they suddenly become upset in quiet gatherings, making obscene remarks about women walking along the street, or acting disgracefully in a crowd.
They are apparently suffering from a functional disorder of the frontal lobe. If this is so, they must exhibit other symptoms, such as an inability to understand other people's feelings or restrain their passions, or they are unable to determine what their goal is in life or make efforts to achieve anything. This is because the frontal lobe plays a central role in controlling this behavior.
When we examine this from various aspects, it is obvious that the problem is deep-rooted and serious. If young people are unable to understand other people's feelings or cannot restrain their passions, it is apparent that sooner or later they will turn to crime.
The recent series of heinous crimes committed by young people, including stalking, seem to represent such problematic behavior. It is all right if they restrict themselves to applying makeup on trains, but their mental dysfunction might lead them to commit atrocious crimes on the spur of the moment.
Violence at school and home as well as school bullying are typical symptoms. Even if a person does not cause any problem, other symptoms may make themselves manifest--an inability to determine one's goal or a tendency to seek pleasure for the moment, as well as a lethargic indifference to make an effort.
What has caused these problems? Not all young people are mentally dysfunctional. Environment and education also play a strong role in causing functional disorders in children.
The brain has the ability to handle languages, both evolutionarily and genetically. But if one is reared in a particular environment up to the age of about 10, language functions can be impeded seriously. Various functions in the frontal lobe--although manipulated genetically--will deteriorate according to education and environment in childhood.
The large number of strange young people today can be attributed to failures in environment and education in the childhood. The Japanese need an environment to rear their children in a traditional way, but most traditions have been lost over the years.
Racially, the Japanese are Mongoloid and the development of a Mongoloid's brain is slow. From the anthropological viewpoint, Mongoloid children should be raised slowly and carefully in large families and be exposed to complex social relationships. This kind of environment is essential in raising Japanese children to ensure that their frontal lobe develops properly. Most people used to raise children in this manner.
After World War II, however, Japanese society became extremely Westernized and large families have become rare in this country. In the Western-style houses prevalent in Japan, children spend much of their time in their own rooms and the number of children has declined. The biggest problem is that mothers and children have become too closely bound during the child-rearing phase.
This ensured that the frontal lobe would not develop properly, so people grew physically but with the frontal lobe remaining in an immature state. Another problem is the change in dietary habits. Though traditional Japanese food, based on fish and rice, was most suited for the brains of the Japanese, dietary habits have become Westernized over the years.
Immediate measures should be taken to remedy the situation or there will be no hope for Japan in the 21st century. How then should we address this problem?
Both Westernization and the decline in the birthrate are trends of the times. It will not be easy to revive traditional child-rearing practices. It is important to take measures at the national level, but recent government policies have failed to target the right problems and there has been no immediate effect.
What we can expect are activities organized at the local community level. Why not establish some kind of school to "coach" children and help them develop their frontal lobe by making use of existing private classes and sports clubs in local communities? With determination and effort by parents and other adults, it should be possible to establish such schools. I will not go into detail about such a concept but it should not be too difficult to carry out.
Let's establish "schools to nurture the frontal lobe"--I offer this proposal to make the 21st century bright for Japan.
Copyright by Daily Yomiuri
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And you believed Darwinism is dead. Wild, isn't it? :eek2:
See Mr. Sawaguchi's homepage below (in Japanese and English):
http://www.med.hokudai.ac.jp/~neubio-w/
==================================================
Young people suffer from immature frontal lobe
Toshiyuki Sawaguchi Special to The Daily Yomiuri
This may seem extreme, but I fear that many young people today are mentally dysfunctional and unless measures are taken immediately, this country will be confronted with a serious situation this century.
Of course, people throughout history have expressed anxiety about younger generations. Even papyruses, one of the world's oldest writing materials, are said to have included complaints about "people these days."
However, what is happening in this country today appears to be totally different from what took place in the past. This phenomenon can be put down to the mental dysfunction present in many young people.
They seem to be completely indifferent to what other people might think of them. Oblivious to other people, they kiss on the street, change clothes at railway stations, apply makeup on trains and talk about their private lives over mobile phones. And in class, they unconcernedly munch on bread and answer mobile phones.
If they were aware that such actions were shameful in the eyes of others, the problem would not be so serious. However, reality is different--they cannot care what others think about their behavior. This definitely can be put down to mental dysfunction.
The frontal lobe, situated behind the forehead, is the most developed part of the human brain. Those who suffer from disorders of this part of the brain exhibit the same symptoms as young people today--they do not care what other people think of them. These people ignore the situations or people around them. For instance, they suddenly become upset in quiet gatherings, making obscene remarks about women walking along the street, or acting disgracefully in a crowd.
They are apparently suffering from a functional disorder of the frontal lobe. If this is so, they must exhibit other symptoms, such as an inability to understand other people's feelings or restrain their passions, or they are unable to determine what their goal is in life or make efforts to achieve anything. This is because the frontal lobe plays a central role in controlling this behavior.
When we examine this from various aspects, it is obvious that the problem is deep-rooted and serious. If young people are unable to understand other people's feelings or cannot restrain their passions, it is apparent that sooner or later they will turn to crime.
The recent series of heinous crimes committed by young people, including stalking, seem to represent such problematic behavior. It is all right if they restrict themselves to applying makeup on trains, but their mental dysfunction might lead them to commit atrocious crimes on the spur of the moment.
Violence at school and home as well as school bullying are typical symptoms. Even if a person does not cause any problem, other symptoms may make themselves manifest--an inability to determine one's goal or a tendency to seek pleasure for the moment, as well as a lethargic indifference to make an effort.
What has caused these problems? Not all young people are mentally dysfunctional. Environment and education also play a strong role in causing functional disorders in children.
The brain has the ability to handle languages, both evolutionarily and genetically. But if one is reared in a particular environment up to the age of about 10, language functions can be impeded seriously. Various functions in the frontal lobe--although manipulated genetically--will deteriorate according to education and environment in childhood.
The large number of strange young people today can be attributed to failures in environment and education in the childhood. The Japanese need an environment to rear their children in a traditional way, but most traditions have been lost over the years.
Racially, the Japanese are Mongoloid and the development of a Mongoloid's brain is slow. From the anthropological viewpoint, Mongoloid children should be raised slowly and carefully in large families and be exposed to complex social relationships. This kind of environment is essential in raising Japanese children to ensure that their frontal lobe develops properly. Most people used to raise children in this manner.
After World War II, however, Japanese society became extremely Westernized and large families have become rare in this country. In the Western-style houses prevalent in Japan, children spend much of their time in their own rooms and the number of children has declined. The biggest problem is that mothers and children have become too closely bound during the child-rearing phase.
This ensured that the frontal lobe would not develop properly, so people grew physically but with the frontal lobe remaining in an immature state. Another problem is the change in dietary habits. Though traditional Japanese food, based on fish and rice, was most suited for the brains of the Japanese, dietary habits have become Westernized over the years.
Immediate measures should be taken to remedy the situation or there will be no hope for Japan in the 21st century. How then should we address this problem?
Both Westernization and the decline in the birthrate are trends of the times. It will not be easy to revive traditional child-rearing practices. It is important to take measures at the national level, but recent government policies have failed to target the right problems and there has been no immediate effect.
What we can expect are activities organized at the local community level. Why not establish some kind of school to "coach" children and help them develop their frontal lobe by making use of existing private classes and sports clubs in local communities? With determination and effort by parents and other adults, it should be possible to establish such schools. I will not go into detail about such a concept but it should not be too difficult to carry out.
Let's establish "schools to nurture the frontal lobe"--I offer this proposal to make the 21st century bright for Japan.
Copyright by Daily Yomiuri
==================================================
And you believed Darwinism is dead. Wild, isn't it? :eek2:
See Mr. Sawaguchi's homepage below (in Japanese and English):
http://www.med.hokudai.ac.jp/~neubio-w/
