One of the startling things about Japanese society is the absence of visible anger. Whenever I mention it, Americans tell me that Japanese anger must be repressed and leaks out in other ways. Few of these Americans give due credit for their psychological certainty to Sigmund Freud.
In nearly thirty-five years of annual visits to Japan I have only seen one case of public anger.
If repression was the mechanism then let me pose a question.
Women in America are much more restrained in the expression of anger than men. Does that mean the women, as a group, are leaking their anger?
Is it time to reexamine the theory of repression?