Health promotion through rediscovery of one’s sensibilities of health: the Lifemap and WIFY Methods

Abstract

Japanese people place a high priority on maintaining social harmony and conforming with what we perceive to be mainstream thought and opinion. These social norms present challenges for developing health promotion policies and programs that value individual uniqueness and individual sensibilities about health. To address this challenge, over the past 20 years the author has developed two ‘write-and-share’ methods — Life-map and WIFY (What Is Important For you) to allow participants to reflect and rediscover their own and one another’s feelings about daily life and health. This article summarizes his experiences using these methods and discusses their possible usefulness in other Asian societies. (Global Health Promotion, 2010; 17(2): pp. 44—47)

Keywords

Japanese culture individual uniqueness sensibilities

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Davies RJ , Ikeno O. The Japanese mind. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing; 2002.

Benedict R. The chrysanthemum and the sword. Cleveland: Meridian Books; 1967.

Moriyama M. Health promotion and education can be a more dynamic issue in Japanese local settings. Korean J Health Educ Promot. 2001 ; 3(1): 9-20.

WHO. Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion . Geneva: World Health Organization ; 1986.

Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Healthy Japan 21, Health Promotion and Fitness Foundation. Tokyo: Japan; 2000.

Nishiyama M. Edo culture: daily life and diversions in urban Japan, 1600-1868. Honolulu: Univ of Hawaii Press; 1997.

Shores MW Travel and Tabibanashi in the early modern period: forming Japanese geographic identity. Asian Theatre J. 2008 ; 25(1): 101-21.

Yoneyama K. Introduction and diffusion of brain-storming in Japan. Econ J of Hokkaido Univ. 2007; 36: 97-116.

Kawakida J. KJ-method, let chaos to take form. Tokyo: Chuo-Kouronsha; 1986.

10.

Moriyama M. , Harnisch DL Use of visual symbols to promote communication between health care providers and receivers [Online]. Paper presented at AERA ; April, 1992. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10069/22064

11.

Moriyama M. , Suwa T. , Kabuto M. , Fukushima T. Participatory assessment of the environment from children’s viewpoints: development of a method and its trial. Tohoku J Exp Med. 2001; 193(2): 141-51.

12.

Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Instructional materials in action, psychological health and lifestyle . Tokyo: JMEXT; 2003.

13.

Nam EW , Jo EJ , Park JS , Moriyama M. Assessment of the health promotion education effectiveness through K-Wify model. J of Korean Soc for Health Educ Promot. 2005; 22(2): 63-75.

14.

Moriyama M. WIFY, a participatory way of knowing the diversification of our living world . Fukuoka University Department of Public Health; 2002.

15.

Paknawin-Mock J. Thai views of wellness: Sabaay, smoking and Buddhist health promotion. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley; 2000.