Depression In Japan

Understanding Culture through the Use of Text

Culture: A seven-lettered word with a much larger and abysmal meaning. But how exactly does one define culture? Is it the religious beliefs that carry over from tradition to tradition? Or how about the roots and upbringings that define who you are, unique to each and every individual? Everybody has some sort of different definition of culture, and we were exposed to that in the reading by Ethan Watters. “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan”, a vivid and engaging text, presents us with a new idea of culture. Watters shows readers that culture is not only this idea that is embodied in our minds, but it is more of what we are able to make of it. The author states, “One culture can reshape how a population in another culture categorizes a given set of symptoms…” (Watters, 519). This proves to us how easy it was for the Japanese values and beliefs to be altered to the likings of an invasive unit. Based on the reading, I define culture as this living and breathing entity that grows as we grow, and is subject to change as we move along the journey of life.

As Watters showed in “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan”, the Japanese concept of depression was “irregular” and needed to be replaced, or so felt by a certain group of people. When analyzing the market for anti-depressant drugs,

pharmaceutical powerhouse Glaxosmith Kline viewed Japan as this untapped treasure waiting to be claimed. Many readings, movies, and other forms of literature, provide us with this flawless theme that Western concepts and ideas are more indomitable than those of any other culture. This recurring theme was present in Watters’ text as well. The author mentions, “Indeed, around the world, it is the Western concept of depression, in particular the American version of the disease, that is the most culturally distinctive” (Watters, 518). Glaxosmith Kline knew that Japanese culture had different connotations to the word ‘depression’, but felt that if they had the right team assembled, they would be able to change them and potentially reap in a huge amount of benefits.
In an effort to sell anti-depressant pills, Glaxosmith Kline found themselves trying to market the “disease” of depression itself, hence the title of the essay. “It certainly wasn’t that the Japanese eschewed Western drugs… It was said that Japanese patients felt undeserved if they didn’t come away from a doctor’s visit with at least a couple of prescriptions” (Watters, 515). They were well aware of the fact that culture changes over long periods of time, and were prepared to take advantage of it. Through the effective use of scientific and psychological exports, such as Dr. Kirmayer, Glaxosmith Kline was able to create a huge market and cash in big time.
As seen throughout the text, culture is malleable to a very large extent. Ethan Watters says, “… cultural beliefs about depression and the self are malleable and responsive to messages that can be exported from one culture to another” (Watters, 519). A few great ideas backed by a potent argument worked wonders for a company who was considered borderline greedy. The Western concepts of depression were drastically different to those of the Japanese in each and every aspect. “The word associations suggested that Americans experience the self as isolated within the individual mind. The Japanese, on the other hand, conceive of a self that is less individuated and more interconnected and dependent on social and environmental contexts: (Watters, 522). Simply put, when Americans think of depression, we think of it as this individual conflict which society cannot relate to. On the other hand, the Japanese have a more different explanation. They relate depression to the issues concerning society. This ties back to my definition of culture because when the Americans realized that the Japanese felt so lightly for the term depression, they felt the obligation to change that and earn money by doing so at the same time.
The process of mega-marketing depended on cultural change to a great extent. As discussed before, the Japanese culture was at a vulnerable stage. Glaxosmith Kline, and its clever team, orchestrated a perfect credence in relation to making the population believe that the anti-depressant pills were actually beneficial. Through the use of conniving tactics, such as “patient advocacy groups that were actually created by the drug companies themselves” (Watters, 525), and the perfect timing of the discovery that “Crown Princess Masako suffered from depression” (Watters, 526), the mega-marketing plan was a success and the pharmaceutical giant was a beneficiary once again.
The ideology that culture is not only this belief, but more of a growing and changing entity helps to analyze how it shapes our experiences. Right off the bat, we can answer that culture shapes our experiences to an extent that we may not even realize. The choices and actions we take may not directly affect us, but they can affect someone in another part of the world. Let’s take illness as an example. The Western ideology of depression is that this is a disease that is very common in society, and must be treated the proper way with drugs. Simply put, it is the process that cleans out our pockets in the quickest way possible. We have grown up in this culture, and have become accustomed to its ways. The “American” way of expressing something like depression is to treat it very seriously, and not brush it off as something minor.
On the other hand, the Japanese culture shapes their experiences in different ways. Their approach to treating something like depression is more laid-back since they do not regard it as a serious issue. Ethan Watters mentions, “The people’s attitude toward depression was very negative… that made it unlikely that a significant number of people in Japan would want to take a drug associated with the disease” (Watters, 515). Instead of using drugs to treat depression, the Japanese culture resolved to more external relief methods. For example, “…they often seek relief exclusively from family members or community elders or local spiritual leaders. The idea of seeking help from a doctor or mental health professional outside of one’s social circle has traditionally made little sense.” In a nutshell, this resembles the Japanese definition of depression. As stated before, they connect this disease with issues that are more external, rather than the internal connection in the Western culture. With a culture so deep, like so, it can be hard to alter their values. However, it was certainly not impossible.
The recurring theme of Western Superiority pertains to how greatly cultures shape our experiences. Ethan Watters shows us that Glaxosmith Kline portrays this attitude on Japan that the American ways are greater than those of any other culture, specifically Japan in this case. Their intervention in Japan’s culture was already considered a huge “slap in the face”. From the get go, the pharmaceutical company entered with a superior attitude. “After the Kobe earthquake in Japan there was growing consensus in the country that the West, and the United States in particular, had a deeper scientific understanding of pathological emotional states such as PTSD and depression” (Watters, 527). This was the spark to enter the Japanese market in the first place. The American culture, being as dominant and superior as it is, felt the need to “relay” this useful information to the rest of the world, and earn capital by doing so. “We were the most “evolved” culture and, as one executive said to Applbaum, their job was to “speed the evolution along,” that is, to move other countries along the path to be like us” (Watters, 528).
The United States of America, specifically Glaxosmith Kline, wanted to convey to Japan that they were ahead of them. A sense of progress factored in to their actions. Progress is useful to companies when they are targeting, as Glaxosmith Kline did to the Japanese market for anti-depressant pills. All societies go through an evolution throughout time periods, and they felt it necessary to show that their culture had changed for the better, faster than anyone else’s.
In order to effectively look at how greatly culture shapes our experiences, we must be able to analyze how culture itself is structured. Being as malleable and changeable as it is, we are aware that it goes through changes. Not always, though, are these changes from outside. Culture can be shaped directly, as we saw Glaxosmith Kline do, and from within itself (indirectly). Members of the Japanese society were susceptible to the ways of the Western ideas. By actually being vulnerable and believing that the use of anti-depressant pills would cure depression, the Japanese had an unknown, indirect variation in their culture.
Through “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan,” the readers learned that Ethan Watters valued culture.

He was unhappy with the ways of Glaxosmith Kline, and other pharmaceutical companies that represented the Western concepts. For example, he states “Westerners may have lose their sense of moral authority in many areas of human endeavor, but we can still get our blood up defending our science” (Watters, 528). He mentions this around the time he decides to show that the anti-depressant pills were essentially a scam. Drugs like Paxil, never actually helped balance the SSRIs in patients, which was what they were advertised to

do.
Culture, this malleable yet growing entity, is a central part of who we are. When altered, our experiences can be greatly affected as well. Watters shows us in “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan,” how Glaxosmith Kline, through the use of sly tactics, was able to successfully implement Western strategies into Japan, and dominate the pill market.