IADP commemorates the 25th anniversary in 2019. The year 2020 marks 25 years since the Kobe Earthquake. Does Kobe remain vibrant after “Ganbaro 〔Hang Tough〕 Kobe”?

According to Freud, love and work are the cornerstones of our life. However, without realizing it, Japanese tend to get devoted to work and distance ourselves from love, life, and joy of the moment. Are love and work “the two ultimate choices”?
No.
It might be true from a macro perspective.
However, one can take a different approach from the micro perspective, that of quantum mechanics which is increasingly being used in some areas of psychotherapy and psychological support.
Either are possible at the moment of opening a lid.
Two drives (unconscious impulse), that is, life and death related to these “things” cannot be measured correctly at the same time.
However, they are not opposed to each other but rather mutually complementing, and give a full picture of life.
When suffering from ego autonomy failure that hampers one’s decision making, people become betwixt and between.
However, by asking each other either-or questions afresh, we can orient at each moment, likewise pick a choice to love, and learn to come and go between the two on one’s own initiative by considering that both are OK.

In the West, since modern times, mechanical Newtonian reasoning has developed into quantum mechanics that identified fluctuations.
Humankind was placed in contraposition to nature.
While people sought what the individual ego should be, various methods of psychotherapy have become widespread.
Whereas in the East, a philosophy leading to quantum theory had developed before the modern period.
In particular, Japanese regarded humankind and nature as one and cherished a culture of enjoying miniature gardens similar to sandplay therapy.
It may be that we regarded life and death as being linked by fate, and managed to go through the fluctuations by expanding the self through the community.

However, the wave of globalization intensified in the modern period and further gained force in the contemporary world, shaking boundaries between the East and West.
Along with the growing popularity of the Internet, we are even forced to change the personal sense of time.
Amid this rapidly changing world, anyone could easily lose sight of one’s position, mental time and space.

Under these circumstances, in Japan, traditional communities have been lost and the self tends to get dispersed.
One often gets caught up in straight-lined reasoning that limits the self.
People defer decision making by reading the situation,withdraw from society while being unable to break away from the once-defined traditional world view of “what one should be” such as “women stay at home and men in the office,” or “one should devote oneself to family and work for the sake of living.”

As a result, individuals become isolated and unable to work in times of family or organizational crises.
This creates a flow of overlooking disasters, bullying, or trauma suffered by family and ethnic groups.
Or else, one gets caught up in the macro dichotomy between whether or not he or she has developmental disability because that individual does not have time and space to develop, thus inviting a situation where one cannot identify micro particles for the individual to develop.
This way, the possible get washed away by the waves of the impossible.

Then, why not put the ego and micro quantum mechanics in perspective?
Why not consider that fathers exist in Japan which was once regarded as a maternal society and there exists Oedipus (a triangular relationship with the father and the mother)?

Making the impossible possible.
It is the fluctuation and choice of “this moment” that can lead the way to progress through the straight-lined world, which is the work that only specialists can do to identify micro-changes in mentality.
To polish one’s shine to offer fuller support as a specialist, let’s keep mutual interactions between the ego and the self in mind and go beyond the dichotomy between the East and West based on exchanges of affection and cooperation between men and women.

Now let’s get together.
Let’s overcome the waves of impossibilities together with professionals engaged in mental support in various ways in fields of psychology, education, medical health, nursing, welfare… and a group of students who aspire to be one of them.
Let’s start by connecting with each other at this academic conference and enjoy a mosaic feast where everyone can experience micro changes in different ways.
Let’s make a leap forward through space and time. Put death in perspective.
But even so, let’s make Kobe, Japan, and the world a more vibrant place.

On top of Japanese diligence, the Kansai region has a culture that makes people “silly” for the moment, and lively.
IADP has arrived in the Kansai region for the first time.
Let’s get started now from this unique place in its own way.
We will be waiting for you to join our “festival” in this port city.

Tomoyuki Nagayama, Ph.D.
26th Annual Congress Chair