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world. The seas that once cut it off now bind it effectively to all regions. The great distances that once lay
between it and all other countries have now shrunk to insignificance. Military destruction can be projected
210 across the oceans in a matter of minutes. Floods of words and visual images are transmitted instantaneously
throughout the world. A person can be in both Tokyo and New York on the same calendar day. With the
coming ofgiant tankers and container vessels, the costs of oceanic transportation have plummeted as
215 compared to land transport. Mountain ranges, deserts, tropical jungles, and arctic tundra can still be serious
barriers to commerce, and man-made barriers can be even greater, but oceans are now the cement that bind
220 the world together economically. It is for these reasons that, in drawing my population and GNP maps, I
largely eliminated the oceans and seas, leaving only enough of them to help demarcate the various
countries and continental land masses, and I placed Japan, not on the periphery as it seemed to be in the
225 past, but in the center, a spot to which it is as much entitled as any nation because of its massive
involvement in worldwide trade.
(16) The shift from almost complete isolation little more than a century ago to complete involvement
today has, in historical terms, been sudden. The impact of outside economic and military power as well as
230 of culture and ideas was once cushioned by what were then great intervening distances and also by firm
man-made barriers. The psychological effects of isolation still linger on among the Japanese themselves
and perhaps in the attitudes of other peoples toward them. Linguistically the Japanese remain quite
235 separate, having a most unusual and difficult writing system and a very distinctive language. But the
original geographic isolation and the self-imposed isolation of more recent times exist no more.
(17) This has been a huge and upsetting change for the Japanese. Attitudes and skills once suitable to
240 their position in the world do not serve them as well today. The adjustment to the new conditions has not
been an easy one to make. There is a grave uncertainty in Japanese minds about their position in the world
and even about their very identity. What does it mean to be Japanese today and what should Japan's role be
245 in the contemporary world? These are questions the Japanese frequently ask themselves, and I shall return
to them in the final section of this book.
THE USE AND ABUSE OF DRUGS
INTRODUCTION
1.
Few people would deny that drug abuse (including alcoholism) is one of the most serious problems
we face today. Drug abuse itself is unquestionably a symptom of deeper psychological causes.
5
Unfortunately, at the present state of our knowledge, we are better able to describe the effects of drugs on
behavior than to specify the underlying causes of drug abuse.
2.
Some drugs are particularly worrisome because their continued use leads to addiction. For example,
10
chronic heroin abusers find that continued use leads to increased tolerance. Their bodies not only can stand
(tolerate) more of the drug, but actually require greater and greater dosages to achieve the same effect.
Before long, they develop a physiological dependence on the drug, this state of physiological dependence
15
is called addiction. Should they try to «kick the habit», their bodies will react violently.
3.
Addiction should be distinguished from habituation, which is psychological, rather than
physiological, dependence. Withdrawal from habituation is more likely to be accompanied by emotional
20
rather than physical distress. A person trying to give up cigarettes, for example, is often nervous, tense, and
irritable; the physiological symptoms he or she may have are usually minor.
4.
The chemical nature of a drug determines whether continued abuse will lead to addiction or
25
habituation. Drugs such as heroin, morphine, codein, and the barbiturates are addicting. Habituating drugs
include marijuana, cocaine, and the amphetamines. On the following pages, we present facts about some of
the more commonly used drugs.
I.
MARIJUANA
30 A. Does marijuana Damage the Brain?
5.
The possibility that marijuana use may be hazardous has produced a remarkable polarization among
scientists. Those who say that marijuana poses no special hazards espouse their convictions with an
35
evangelistic zeal that borders on fanaticism. Those who think there are hazards argue their case with only