但凡出国留学的人，一般要在出国前看看目的地国文化方面的书，以便了解其风土人情。

    去日本留学的人大概也会看看《菊与刀》吧？

    美国著名文化人类学家鲁思·本尼迪克特（Ruth Benedict）在1946年写的《菊与刀》（The Chrysanthemum and the Sword），是刻画日本人民族性格的经典之作。书名以“菊”（日本皇室家徽）象征恬淡静美，以“刀”（武士刀）象征武士道的凶狠决绝。该书对日本人性格（或文化）的双重性和矛盾性进行了揭示，对日本人的行为习惯进行了描述。

    现在已经离本尼迪克特写作《菊与刀》的年代过了60多年，我想知道日本人改变了多少呢？

    作者认为日本人性格（或文化）的双重性和矛盾性来源于对儿童的养育方式：

The contradictions which all Westerners have described in Japanese character are intelligible from their child rearing. It produces a duality in their outlook on life, neither side of which can be ignored.

The contradictions in Japanese male behavior which are so conspicuous to Westerners are made possible by the discontinuity of their upbringing, which leaves in their consciousness, even after all the “lacquering” they undergo, the deep imprint of a time when they were like little gods in their little world, when they were free to gratify even their aggressions, and when all satisfactions seemed possible.

The dualism in their characters creats tensions to which different Japanese respond in different ways, though each is making his own solution of the same essential problem of reconciling the spontaneity and acceptance he experienced in early childhood with the restraints which promise security in later life.