Bhutan

Kingdom of Bhutan has been talked about in Japan last a couple of years.

Bhutan is a small country with population of about 700,000 and is not "materially" wealthy with General Domestic Product ("GDP") per person of about US$5,300.

King of Bhutan

City in Bhutan

When we view this country with a different measure, which is Gross Domestic Happiness or GDH, the story is totally changed.

Bhutan has been trying to increase the GDH, and currently more than 95% (!) of its people are feeling happy.

Bhutanese

I think it is difficult to measure the amount of happiness and compare it among peoples, however, it is still amazing that almost all of people in the nation are feeling happy.

This is not easy for people in a developed country like Japan to understand how people in such  not wealthy situation can feel happy, and it's a reason why Japan has been paying a great attention to this small country.

Japanese believed after World War II that becoming materially wealthy would lead them to happiness and worked so hard.

Busy Japanese

Such a hard work was rewarded, and Japan became the second largest economic power in the world following the U.S. (recently became third by being passed by China).

The amount of income of Japanese people also increased; however, the prices also dramatically went up, and most Japanese couldn't feel being rich.

Many Japanese had been feeling that hard working by sacrificing their private times and their material oriented mind did not necessarily bring happiness to them.

Japanese were sensing more mental things should have been respected for better lives but could not see models for their thought.

Then Bhutan' GNH matter came to Japanese people's attention and has been helping Japanese think about happiness.

I don't think it right to completely switch our mind from material oriented to mental oriented and think the best mix of the two should be sought.

Bhutanese way to value happiness should help Japanese find the direction.

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