The Japanese dilemmas of modernity: Negative ideology or neopositive ideology?

Japan's postwar economic “miracle” has attracted much attention. The question is whether the miracle arises from the “unique” and enigmatic nature of the Japanese culture. This paper presents Weber's views of modernity and Habermas's reconstruction of Weber's negative view of modernity. Then the paper turns to Habermas's theory of communicative action, especially, his two-level concept of society integrating the lifeworld and system, and his critical theory of modernity, which analyzes and accounts for its sociopathologies. Then the paper proceeds to argue that Japan's modernity was born, not out of disenchantment, but out of reenchantment, with the concimitant consequence in neopositive ideologies through which the system colonized the lifeworld, leading to imprisonment in a “soft” iron cage.