Sometimes we need a new way of thinking to unlock thoughts. Here are some ideas from Japan…

Honne & Tatemae

Honne represents our true feelings and desires. In Japanese culture they can be suppressed in favour of Tatemae, how you should display yourself in public. Japanese culture delivers us oppositional ideas, but if we add in the Western idea of ‘Social Proof’ (developing our ideas based on what others like us think), we have an interesting model of social influence to play around with…

Maybe qualitative researchers could explore ‘Honne & Tatemae’ in research – what are your true feelings and desires – what is the response that someone like you should have…

Wabi-sabi

Meaning transience and imperfection. Something with Wabi-sabi delivers ‘serene melancholy’. There’s an aspiration for a beauty brand to aim at… Wabi-sabi is an aesthetic notion – it is about achieving a simpler life without words and language

The five elements: Chi, Sui, Ka, Fu and Ku

A way of seeing ourselves and our place in the universe.

Chi is represented by stone, or foundations, physically it manifests as bones, our skeletal structure, or the earth’s core

Sui is represented by water. It is the element of adaptation and change, of flexibility. Our circulation comprises the body’s sui

Ka is fire. It is the energy, the power to create, the body’s metabolism

Fu is wind, the freedom of movement, of ideas and creativity

Ku is the void, sky, heaven and openness

Maybe these ideas can help to unlock us?