is a physician and a
Japanese author
This is an alphabetical list of writers who are Japanese, or are famous for having written in the Japanese language.
Writers are listed by the native order of Japanese names, family name followed by given name to ensure consistency although some ...
, most known for his ideas regarding the "Japanese
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
".
Theory
According to Tsunoda's theory, the Japanese people use their brains in a unique way, different from "western" brains. The Japanese brain, argues Tsunoda, hears or processes music using the left
hemisphere
Hemisphere refers to:
* A half of a sphere
As half of the Earth
* A hemisphere of Earth
** Northern Hemisphere
** Southern Hemisphere
** Eastern Hemisphere
** Western Hemisphere
** Land and water hemispheres
* A half of the (geocentric) celes ...
, where western brains use the opposite or right hemisphere to process music. Tsunoda further argues that brains use languages as operating systems, thus the user "giving meaning to vowels." Tsunoda has had one essay, "An approach to an integrated sensorimotor system in the human central brain and a subconscious computer", included in a prestigious British publication, ''Sociocultural Studies of Mind'' (1995), edited by
James V. Wertsch, Pablo del Rio, and Amelia Alvarez.
Criticism
Journalist
Karel van Wolferen
Karel van Wolferen (born 1941) is a Dutch journalist, writer and professor, who is particularly recognised for his knowledge of Japanese politics, economics, history and culture.
Career as journalist, writer and academic
After finishing high sch ...
has written of Tsunoda that "his testing methods are highly suspect. My impression, based on an account by one of his foreign guinea-pigs, is that
auto-suggestion plays an important role. Yet his books sell well in Japan, and his views have been officially credited to the extent of being introduced abroad by the semi-governmental
Japan Foundation
The was established in 1972 by an Act of the National Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an Independent Administrative Institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry o ...
".
[Wolferen, p. 265.]
See also
*
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
*''
Nihonjinron
is a genre of texts that focus on issues of Japanese national and cultural identity.
The concept became popular after World War II, with books and articles aiming to analyze, explain, or explore peculiarities of Japanese culture and mentality, u ...
''
*
Essentialism
Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to their identity. In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held that all things have such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In ''Categories'', Aristotle sim ...
Notes
Japanese writers
Neuropsychologists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
{{Japan-writer-stub