Japanese Traditional Vocational Ethics: Relevance and Meaning for the ICT-dependent Society

Abstract

Although Japan is a global leader in the development and usage of information and communication technology (ICT) and ICT-based information systems, issues regarding information ethics have not been appropriately addressed. Traditional ethical thinking and discourse have declined because the Japanese have, in the process of developing a capitalist democracy, lost sight of their core vocational ethical values, which were developed during the Tokugawa Era. Restoration of these values as the basis of ethical thinking and discourse, as well as the recognition of their limitations, is necessary for the Japanese to appropriately address ethical issues concerning ICT, many of which have a multicultural aspect.