Resilience and Human History: Yumiko Nara Tetsuya Inamura Editors

Translational Systems Sciences 23
Yumiko Nara
Tetsuya Inamura Editors
Resilience
and Human
History
Multidisciplinary Approaches and
Challenges for a Sustainable Future
Translational Systems Sciences
Volume 23
Editors-in-Chief
Kyoichi Kijima, Tokyo, Japan
Hiroshi Deguchi, Yokohama, Japan
Editorial Board
Shingo Takahashi, Tokyo, Japan
Hajime Kita, Kyoto, Japan
Toshiyuki Kaneda, Nagoya, Japan
Akira Tokuyasu, Tokyo, Japan
Koichiro Hioki, Okayama, Japan
Yuji Aruka, Hachioiji, Japan
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Jim Spohrer, San Jose, CA, USA
Wolfgang Hofkirchner, Wien, Wien
John Pourdehnad, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mike C. Jackson, Hull, UK
Gary S. Metcalf, Atlanta, GA, USA
Marja Toivonen, Helsinki, Finland
Sachihiko Harashina, Ichikawa, Japan
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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11213

Yumiko Nara • Tetsuya Inamura
Editors
Resilience and Human

History
Multidisciplinary Approaches and Challenges
for a Sustainable Future
Editors
Yumiko Nara Tetsuya Inamura
Human Life and Health Sciences Program Humanities Program
The Open University of Japan The Open University of Japan
Chiba City, Chiba, Japan Chiba City, Chiba, Japan
ISSN 2197-8832 ISSN 2197-8840 (electronic)

Translational Systems Sciences
ISBN 978-981-15-4090-5 ISBN 978-981-15-4091-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4091-2
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020

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Preface
Tetsuya Inamura, one of the editors, was born in a village located south of Mount
Fuji in 1950. His neighbors were mainly farmers, though his father was an electric
engineer of a factory. Children used to enter into neighbor’s houses to play, freely
opened, when adults were working in farms. He holds memories of accidents such as
falling into holes that held manure, playing in the fields or courtyards of farmer’s
houses. He used to catch rides in carts drawn by a horse or an ox to go to school.
He childhood memories of the naked light bulb, always shining the family dining
table. He used to pump water of a well that was on the earth floor of his house and cut
woods to heat the kitchen oven and the bathtub. Soon, televisions took radios and
other electric products in the everyday life.
He forgot time reading stories of robots in boys’ magazines of Manga (cartoon),
but he never imagined that the future world drawn in those stories would become a
reality.
After such an upbringing, he followed into university and studied cultural
anthropology. He experienced a lifestyle a little earlier than his childhood era, in
the Andes, the Himalayas, Mongolia, etc. Regardless of the reality in which he
himself was becoming accustomed to modern convenience, gradually Inamura
began to become concerned about the risks and the stress caused by the rapidly
developing Japanese society.
He deeply recognized the human features of the natural disasters after he visited
Peru, where the earthquake and tsunami occurred in 2007, and also Sichuan Prov-
ince, China, where the big earthquake happened in 2008, for aid activities. Then in
2011, the earthquake, tsunami, and accident in atomic power generation occurred in
Japan.
Since 2011, the word “resilience” in connection with natural disaster became
frequently used. He participated on the foundation of “Cooperative Center for
Resilience Research,” established in the National University of Mongolia, with
Suzuki Yasuhiro (specialist of earthquake, professor of Nagoya University) and
Shoko Ishii (researcher of Nagoya University), both writers of this book. We started
the research program of JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) called
“Disaster Awareness Enlightenment Project for Large-Scale Natural Disasters
v
vi Preface
Caused by Global Environmental Change in Khovd Aimag (Province), Mongolia,”

on October 2017. Yumiko Nara (the other editor) also joined the program.
Yumiko Nara was born at the old capital Nara, one generation later than Inamura,
and grew up in the environment surrounded by traditional culture such as old
temples and shrines. During her childhood, she felt that the lifestyle was becoming
more and more convenient along with the GDP growth of Japan. She accepted the
convenience and richness, unaware of her short-sided belief that they would endure
infinitely.
She got a job at a bank after graduation and began to wonder about the meaning of
the real richness of life and society and the meaning of development. This lead to her
interest in the concept of risk and took a postgraduate course to study risk manage-
ment. The bubble burst in Japan followed soon after.
In 1995, the earthquake in Kobe City occurred. She studied a doctorate course,
participated in the research at disaster areas, and witnessed the facts that the peaceful
everyday life could be broken in one moment and that immense time period as well
as hard efforts were necessary for reconstruction. Furthermore, she experienced the
earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, when she stayed there for a job in 2008 and
engaged in the research of the reconstruction of life for the victims. Then in March,
2011, the big disaster happened in Japan. She realized how easily the modern
lifestyle can be destroyed and how resilient humans are. In July, 2011, she stayed
in Mongolia for a few days to discuss disaster coping in the Asian Scientific
Congress. When she saw gers (tents) which were standing in the vast steppe without
resisting nature, tears began to fall, with an overwhelming emotion that this was the
utmost structure for coping disaster.
Sharing the same interest, the editors first planned to produce an educational TV
program about resilience, which led to the publication of this book. At that time, the
editors recognized the ambiguity of the concept of resilience. There were various
ways of thinking, even in the limited field, that is, the resilience related to natural
disasters, which was the main interest. Nevertheless, the editors share the idea that
resilience is the key concept to think about the future of human society. The editors
then decided to plan the “big story” to know the characteristics of the human being,
expanding time and space at their most, with the keyword “resilience,” defining
roughly as “ability to cope the adversity flexibly.” As time base, the editors date back
to the humanoid, human evolution, food production revolution, ancient civilizations,
indigenous peoples’ societies, and modern-time problems. As space base, the editors
include gene, microbiome, individual person, group (society), and the world. The
challenge is to rethink the characteristics of the human being focusing on resilience
and to construct the base for thinking the problems one confronts and the future.
The editors called upon specialists of various fields. The discussion revealed that
the object of resilience is not only disaster but also various issues. Further, these
contents of resilience vary according to the kind of objects. Also the editors
recognized that resilience means not only recovery from adversity but also avoiding
risks or change after confronting adversity and how long the process of resilience
should be considered. The concept of resilience differs according to the subject, that
Preface vii
is, individual, specific group (family, kinship group, community, company, ethnic
group, nation, etc.), and whole the humanity (or world), which is discussed in the
final chapter. Hence, various aspects could be predicted according to the complexity
of the subject and object of resilience, as can be seen in the following chapters.
Chiba City, Chiba, Japan Yumiko Nara

Tetsuya Inamura
Contents
1 Resilient Features Which Humans Inherited from Common

Ancestors with Great Apes and Strengthened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Juichi Yamagiwa
2 Using Genetics to Understanding the Evolution of Human
Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Miho Murayama
3 Individual Differences in Psychological Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Mari Hirano
4 Human Evolution and the Implication of Resilience for the Future . . . 39
Hisao Baba
5 Pastoral Nomadization in the Neolithic Near East: Review
from the Viewpoint of Social Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Sumio Fujii
6 Infectious Diseases: Conquest or Coexistence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Taro Yamamoto
7 Resilience in the Andes: Ancient Civilisation and Indigenous
Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Tetsuya Inamura
8 Resilience Among Nomads and Urban Residents in Mongolia’s
Transition to a Market Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Shoko Ishii
9 Dynamic Resilience of Ayta Community: Creative Rehabilitation
After Mt. Pinatubo’s Eruption, 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Hiromu Shimizu
ix
x Contents
10 Resilience of Life (Livelihood) and Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Yumiko Nara
11 The Essence of Resilience Against Disaster: Requirements
for Geographic Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Yasuhiro Suzuki
12 Common Features of Business Resilience in Japanese Companies . . . 185
Kazuo Ueda
13 Resilience of Earth System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Ken-ichi Abe
14 Human History and Aspects of Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Tetsuya Inamura
Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Chapter 1
Resilient Features Which Humans Inherited
from Common Ancestors with Great Apes
and Strengthened
Juichi Yamagiwa
Abstract Human beings have spread their habitat more vastly than any other
primates out of 450 species. Rainforests being their origin, how were human beings
able to widely distribute themselves to such diverse environments? The answer to
this question lies in the history of evolution – the ability to adapt to new environ-
ments by evolving the features inherited from primate ancestors. This chapter with
unveil the characteristics that human beings have inherited from the apes and analyze
the background and processes of transformation. What must be highlighted is the
development of human beings’ sympathetic emotion and the formation of a multi-
layered society of family and community, an evolution of across 7 million years.
This is how the biological basis of human resilience becomes to be understood.
1.1 Preface
Many believe to this day that human beings were, in fact, those who traveled the
glorious path of evolution and ultimately dominating the world. However, this has
become to be proven wrong.
Originally, the ancestors of primates, to which human beings belong to, were
weak mammals from 65 million years ago that hid from predators from the sky and
the earth, in the trees of the rainforest at night, the predators on the earth being
carnivores and the predators in the sky as raptors. Arboreal life against terrestrial
carnivores and nocturnal life against diurnal raptors enable primates to prosper in the
forest.
Human ancestors began their journey around 7 million years ago and were
considered vulnerable beings. For example, the hominin feature, upright bipedal
walking, is clearly poor in running power and agility, and the hominin canines got
smaller making them less aggressive. Therefore, naturally, when human ancestors
left the forest for the savanna, they were exposed as preys to the carnivores.
J. Yamagiwa (*)
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
e-mail: yamagiwa.juichi.4m@kyoto-u.ac.jp
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

Y. Nara, T. Inamura (eds.), Resilience and Human History, Translational Systems
Sciences 23, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4091-2_1
2 J. Yamagiwa
This leads us to a question: how did human beings, generally running slower than
other primates and with such characteristics of disadvantage, deliberately go out into
the dangerous savanna?
The human brain began to grow around 2 million years ago and tripled in size
compared to that of the gorilla. The brain is an expensive organ that requires a lot of
energy. In order to maintain such a large brain, humans had to search for high-energy
foods. This also meant slowing down the body growth to give priority to the growth
of the brain. Why had the brain become so prominent to a point to make such
sacrifices?
The humans that survived in the savanna became the ones that traveled and
adapted to various places on earth. Today, the population of human beings has
expanded to a huge number of seven billion. What was the exact shift that human
beings had made? And what had driven them to make these changes?
When humans went out into a new environment that other primates had not
encountered, it was necessary to make drastic changes in their characteristics. To
study these changes in detail, let us go through the history of human evolution and
compare it with the characteristics of other primates especially the great apes, who
are closest to humans. Inheriting the characteristics of great apes and turning their
weaknesses into strengths, human beings have thus evolved building their own
unique resilience. The purpose of this chapter is to clarify this statement.
1.2 The Characteristics of Primates, Apes, and Humans
1.2.1 Heritage of the Primates
When primates began to live as nocturnal mammals in the trees in the rainforest
65 million years ago, birds began to dominate the trees by day, and bats took over by
night. Having the ability to fly, birds and bats gained advantage for better survival
compared to other primates. Evidently, both species have differentiated into more
species than primates and expanded their habitat throughout the globe.
Primates, tree canopies being their habitat, developed characteristics that differed
from birds and bats over time. Instead of flying, the body grew larger, expanding
their access to food. This food expansion went beyond fruits and insects, a staple
food of birds, to leaves and bark that can be obtained in large quantities throughout
the year.
In order to obtain such foods, they developed the ability to consume cellulose (the
main component of plant fiber) by developing teeth powerful enough to crush and
evolving to coexist with bacteria in their stomach and intestines. As a result, for the
bacteria to function, the primate spends much more time digesting food than birds.
Plants have also developed measures to deal with the situation of primates that
began to flourish in the rainforest. By the end of the Cretaceous period, also known
as the end of the dinosaur era, the rainforests began to give priority to the angio-
sperms more so than the gymnosperms. Efficient and low-cost breeding strategies of
1 Resilient Features Which Humans Inherited from Common Ancestors with Great Apes. . . 3
the angiosperms that depend on insects or birds to carry their pollen and seeds
became more advantageous than gymnosperms that spread large amounts of pollen
at once in the wind.
The angiosperms evolved even for primates that have invaded the birds’ food
source (the place and type of food they eat) into harder and smoother seeds so that it
will be swallowed with the fruit skins and their seeds will be carried at the suitable
place to germinate. Plums and persimmon seeds with jagged or slippery surface are
some of the examples. As a result, the seeds were excreted away from the parent tree,
contributing to the diversification of sprouting.
1.2.2 The Turning Point Between Monkeys and Apes
Monkeys and apes parted evolutionary paths over food and feeding habits. In the
first half of the Miocene (about 20 million years ago) when the earth was still warmer
than it is today, a tropical rainforest spread throughout the earth. There were many
species of apes, and the diversity extended from Asia to Europe. However, when the
cold and dry climate arrived in the late Miocene period, the rainforest shrinks which
affects the rainforest in Central Africa, just on the equator of humid subtropical
climate, to become divided into small parts – thus, the grasslands began to spread.
Furthermore, the 7000-kilometer Great Rift Valley, which crosses the African
continent from north to south, began to activate – enormous mountains started to
appear in the center and plateaus in the east. The result was a bipolar world of
lowland rainforest in the west low latitudes, with deserts and savannas in the north,
south, and east. Primates were forced to adapt to this new world.
The great apes’ ancestors continued to live in the rainforest. Surviving on fruits,
which are plentiful throughout the year, insects, soft leaves, and with slow repro-
duction, the apes’ bodies steadily grew larger. They did not develop strong digestive
ability but lessened the restraints plants bring about in digestion by enlarging their
bodies. However, in order to prevent the accumulation of toxic substances by
consuming large amounts of specific types of leaves, apes developed a method to
eat many types of plants little by little. Insects such as termites and ants were
sometimes taken to compensate for the lack of essential amino acids. Humans also
inherit these omnivorous characteristics with weak digestive ability.
Meanwhile, Old World monkeys quickly moved out of the rainforest and
expanded their food consumption areas (Fleagle 1999). Colobus began to spread
as well – they hold a stomach divided into four chambers: this allows an abundance
of leaves to be digested, and by having the two chambers in the front, it weakens the
acidity so that a large number of bacteria can coexist. Tooth enamel was thickened,
and the molars were sharpened so that hard seeds and leaves could be crushed. In
addition, the degradation ability of toxic component was strengthened so that
intestinal bacteria can be increased to digest unripe fruits. Moreover, these monkeys
developed the reproductive capability to cope with predation pressure and increased
the growth rate of children. In the savanna, trees are safe place for the monkeys but
4 J. Yamagiwa
are scarce; hence, they are more likely to be vulnerable against carnivores such as
lions and hyenas or raptors in the sky. As a result, the period of breastfeeding was
shortened, and offsprings were born more frequently, which spiked the growth rate
influencing the immatures to handle predators independently. To this day, when
comparing species of Old World monkeys with similar body mass, species living in
the savanna grow faster and have shorter birth intervals than those in the forests.
Compared to apes, the foraging and breeding strategies of monkeys were more
successful in the rainforest. Toward the end of the Miocene, the number of ape
species gradually decreased, and instead, the number of cercopithecine species
increased rapidly (Fleagle 1999). Today, the number of great apes has decreased
to three genera and seven species, but cercopithecine monkeys inhabit 15 genera and
78 species in Asia and Africa. The apes live only in the rainforests of Asia and
Africa, while the cercopithecine monkeys inhabit in the savannas, high-altitude
mountains, and heavy snowfall areas in Japan. Why have these differences spread
so widely?
The reason lies behind the superiority of the monkey’s surviving strategy com-
pared to the apes. Apes can only eat ripe fruits and cannot digest a large amount of
leaves at once. Therefore, if immature fruits are continuously eaten by monkeys who
have high digestive abilities, fewer fruits remain available for apes. Since apes eat
various leaves little by little, they need wide areas to forage – if the forests shrink, it
places them at a state of disadvantage. In addition, since apes breed and grow slowly,
it is difficult to increase the number once they are on a decline. While the number of
apes decreased, it is likely that the monkeys increased in number and moved back
and forth between the forest and the savanna, differentiating into many species.
Apes that share ancestry in the past with humans are less adaptable to the
shrinking rainforests with cold climate, compared to monkeys, and hold weak
characteristics; hence, they only survive in the rainforest.
1.2.3 Human Characteristics Inherited from Apes and Food

Revolution
Why were humans, deriving from the common ancestor as the apes with such weak
characteristics, the only ones to leave the rainforest and move into deserts or cold
regions where monkeys could not even survive? It is because we developed a
survival strategy that turned weaknesses of apes into strengths: the four food
revolutions are key to the next innovations. One of them is the transportation and
sharing of food.
Monkeys rarely share food. Plant-based foods are abundant and, having such
strong digestible stomachs, monkeys are not troubled by what they eat. However, to
prevent an increase in competition for food, territories and occupied spaces were
decided between the groups, and a rule of dominance rank, that a strong individual
monopolizes the foraging spot, was established. At first glance, this seems ruthless,
Fig. 1.1 Food sharing among (a) gorillas on a large-size fruit (Treculia africana) and (b) chim-
panzees on meat of red colobus monkey (Yamagiwa et al. 2015)
but this is a measure to keep the groups and individuals from being dispersed as
much as possible. If it is a tree, reaching the tip of a thin branch is a disadvantage for
large monkeys. Yet, this does not become an issue – even if a monkey gives up food
to a more advantageous monkey, other foods are accessible within a small distance.
Hence, for monkeys, the sharing of food was unnecessary.
On the other hand, apes often share food among them (Yamagiwa et al. 2015).
Contrasting with that a larger monkey taking over the smaller monkeys’ feeding
ground, it is, in fact, a smaller ape that requests the larger ape to share their food, and
their request is frequently granted. Foods that are usually shared are a limited number
of large fruits and meat specifically for females and children (Fig. 1.1). At times,
foods that are easily obtained are shared as well. The reason for this is thought to be
social benefits such as good relationships and mutual support through sharing, as
commonly those who are granted food are closer relatives or mating partners.
The behavior of food sharing developed among the apes is interesting especially
because it is related closely to parenting. The previous studies indicated, in the case
of primate species in which foods are shared among adults, food sharing is always
observed from adults to their caring children (Jaeggi and van Schaik 2011). In
addition to apes, South American small monkeys such as tamarins and marmosets
frequently share their foods as well, as they commonly give birth to twins or triplets.
These monkeys birth multiple offspring that could become too heavy for their
mother to raise alone. Therefore, multiple male and older children participate in
parenting. Having a child that takes time to grow or, like tamarins, having multiple
children at once essentially makes the sharing of foods between adults and children
necessary, and it is this custom that gradually branched to an activity between adults.
Within primates, humans are the most extensive when it comes to sharing foods.
This is a common feature across cultures and ethnic groups and is considered to have
an old origin in evolutionary history. Perhaps food sharing played a major role as a
survival strategy when the first human ancestors left the rainforest and began
habituating in dangerous and high-risk areas. Humans did not evolve to strengthen
6 J. Yamagiwa
their feeding and digestive systems, like monkeys, but, while carrying the weaker
characteristics of apes, survived by socializing with food sharing. Initially these
social tactics may not have been a very advantageous strategy compared to monkeys.
Yet, these abilities and behaviors are soon to become very powerful.
Branching off from a common ancestor as chimpanzees, the unique feature that
humans first acquired is upright bipedal walking. There are limitations in running or
agility, but walking at a slow speed over long distances is more energy efficient than
quadrupedal walking. This also freed hands for carrying while moving. In the
savannas where there is higher vulnerability to predators, there are few places for
safe feeding due to the lack of trees. Perhaps these early humans lived by stronger
men traveling far and wide to find food and bringing it back to a safe place to feast
with the women and young children. This marks the first food revolution.
The second food revolution is an increase in meat consumption. It is understood
that the human brain began to grow about 2 million years ago, but 500,000 years
prior, the first stone tool (Oldowan stone tool) has been excavated. Studying the cut
marks on bones, it is thought that this stone tool was used to scrape the leftover meat
from the prey other carnivores had caught and eaten. These tools would have been
used to break the bone to reach the bone marrow as well. Meat contains several times
more calories than plant-based foods. By incorporating meat into their diet, humans
could obtain a large amount of calories thereby passing on the extra calories for brain
development.
The brain is an organ that consumes an enormous amount of energy. The modern
human brain consumes 20% of the basal metabolic rate while it only consists 2% of
the body weight. Growing children use 40–85% of their energy on their brain which
means a large amount of energy is required for sustaining and development of the
brain. How have humans come about in gaining this amount of energy?
The hypothesis is cooking and fire – humans saved their digestive energy by
cooking and using fire (Aiello and Wheeler 1995; Wrangham and Carmody 2010).
Comparing the weight ratio of modern human organs (brain, stomach and intestines,
heart, liver, kidney) with the average of nonhuman primates, the ratio of heart, liver,
and kidney remains the same, but the gastrointestinal proportions are in reverse with
the brain (Fig. 1.2). In other words, humans evolved to have smaller guts to enlarge
their brains compared to other primates. These changes are said to have begun in the
age of Homo erectus – when stone tools (Acheulean tools) and fire started to become
part of life. The shift was not in the time of Australopithecus as they were not using
fire and had ribs that spread outward similar to the large stomachs of chimpanzees
and gorillas. From Homo erectus to neanderthalensis and sapiens, the ribs became
cylindrical which caused the guts to shrink. These changes were thought to be
motivated by the use of fire and the beating or chopping of food for easier digestion.
This is the third food revolution.
The final (fourth) food revolution is food production, which will be explained in
other chapters.
Fig. 1.2 The expensive-tissue hypothesis (Aiello and Wheeler 1995)
1.3 Human-Specific Resilience

1.3.1 Resilience Toward the Shift in Life History and Shared
Childcare
Slower growth rate than that of the monkeys is the second weakness of the apes that
humans turned into strength.
In an environment with high pressure from predators, it seems more sensible for a
child to grow faster for quick independence. In fact, mammals exposed to high
predation pressure do grow faster. Patas monkeys and baboons living in the savanna
are an example where children grow relatively quickly. Yet, the growth of a human
child is even slower than the apes living in the forest – this raises a curiosity.
Human ancestors quickly grew their fertility rates to survive in the savanna. This
trend is not only for humans but is also seen in other mammals. Carnivores aim at
infants increasing infant mortality; therefore, it is necessary to compensate for the
mortality rate by giving birth. There are two ways to prosper: one is to have many
infants at once and another is to have many children by shortening the birth interval.
For example, wild boar took the first option, whereas the deer took the latter. South
American tamarins and marmosets, also having a high fertility rate, chose the former
path just as the boars. Humans, on the other hand, who share ancestry with apes
chose the latter path rather than having many children at once.
With this option, it becomes necessary for the baby to quickly wean moving on to
solid foods for the female to restore ovulation. During lactation, a hormone called
prolactin that produces milk is developed and suppresses ovulation. That is why
8 J. Yamagiwa
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Infant Juvenile Adult Old age
Orangutan
Gorilla
Chimpanzee
Human
Child Adolescence Old
Fig. 1.3 Life history of human and great apes
mammals with high fertility rates grow and leave breast feeding faster. However,
humans have a peculiar feature where an infant leaves breast feeding relatively
quickly, but the growth rate is gradual and slow.
Ape infants have a long breast feeding period. Orangutans breastfeed for 7 years,
chimpanzees for 5 years, and gorillas for 4 years (Fig. 1.3). When moving on to solid
foods, the child has grown permanent teeth and can eat the same solid foods just like
an adult (Yamagiwa 2015). However, human children leave breast feeding at 1 or
2 years old, even though they do not grow permanent teeth until they are 6 years old.
This means they are unable to obtain the same solid foods as an adult for at least
4 years. Today there are many artificial baby foods, but before the beginning of food
production, the search for softer foods must’ve been crucial.
The reason behind a lack of pressure for growth acceleration was perhaps due to
the widespread distribution of food. As there existed a system where highly
nutritious and soft foods substituting for breast milk were brought to a child, the
slow-paced development was made possible. This, in fact, eventually became a
contributing factor to brain growth.
When the brain mass began to increase 2 million years ago, humans were
encountering major issues. Over the early period of evolving in the course of
5 million years, the shape of the pelvis had transformed into a dish structure, due
to the upright bipedal walking. Therefore, the birth canal could not be enlarged and
the brain could not grow in advance during the state of the fetus. Hence, the human
brain evolved to grow right after birth leading to its completion over time. Gorilla’s
brain doubles in size and completes in 4 years after birth, but modern human brain
doubles in 1 year after birth. Needless to say, brain growth requires a huge amount of
energy. To that end, human babies are born with a great amount of fat, slowing down
their growth and turning the remaining energy into brain development. Fat serves as
an auxiliary function when the supply of energy is stagnant. In summary, due to the
Fig. 1.4 Community

structure of human
(Yamagiwa 2015) Family
(prosocial)
Reciprocity Identity to
Empathy/Sympathy
community
Family Family
(prosocial) (prosocial)
Marriage
(prosocial)
slow growth rate that humans experience, the stability for brain development was
made possible.
As a result, human children grow gradually, making it essential for adults, not just
mothers, to participate in childcare. This became the spark for the emergence of a
new culture of habituating in a community of multiple families (Fig. 1.4).
1.3.2 Changes in Society and Ways of Communication
The brain’s volume exceeded 600 cc about 2 million years ago and reached 1400 cc,
about the same level as modern humans, around 400,000 years ago. Language began
to be in use about 70,000 years ago, ruling out the possibility of language relating to
brain development.
For primates other than humans, the ratio of neocortex to brain capacity has been
shown to increase, as the average group size of the species increases (Dunbar 1997).
In other words, as group size expands and there is development of social complexity,
it leads to the evolvement in brain capacity. Perhaps the growth of the human brain
paralled to this reasoning. If so, the reasons of group expansion need to be
investigated.
Protection against the threat of carnivores in open grasslands is considered a
reason for group expansion. Gelada baboons and Hamadryas baboons that live in the
African highlands with sparse trees form a large group of several hundred males and
females consisting of smaller polygynous units. These baboons gather only for their
safety (to protect against predator attacks) and do not cooperate or fuse between the
units. But humans created a community that worked closely between families.
Originally, families and communities had different organization principles – a
family of a breeding unit forms a structure that does not expect things in return, but, a
community is a group that seeks mutual benefits with an underlying of certain rules
(Fig. 1.4). In this situation, sometimes the logics on both ends are contradictory. To
make both individuals compatible, it is necessary to look at conflicting situations and
to develop solutions for the future while understanding the position of one another.
10 J. Yamagiwa
This is where empathy and sympathy become essential (Silk 2007). Neither gorillas
nor chimpanzees that are closely related to humans will create a society with such a
multilevel structure – this is because neither traveled nor inhabit dangerous envi-
ronments like humans.
I believe the feeling of empathy was cultivated through food sharing, eating
together, and communal childcare. The human growth pattern, which continues to
send enormous amounts of energy toward the development of the brain, has created a
special period of adolescent spurts (Bogin 2009). This is a phenomenon in which the
growth rate of the body increases in bursts when the brain capacity is reaching that of
an adult, encouraging the energy to flow for the growth of the body. During this
period, the body and mind become unbalanced, troubling each other causing the
mind to become unstable. This results in a rapid increase in mortality. In this
complex society of families and communities, support from older generations
became indispensable even during the period of self-establishment in one’s
community (Kaplan et al. 2000).
1.3.3 What Is Human Fundamental Resilience
Humans have inherited the characteristics of primates, especially phylogenetically

related to apes, surviving by transforming weaknesses into strengths in dangerous
environments outside the rainforest. The main driving force was the development
of empathy through food sharing, co-nurturing and the accompanying brain
enlargement. It developed a multilevel society of family and community, which
fostered the power to overcome challenges with the strength of a group and the
mentality that encouraged an investment toward the future (Yamagiwa 2018). I
believe these factors ultimately led to the birth of language, settlement, and food
production (Fig. 1.5). The resilience that humans carry and spread across the
Fig. 1.5 Evolution of Food sharing

multilevel community
Family
Family Empathy Community
Family
Cooperative
breeding
world was already budding in the distant past when human ancestors left the
rainforest and entered the grasslands.
References
Aiello, L., & Wheeler, P. (1995). The expensive tissue hypothesis: The brain and the digestive
system in human and primate evolution. Current Anthropology, 36, 199–221.
Bogin, B. (2009). Childhood, adolescence, and longevity: A multilevel model of the evolution of
reserve capacity in human life history. American Journal of Human Biology, 21, 567–577.
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1997). Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Fleagle, J. G. (1999). Primate adaptation and evolution (2nd ed.). San Diego: Academic.
Jaeggi, A. V., & van Schaik, C. P. (2011). The evolution of food sharing in primates. Behavioral
Ecology and Sociobiology, 65, 2125–2140.
Kaplan, H., Hill, K., Lancaster, J., & Hurtado, A. M. (2000). Theory of human life history
evolution: Diet, intelligence, and longevity. Evolutionary Anthropology, 9, 156–185.
Silk, J. B. (2007). Empathy, sympathy, and prosocial preferences in primates. In R. I. M. Dunbar &
L. Barrett (Eds.), Oxford hand book of evolutionary psychology (pp. 115–126). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Wrangham, R. W., & Carmody, R. (2010). Human adaptation to the control of fire. Evolutionary
Anthropology, 19, 187–199.
Yamagiwa, J. (2015). Evolution of hominid life history strategy and origin of human family. In
T. Furuichi, J. Yamagiwa, & F. Aureli (Eds.), Dispersing primate females: Life history and
social strategies in male-philopatric species (pp. 255–285). Tokyo: Springer.
Yamagiwa, J. (2018). Evolution of community and humanity from primatological viewpoints. In
S. Yamash’ta, T. Yagi, & S. Hill (Eds.), The Kyoto manifesto for global economics: The
platform of community, humanity, and spirituality (pp. 329–357). Singapore: Springer.
Yamagiwa, J., Tsubokawa, K., Inoue, E., & Ando, C. (2015). Sharing fruit of Treculia africana
among western gorillas in the Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon: Preliminary report.
Primates, 56, 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-014-0433-3.
Chapter 2
Using Genetics to Understanding
the Evolution of Human Resilience
Miho Murayama
Abstract By conducting behavioral observations and genetic research in primates,

my research group has been furthering the understanding of the relationship between
temporally stable patterns of behavior (personality) and genes. To these ends, we
have been focusing on neurotransmission-related genes that are associated with
individual differences in personality, social behavior, and happiness in apes and
humans and to differences in how the societies of different primate species are
organized. Ultimately, these pursuits will enable us to learn how these genes are
related to emotional resilience in humans.
2.1 Preface
How has human resilience evolved? The key to finding the origins of resilience may
be in the study of behavior in great apes that share a common ancestor with humans.
However, it is difficult to simply compare the social behaviors of different species
because social structures and, hence, the contexts in which behaviors are expressed
differ between species. To get around this problem, I would like to study the
behavior of these species by using a common method, namely, genotyping.
I belong to the Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University. The center was
established in April 2008 and has been playing a key role for networking researchers
and keeping facilities. Japan is home to 307 chimpanzees, 6 bonobos, 21 gorillas,
46 orangutans, and 176 gibbons, which are kept in zoos, research centers, or
sanctuaries (May 2019, Great Ape Information Network, http://shigen.nig.ac.jp/
gain/index.jsp). Researchers at these facilities have been conducting research on
comparative cognition and animal welfare. In addition, there is ongoing research in
the wild, including long-term observational studies of the behavior and societies of
great apes. The information from these studies of wild apes can be used for
conservation management and for breeding these endangered animals.
M. Murayama (*)
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
e-mail: mmurayama@wrc.kyoto-u.ac.jp

14 M. Murayama
From observational studies and cognitive testing, we have learned a lot about the
social relationships and cognitive abilities of apes. However, there are many ques-
tions that we cannot answer with these methods. Moreover, it can take a long time to
collect behavioral and cognitive data. We have therefore complemented these study
methods by collecting and analyzing genetic and hormone data. In addition to
providing a window into the genetic diversity of a population and the reproductive
cycles of individuals, these methods, by comparing the genotypes of different
species, it is possible to follow their evolutionary histories. Similar methods have
been used to understand the evolution of an extinct human ancestor, the Neanderthal.
For example, genomic analysis of DNA extracted from the bones has revealed that
this species mated and produced offspring with the ancestors of modern humans. On
a similar note, I would like to combine fieldwork on great ape individual behavior
and an analysis of genes and hormones. I expect this will enable us to better
understand the evolutionary bases of resilience in humans.
2.2 DNA Analysis Is a Common Method
DNA is often called the “blueprint of life.” A sequence of four nucleotides deter-
mines the amino acids that constitute proteins. This blueprint is common to all living
organisms; humans, other animals, and plants differ only in the sequence of these
nucleotides. Therefore, one advantage of examining DNA is that it can be used in the
study of differences within a species as well as differences between species.
Conducting behavioral observations of wild animals is not easy. There are
various wild mammals such as monkeys, bears, deer, raccoon dogs, wild boars,
rabbits, and weasels that are native to Japan. However, few people have seen these
animals in their natural habitat: many mammals are nocturnal, and mammals are
known to quickly leave an area when they sense that humans are nearby. That said,
even these animals leave feces, hair, and other traces, and we can use these materials.
For example, chimpanzees and gorillas make beds with branches and leaves every
night, and their feces can be collected from these beds the next morning. The cells of
animals’ intestinal wall are on surface of the feces, and we can extract DNA from
these cells. Analyses of the DNA enable us to see the sex and kin relationships of
target individuals. In addition, DNA of plants contained in the feces indicates what
kinds of plants were eaten by the individual. We can also use feces to learn about
intestinal bacteria and infectious diseases (Fig. 2.1).
In addition to feces, DNA can be extracted from urine or from saliva extracted
from discarded food items. DNA can also be obtained from samples of hair or
feathers. These methods are even useful for human-reared animals: the collection of
blood may cause stress and so these other methods enable one to collect DNA with
as little disturbance as possible.
Different species and individuals within species have different base sequences of
DNA. For example, humans and chimpanzees differ in about 1.2% of base
sequences, and individual humans differ in about 0.1% from each other in base
2 Using Genetics to Understanding the Evolution of Human Resilience 15
Who? Sex/individual
Kin? Paternity, kinship
(Food? Plant species)

(Infection? Microbiome, pathogen)
Fig. 2.1 DNA extracted from feces shows life of animals
sequences. Since the human genome has three billion bases, this means that, on
average, more than three million bases are expected to differ between two humans.
These differences are responsible for variation that we can see, such as people’s body
shape and variation in physiological functions that we cannot see, such as resistance
to disease and drug efficiency.
2.3 DNA Database
Because there are individual differences within species, and we wish to know the
range of this variation, we need to collect the DNA of as many individuals within
each species as possible. So far, we have collected multiple DNA samples on more
than 200 species of mammals and birds, for a total of more than 27,000 samples.
Along with these data, we have detailed data relating to where the DNA was
collected, the individual’s sex, and behavioral observation records. We refer to
such repositories as “DNA Zoos” in the sense that it is full of information compa-
rable to watching animals at a zoo.
What can we learn about evolution from DNA Zoos? Since microsatellite DNA
and a part of mitochondrial DNA have no known function, even if mutations occur,
they have little effect on survival and reproduction, so mutations accumulate and
genetic diversity increases from generation to generation. Social group structure and
kin relatedness can be estimated by using these highly polymorphic regions. In
addition, we can learn about individual differences in personality and behavior by
studying genes that affect physiological functions, such as hormone receptors.
16 M. Murayama
In addition to all of this, although it is difficult to collect live cells from feces, we
are trying to collect cells from tissue and enriched DNA in the hope of creating a
“Cell Zoo.” If we can develop iPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells), it will be
possible to conduct experiments at the cellular level on, for example, how best to
treat infections, without using whole animal. Cell Zoos will also enable us to obtain
information that can be used to aid the conservation and reproduction of wild
animals.
2.4 Genes Related to Personality
Among humans, cross-situational differences in personality such as aggressiveness,

nervousness, and familiarity are prominent. Individual difference in personality is
related to resilience, that is, the ability to adapt to and recover from adversity, as
described in other chapters. Individual differences in personality, such as anxiety and
sociality, that mutually support adaptation might affect the difference in resilience.
For example, the personalities of parents are inherited by their children. The pro-
portion of genetic influences for these traits is inferred from studies of human twins.
Since identical twins are 100% and dizygotic twins are 50% genetically identical, the
difference in how similar monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs are indicates the
degree to which genes influence a trait. Of course, there are environmental influences
as well.
Individual differences in personality exist in animals, too. In primates, for exam-
ple, this has often been established by long-term observations of group living
individuals. Owners of dogs and cats also report observing personality differences
in their pets.
By what mechanisms do genes contribute to personality differences? In the brain,
neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin are synthesized and released into
the synaptic cleft. These transmitters then transmit signals by binding to receptors on
the surface of other neurons. These transmitters are then “taken up” by transporters
and degraded by oxidase or reused (Fig. 2.2). Individual differences in genes related
to proteins involved in this process may result in individual differences in transmis-
sion efficiency, and these differences may appear as differences in personality.
2.5 Comparison Among Primate Species
In humans, these genetic polymorphisms have been found in the promoter regions of
genes involved in the transport of serotonin. If this region is long, many transporters
will be created; if it is short, only a few will be created. The efficiency of signal
transmission will thus differ as a function of length. Personality studies have
revealed that people with short allele were more likely to feel anxiety (Lesch et al.
1996).
Synthesis enzyme
Transmitter Neuron
Dopamine, serotonin
Degrading
enzyme
Transporter
Receptor
Signal
Fig. 2.2 Neurotransmission at the synapse of neurons
Ape Human
Fig. 2.3 Species differences among primates in curiosity and anxiety
Let us examine species differences in some of these genes (Fig. 2.3). The
transporter genotype was the shortest in humans followed by chimpanzees, gorillas,
and orangutans (Inoue-Murayama et al. 2000). Humans may thus feel more anxious
than apes.
Length differences were also reported for the dopamine receptor gene, and it was
reported that people with long genotype were more curios (Ebstein et al. 1996).
When examined in various primates, we found that prosimians, which are phyloge-
netically farthest from humans, had shorter dopamine receptor genotypes and that
the frequency of longer genotypes increased as a function of how closely related they
were to humans (Inoue-Murayama et al. 1998). Human evolution may therefore
have involved selection for greater curiosity and more anxiety.
18 M. Murayama
䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉䠉→ Long
Short ←䠉
Fig. 2.4 Species differences among primates in aggressiveness
The androgen receptor gene also includes a repeating sequence. People with the
long form (high number of repeats) of this genotype tend to show weak in androgen
function and are less aggressive (Jönsson et al. 2001). Compared with various
primates, although individual differences within humans are large, humans have
the longest androgen receptor genes with the next longest, in descending order,
being found in chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and Japanese monkeys (Fig. 2.4)
(Hong et al. 2006; Garai et al. 2014; Inoue-Murayama et al. 2010). It is surprising
that humans are less aggressive than other primates. Alternatively, environmental
effects such as social mechanisms may be one reason for this. Since other species
had highly aggressive nature, they build social systems such as social rank order to
suppress aggression, but humans may still have aggression that cannot be regulated
by social systems.
2.6 Individual Differences in Chimpanzees
What about individual differences within ape species? In chimpanzees, the

abovementioned serotonin transporter gene was monomorphic. However, a poly-
morphism was found in the gene responsible for the synthesis of serotonin, trypto-
phan hydroxylase 2. There is an amino acid substitution from arginine to glutamine,
and this substitution is related to enzyme function. Arginine-type enzymes are highly
active. In other words, the arginine-type enzyme is estimated to produce a large
amount of serotonin (Hong et al. 2007).
Then chimpanzees were genotyped to see whether they had this polymorphism.
The personalities of individuals with and without the polymorphism were then
compared. To assess human personality, researchers often ask participants to com-
plete self-report questionnaires. In the case of chimpanzees, we asked keepers to rate
chimpanzees on 54 adjectives using a 7-point scale (Weiss et al. 2009). Example
items included “FEARFUL: Subject reacts excessively to real or imagined threats by
displaying behaviors such as screaming, grimacing, running away or other signs of
anxiety or distress” and “STABLE: Subject reacts to its environment including the
behavior of other chimpanzees in a calm, equable, way. Subject is not easily upset by
the behaviors of other chimpanzees.” Based on this evaluation, six factors were
50
Score of Neuroticism
Serotonin synthesis
(pmol/10min/β-gal mU)
40
60
30
20
50
10
40 0
Gln/Gln Gln/Arg, Arg/Arg
468Gln 468Arg
n=9 n = 48
n=3 n=3
Fig. 2.5 Tryptophan hydroxylase2 genotype and personality of chimpanzees
extracted, “Dominance,” “Extraversion,” “Conscientiousness,” “Agreeableness,”

“Neuroticism,” and “Openness.” Chimpanzees with the arginine-type gene were
viewed as higher in Neuroticism than chimpanzees with the glutamine gene
(Fig. 2.5) (Hong et al. 2011).
Knowing the genetic underpinnings of personality is expected to be useful for the
breeding and welfare of animals. In humans, personality is related to psychological
well-being and health outcomes, including longevity. Zookeepers were asked to rate
the well-being of orangutans using a four-item questionnaire. Each item asks about
one aspect of the orangutans’ psychological well-being, for example, whether they
derive pleasure from social interactions and to what extent they are in a positive
versus a negative mood. In a follow-up study, higher well-being scores were found
to be associated with longer survival (Weiss et al. 2011). If genotype can predict an
animal’s personality, this may enable us to find animals suitable for breeding in such
a way that minimizes stress in their life. Genotype data may also help to find
individuals who are compatible with one another, whether as breeding pairs or
group mates.
2.7 Future Personality Research
The abovementioned individual differences in anxiety-related traits and in well-

being are related to resilience in humans. The connections of environmental and
social events, behaviors, and genes related to resilience can be understood by linking
these data to the individual life histories of apes that have been observed over a long
time in captivity and in the wild.
Analysis of relationships between personality and genotype has been conducted
in many species, including gorillas, bonobos, Japanese monkeys, horses, dolphins,
chickens, and so on. Research on dogs and cats is in progress. For example, dogs
with long dopamine receptors were found to be highly aggressive, and these long
20 M. Murayama
Short Long
Wolf
Native dog
Asian Breed
Short: high sociality, low aggressiveness European Breed
Fig. 2.6 Change of genotypes associated with domestication of dogs
genes were common in wolves, the ancestor of dogs. This indicates that long
dopamine receptor alleles were eliminated during dog domestication (Fig. 2.6)
(Inoue-Murayama 2009). Furthermore, research is being conducted in collaboration
with the training center for aptitude testing of working dogs, such as drug detection
dogs (Kishi et al. 2012).
It has been repeatedly mentioned in other chapters that building social relation-
ships is the key to resilience. Studies are underway for genes that may affect social
behavior, such as receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin. Oxytocin is sometimes
called the “love hormone” as it is often secreted by parents during parenting. The
secretion of oxytocin has even been reported to increase when a dog and its owner
look at one another (Nagasawa et al. 2015). Vasopressin has been reported to be
involved in pairing (Walum et al. 2008). Since a single personality trait is related to
many thousands of genes along with environmental factors, it is not possible to
ascertain personality by looking at single genes. Thus, personal genetic information,
especially in humans, needs to be treated carefully as privacy issue.
2.8 What Genetic Diversity Shows
Finally, I would like to note other factors that can be learned using DNA analysis.
Primates have diverse societies. Chimpanzees live in groups made up of multiple
males and females, gorillas’ groups consist of one or two adult males and several
females, gibbons form monogamous pairs, and orangutans are solitary or
C
A
Maternal mitochondrial genotype is

B group specific
C
A
Paternal Y chromosome genotype is

B group specific
Fig. 2.7 Population structure and movement clarified by DNA extracted from feces shows life of
animals. (upper) males; (lower) females
semi-solitary. To maintain this configuration and to avoid inbreeding, depending on

the species, either male or female offspring leave the group to join another group
when they reach a certain age. The history of migrations between groups can be
traced by using mitochondrial DNA that is inherited from the mother and microsat-
ellite DNA on Y chromosome that is passed on from father to son. When males
emigrate, the group’s unique mitochondrial type is inherited. If the female emigrates,
the group-specific Y chromosome type is inherited (Fig. 2.7). You can also see the
kin relationships. Paternity identification using genetic markers has revealed that
alpha male chimpanzees were fathers of half of the children in the group. Being the
alpha male is thus advantageous in terms of reproduction, although these same data
revealed that lower-ranked males also produce offspring (Boesch et al. 2006).
Similarly, although, as noted above, gibbons live in pair bonds, genetic data has
revealed evidence for extra-pair copulation (Barelli et al. 2013). In short, the social
structures observed in these species do not always match their genetic structure. The
22 M. Murayama
kinship data have thus provided new insights into the structure and evolution of
primate societies.
The diversity of the human genome is generally lower than that of the apes.
However, as noted earlier, for example, in the case of the serotonin transporter gene,
some personality-related genes showed less variation in chimpanzees. It is believed
that variation in any given personality trait is maintained, in part, because it comes
with costs and benefits. For example, although anxiety comes with various disad-
vantages, such as depression, anxious individuals may be more prudent in their
behavior and more vigilant, too. Individual variation of personality supported by
diversity of personality-related genes found in humans may contribute to resilience
of our society.
These findings suggest that genotypes are necessary for community life because
they modulate aggression and sociality. These genes existed in our ancestors, and the
modification of these genes and population structure over evolutionary time has
played an important role in the formation of resilience.
Acknowledgments I would like to express sincere thanks for coauthors of referenced papers. I am
grateful to Dr. Alexander Weiss for his invaluable comments. I thank the Great Ape Information
Network (GAIN) for providing information on great apes held in Japan.
References
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Malaivijitnond, S., & Reichard, U. H. (2013). Extra-pair paternity confirmed in wild white-
handed gibbons. American Journal of Primatology, 75(12), 1185–1195.
Boesch, C., Kohou, G., Néné, H., & Vigilant, L. (2006). Male competition and paternity in wild
chimpanzees of the Taï forest. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 130(1), 103–115.
Ebstein, R. P., Novick, O., Umansky, R., Priel, B., Osher, Y., Blaine, D., Bennett, E. R., Nemanov,
L., Katz, M., & Belmaker, R. H. (1996). Dopamine D4 receptor (D4DR) exon III polymorphism
associated with the human personality trait of Novelty Seeking. Nature Genetics, 12(1), 78–80.
Garai, C., Furuichi, T., Kawamoto, Y., Ryu, H., & Inoue-Murayama, M. (2014). Androgen receptor
and monoamine oxidase polymorphism in wild bonobos. Meta Gene, 2, 831–843.
Hong, K. W., Hibino, E., Takenaka, O., Hayasaka, I., Murayama, Y., Ito, S., & Inoue-Murayama,
M. (2006). Comparison of androgen receptor CAG and GGN repeat length polymorphism in
humans and apes. Primates, 47, 248–254.
Hong, K.-W., Sugawara, Y., Hasegawa, H., Hayasaka, I., Hashimoto, R., Ito, S., & Inoue-
Murayama, M. (2007). A new gain-of-function allele in chimpanzee tryptophan hydroxylase
2 and the comparison of its enzyme activity with that in humans and rats. Neuroscience Letters,
412, 195–200.
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& Inoue-Murayama, M. (2011). Polymorphism of the tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) gene is
associated with chimpanzee neuroticism. PLoS One, 6, e22144.
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Chapter 3
Individual Differences in Psychological
Resilience
Mari Hirano
Abstract Psychological resilience is invisible and a very complicated concept.

Various resilience factors have been identified in previous studies. An individual’s
resiliency was quantified by questionnaire scale, and many studies reported correla-
tion with personality and changes with age and life events. Furthermore, many
programs were developed aimed to expand resiliency through intervention and
human interaction. On the other hand, we must be careful not to overlook the
diversity of resilience. However, the impact of these factors in inducing resiliency
varies from person to person. Even if the same stressful situation occurs, the kind of
recovery that is to be aimed at varies from person to person; although the resilience
may be externally invisible, it shows the possibility that the person has adopted a
resilience process. In addition, the labeling of a level as adversity or adaptation
depends on culture, environment, and context. While psychological resilience can be
considered as a personal ability and personality, it is also necessary to consider it as a
desirable characteristic in the society in which an individual lives.
3.1 What Is Psychological Resilience?
3.1.1 Definition of Psychological Resilience
Needless to say, because the mind is invisible, psychological resilience cannot be

identified through the eyes. In psychology, a study of invisible psychological
phenomena by assigning operational definitions to psychological concepts,
researchers have identified and accumulated common findings. Therefore, research
on psychological resilience, based on its operational definition, also needs to be
conducted. The important keywords in the definition of psychological resilience are
“adversity” and “adaptation.” However, although there are these two key concepts,
the concept of psychological resilience is not strictly confined to one definition. As
M. Hirano (*)
Tokyo Kasei University, Tokyo, Japan

26 M. Hirano
Table 3.1 Definitions of psychological resilience (Fletcher and Sarkar 2013)

Rutter (1987) Protective factors which modify, ameliorate, or alter a person’s response
to some environmental hazard that predisposes to a maladaptive outcome
(p.316)
Masten et al. (1990) The process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite
challenging or threatening circumstances (p.426)
Luter et al. (2000) A dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context
of significant adversity (p.543)
Masten (2001) A class of phenomena characterized by good outcomes in spite of serious
threats to adaptation or development (p.228)
Connor and Davidson The personal qualities that enable one to thrive in the face of adversity
(2003) (p.76)
Bonanno (2004) The ability of adults in otherwise normal circumstances who are exposed
to an isolated and potentially highly disruptive event such as the death of
a close relation or violent or life-threatening situation to maintain rela-
tively stable health levels of psychological and physical functioning, as
well as the capacity for generative experiences and positive emotions
(pp. 20–21)
Agaibi and Wilson Complex repertoire of behavioral tendencies (p.197)
(2005)
Lee and Cranford The capacity of individuals to cope successfully with significant change,
(2008) adversity, or risk (p.213)
Leipold and Greve An individual’s stability or quick recovery (or even growth) under
(2009) significant adverse conditions (p.41)
you can see from Table 3.1, psychological resilience is a very complicated concept
that is difficult to capture in simply one definition.
We start off by understanding the two ways of capturing resilience. The first point
of view involves perceiving resilience as an individual’s ability. Studies based on
this perspective include those from early resilience research to the present. This
perspective implies that, because resilience is an individual’s ability (including
resources that the individual has), individuals with high resilience are considered
to demonstrate high resilience in any stressful situation. Another viewpoint is that
the resilience is an interactive process with the environment. This perspective
implies that resilience is a phenomenon accomplished through the interaction
between an individual and their environment for each situation; it emphasizes that
even if the individual’s abilities are the same, their process and the results of the
process will change due to the change in the circumstances. These two perspectives
do not contradict each other; it is only their focus points that are different. We can
improve our understanding by exploring the concept from both viewpoints focusing
on ability and interaction. Therefore, the term resilience is used as an “individual’s
ability to adapt under adversity,” and also for “adaptation under adversity,” which is
likely to cause confusion. In order to avoid such confusion, there are cases where the
former is termed as “resiliency” and the latter as “resilience” which have been used
similarly hereafter in this thesis.
3 Individual Differences in Psychological Resilience 27
3.1.2 Evaluation Criteria of Psychological Resilience
How is the invisible resilience identified as “resilience”? Here, considering the case
of physical resilience, we define resilience as “The ability to 1) move against some
pressure, originating from either external or internal forces, 2) avoid crucial destruc-
tion from the shock, and 3) be restored.” If the mind is a ball, the external pressure
can be confirmed with a visible indentation. Whether or not the pressure brings
crucial destruction can be judged by whether the ball “bursts.” You can also confirm
how much the ball can be restored by comparing the elasticity of the ball before and
after it receives pressure from the outside. The evaluation of psychological resilience
also principally follows this perspective. However, in case of psychological resil-
ience, the (1) degree of pressure, (2) degree of shock, and (3) degree of recovery
cannot be confirmed. Therefore, the psychological resilience is often evaluated using
a certain external criterion.
First, the damage caused by the degree of pressure is mostly determined by the
type of stress event. For example, a person who experiences an obvious stress event,
such as the bereavement of an important person, war, or divorce of parents, can
easily be labeled as someone who is “stressed.” However, because the psychological
stress is not the same if people experience the same event again, subjective assess-
ment may be used.
Next, for determining the degree of impact and degree of recovery, psychiatric
symptoms such as post-traumatic stress symptoms frequently used to judge whether
crucial destruction from the shock can be avoided. At the same time, the degree of
recovery is often judged based on whether the symptoms have been lost. Inherently,
however, the criteria for recovery vary depending on the type of stress and adversity,
and it cannot be simply assumed that if the psychiatric symptoms have disappeared,
the psychological injuries must have also disappeared.
In this way, psychological resilience is studied as the ability to demonstrate
psychological recovery or adaptation without an individual displaying psychiatric
symptoms among the various stresses and adversities. In fact, it is necessary to pay
attention to the fact that the meaning of stress and adversity for any individual is
diverse and that there are many aspects that cannot be expressed through psychiatric
symptoms regarding injury and recovery.
3.2 Measurement of Psychological Resiliency
3.2.1 Factors Leading to Psychological Resiliency
Next, we explain resiliency as an individual’s characteristics and ability. In the early

resilience research, researchers examined resiliency as an individual’s characteristics
and abilities around the question: “What are the characteristics of children who can
develop well even if placed in a risky situation?” Through general and longitudinal
28 M. Hirano
Table 3.2 Examples of resilience factors (Hirano 2010)

Social skills Empathy Challenge Variation of interests
Social extroversion Effort orientation
Self-disclosure Trait Resistance
Humor Perseverance
Competence Problem-solving skills Positive future Optimism
Ability to be insightful orientation Positive future
orientation
Intelligence skills Others Physical health
Self-efficacy Independency
Self- Self-regulation Moral fiber/faith
regulation Emotional regulation Self-understanding
surveys on children of many risk groups, it was clarified that individual resiliency
consists of multiple protective factors (Garmezy 1971). Recently, for features such
as protecting oneself from the adverse effects of specific risks and serious adverse
circumstances adapting to any situation, terms such as promotive factors (Sameroff
and Fiese 2000) or resilience factors (McCubbin et al. 1997) have been used.
However, in this chapter, we use the term more comprehensively as “resilience
factor.”
Various resilience factors have been identified in the existing literature
(Table 3.2). Grotberg (2003) organizes these resilience factors into individual factors
(I AM), factors to be acquired (I CAN), and factors to be provided (I HAVE).
Although such categorization is likely to miscommunicate the necessity to possess
all these elements for enhancing resiliency, it is not so. This is because resilience
factors that an individual can utilize vary from individual to individual; therefore, it
is important for an individual to be able to successfully connect several factors,
among the various resilience factors, which are effective for developing individual
resilience.
3.2.2 Scale to Measure Resiliency
In understanding resilience as an ability, it must also be considered that there are

those who have that ability and those who do not. How, then, is the individual
difference determined? The answer is quantification. Many attempts have been made
to determine the individual differences in resiliency by measuring the extent of
resilience factors possessed by an individual using a questionnaire scale. Various
resilience measures have been developed so far, and it has been reported that there
are more than 15 types of resilience measures in English that have been mainly used
(Windle et al. 2011).
It should be noted, however, that these measures do not determine individual
resiliency itself, as described above, but rather they determine the apparent factors
that predict personal resilience (i.e., resilience factor), which have been identified in
previous studies. Therefore, as is generally considered, the total high score of the
scale does not necessarily indicate high resilience of an individual. There are,
however, many things that can be regarded as measures. Strictly speaking, adapta-
tion and recovery are caused by the mutual interaction of multiple resilience factors,
and therefore, in this case, it cannot be said that the sum of resilience factors does not
indicate high resilience.
3.3 Changes in Resiliency
3.3.1 Relationship with Personality and Developmental

Characteristics
Besides the use of the resilience scale to measure resiliency, the relationship between
individual resiliency and other psychological traits has also been studied. Previous
studies have found that resiliency has a negative correlation with factors that predict
mental disease (e.g., depression) and positively correlates with positive predictive
factors such as self-esteem (Hu et al. 2015). It should be noted that resiliency has a
moderately positive correlation with all personality characteristics measured in the
Big-5 model (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscien-
tiousness) (Oshio et al. 2018). This raises the question of whether resilience is
merely a “desirable personality.”
How can resiliency change during an individual’s developmental process? As
explained in the Principles of Personality Development (Caspi et al. 2005), person-
ality generally develops in a socially desirable direction. It remains the same in
temperament, which is said to be relatively unchangeable (Trouillet and Gana 2008).
It has also been confirmed by various surveys that resiliency changes with age and
life events; basically, it has been reported that the score of the resilience scale tends
to become higher with the age (e.g., Goodman et al. 2012). In a large cross-sectional
study conducted in Japan (N ¼ 5143), the results indicated a linearly increasing trend
for resilience with age in the acquired resilience factors strongly related to character.
In contrast, in the innate resilience factors strongly related to temperament, a linearly
increasing trend with aging was indicated, which the squared term of age was
significant and the curved effects of age (Ueno et al. 2018) (Fig. 3.1). Therefore,
as the age increases, the effect of resiliency on mental health increases. Moreover, it
has also been reported that women are more influenced by resilience factors than
men (Hu et al. 2015).
30 M. Hirano
Fig. 3.1 Average scores of resilience scale by age groups (Ueno et al. 2018)
3.3.2 Changes by Intervention
Activities to enhance resilience are practiced especially in the psychological support

and the educational field. Many of such approaches are group programs and are
developed based on various techniques used in clinical psychological intervention
such as cognitive behavior therapy or social skill training. These programs are
conducted either as prevention measures for people or children in high-risk situa-
tions, as an intervention for maladaptive conditions (Fraser 2004), or as preventive
education for the purpose of nurturing their ability to adapt to future stressful
Fig. 3.2 Expansion of resiliency (Hirano 2017)
situations (Boniwell and Ryan 2009). Moreover, besides these group programs,
intervention may also be conducted from the point of view of resilience in individual
psychotherapy or psychotherapy; however, in such cases, the necessary approaches
are implemented according to the circumstances of each individual (Kuyken et al.
2009). Both approaches share the same viewpoint that psychological support is
provided to improve individual’s existing resiliency and awareness of resilience.
These resilience interventions have been proved to be effective in improving
resilience scale scores. How, then, can we understand the effect of intervention on
changes in the resilience scale scores? Figure 3.2 shows the expansion of such
resiliency by two axes (Hirano 2017). The expansion of resiliency is broadly divided
into the following: expansion by “discovering” potential resource and expansion by
newly “augmenting.” In addition, it is a common opinion that the process of
expansion is a process that involves advancement between “the individual” and
“others.”
The increase in resiliency through acquisition of new knowledge and skills
corresponds to “individual-augmenting.” Through knowledge from books and
advice from others, you can gain new perspectives on things and develop a positive
thinking framework. In addition, by going through a difficult experience while living
and experiencing a successful experience, you may expand your power as a personal
qualification and empower yourself through the experience. Acknowledging your
new resources through an objective examination of yourself corresponds to “indi-
vidual-discovering.” For example, by looking back on your own recovery efforts in
the past and gaining knowledge about resilience factors employed, you may notice
that your personality traits, which you had not figured so far, are actually resiliencies.
“Others-discovering” is the awareness of personal resiliency gained through
feedback from others. Many resilience education programs conducted in schools
32 M. Hirano
involve group work, so you can identify your characteristics that differentiate you
from friends, colleagues, and teachers. Feedback from others allows us to identify
the resilience that we could not notice. “Others-augmenting” is the expansion that
involves creation of new resilience through our relationships with others. Personal-
ity, in classical psychology, has been considered to be fixedly present inside
individuals. In other words, it is the understanding that individual personality is
consistent in any situation. On the other hand, from the standpoint of social consti-
tutionalism, personality does not always exist only within the individual but occurs
in their relationship with others (Mischel 1968). Considering that point of view,
there will be times when an individual’s resiliency, which has not existed so far in
relationships and roles with new others, is developed. In addition, it can be consid-
ered that aspects that had not been regarded as qualities are those that sometimes
newly develop due to the value required by others.
3.4 Viewpoints on Qualitative Diversity of Resilience

3.4.1 Diversity of Factors Inducing Resiliency
The function of psychological resilience has been clarified by quantitative studies

using scales. On the other hand, there are points to be noted in the quantitative
measurement by scale. Inherently, it is easy to understand resilience, which is
supposed to be complicated and varied depending upon individuals and circum-
stances, simply as “have/not” or “high/low.” Therefore, how do we understand the
diversity of resilience?
First, although various factors, including internal characteristics and external
resources, have been identified as factors inducing resiliency, the impact of these
factors in inducing resiliency varies from person to person. In other words, there are
some factors that are absolutely indispensable in guiding resiliency, but there are
certain factors whose impact is uncertain; it is not simple for everyone to affirma-
tively exhibit resiliency, which is natural, if we think about it. When experiencing a
greatly painful event, the individual experience for every person will determine the
individual triggers and recovery processes. Therefore, it is necessary to know that
simply possessing many resilience factors does not necessarily mean that the
resilience is high.
3.4.2 Situation and Context Dependency of Psychological

Resilience
At the beginning of the chapter, we mentioned that resilience is understood using the
key concepts of “adversity” and “adaptation.” However, the labeling of a level as
Fig. 3.3 Transition in usage of words such as “resilience” and “toughness” in American English
books (by Google Ngram Viewer) (Hirano 2019)
adversity or adaptation depends on culture, environment, and context (Fletcher and

Sarkar 2013). The adversity that was assumed in resilience research was originally
an extraordinary and difficult situation involving pressure such as disaster and
trauma; however, this perspective has been gradually expanded such that many
recent studies have also considered the daily hustles as an “adversity.” In addition,
adaptation in resilience research has been widely assumed as lack of psychiatric
symptoms, achievement of social developmental tasks, and well-being. This is
because the resilience concept originally was developed in the West, and therefore
it is believed that such perception of adaptation is a reflection of Western values that
emphasize individual ability (Unger 2008). For example, young people indulging in
dangerous acts or substance abuse are called delinquent juveniles and can be
regarded, as per Western values, as those who failed to adapt. However, Unger
(2008) argues that they can be regarded as “existence that survives life with the best
by using the resources (strengths) that they possess to the utmost.” Delinquent
behavior is an act of adaptation for survival in their living conditions, even though
it may be generally regarded as maladaptive. Such “resilience” cannot be captured
by conventional research methods and therefore will be overlooked.
In addition, resilience may be constructed as an ideal figure that the modern
society is seeking. Figure 3.3 compares the transition in usage of words such as
“resilience” and “toughness” in American English books. We can see that the trend
was clearly reversing in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After the overwhelming
threat and unrecoverable loss, the usage of toughness declined, as resilience then
indicated one’s ability to adapt to new days for survival. This phenomenon mirrors
the trend in Japan, where the author lives, after the 2011 earthquake that involved
more than 18,000 victims. In this way, while psychological resilience can be
considered as a personal ability and personality, it is also necessary to consider it
as a desirable characteristic in the society in which an individual lives.
34 M. Hirano
3.4.3 Diversity of Resilience Orientation
Hirano et al. (2018) developed a measurement, using the projective method, as a way
to express the individual differences in resilience as quantitative and qualitative
differences. We have attempted to obtain new perspectives on resilience understand-
ing by including the relevant nonconscious aspects of individuals. Projective method
is used to understand an individual’s nonconscious aspects through their reaction to
ambiguous stimulus and is mainly used in psychological support and psychological
assessment during clinical practices (Tuber 2012). Here, we developed a test based
on P-F studies (Rosenzweig 1978), which, apart from using several projection
methods, gauges the response of participants to a picture showing characters in
stressful situations. We surveyed 1000 participants and presented a stimulus picture
showing the 12 stressful situations that had been created with reference to
Rosenzweig (1938), asking the participants to provide their opinions on how the
characters in the picture would be able to recover.
As a result of category analysis of the description data of 12,000, it is clear
through projection method that these concepts represent dynamic characteristics of
the resilience orientation, such as the kind of recovery required (restoration /accep-
tation/conversion), rather than static characteristics regarding the process or results
of resilience (Table 3.3). When considering categories from the viewpoint of such
orientation, there was a difference observed in the process of trying to achieve
resilience, by oneself, through relationship with others, or by transcending power
through time or fate. “Restoration” is the intention to aim for the original state and a
condition to be satisfied, “acceptation” is the intention to accept a state that is not
satisfied, and “conversion” is the intention to change the meaning of a state that is not
satisfied. Even if the same stressful situation occurs, the kind of recovery that is to be
Table 3.3 Resilience orientation (Hirano et al. 2018)

Ways to achieve resilience
Self Other Higher
Trying to Trying to achieve Trying to achieve by
achieve through relation- something
alone ships with others transcending human
ability
Orientation Restoration Acting Helped Hoping
types Orientation to aim Planning
to satisfied level
Acceptation Ignoring Empathized Leaving
Orientation to Accepting Chided
accept stressful
situation
Conversion Changing Relativized Rewarded
Orientation to perspective Proved
change recogni- Changing
tion and meaning direction
aimed at varies from person to person; although the resilience may be externally
invisible, it shows the possibility that the person has adopted a resilience process.
When sketching a general resilience recovery and adaptation process, we will
obtain a U-shaped curve that returns the declining curve to its original level.
However, given the facts regarding recovery and adaptation in adversity, it is
impossible to return to the original. Even if the state before and after the adversity
is at the same level in one dimension, in reality, they are completely different states.
Post-traumatic growth (PTG), often associated with resilience, is a concept that
explains that growth may be observed beyond recovery, that is, after psychological
injury by traumatic experiences. However, the growth shown here is not only
quantitative change from minus to plus but also qualitative change, such as gaining
a completely different value from the past and changing way of life. As with PTG,
recovery through resilience will also need to be understood as a process of including
various measures for recovery that cannot be described by a straight line.
3.4.4 Resilience Diversity and Relationship
In this chapter, we have discussed how researchers grasped the invisible psycholog-
ical resilience and expressed the individual differences involved. Again, although it
tends to focus on quantitative differences when understanding individual differences
in psychological resilience, it must be noted that focus on qualitative differences is
equally important.
Finally, let us discuss what it means when people have qualitatively different resil-
iency. Let us consider a team that is gathering members, as shown in Fig. 3.4. All
three elements of the chart are resilience factors. As you can tell at first glance,
member A has high points in all elements and may be considered as the most
resilient person. On the other hand, members B and C have low score points.
Therefore, if we enhance the deficient elements of members B and C, will their
resilience as a team increase? For example, considering the need for reducing team
risk, the low level of “Novelty Seeking” of B may prevent accidental mistakes that
might be caused by A’s behavior, and the lowness of C’s “Positive Future Orienta-
tion” may not be optimistic enough to help the team develop remedial measures. In
other words, when viewing a person as a group rather than as an individual, it is
Fig. 3.4 Example of the team resilience

36 M. Hirano
observed that not only the diversity in the positive aspects of each individual but also
the existence of weak aspects can expand the resilience as a whole. We humans do
not exist as individuals in adversity but exist, recover, and advance through relation-
ships. Although the belief that individual ability leads individual resilience is
certainly true, our resilience is often guided by another’s resiliency. Through the
interaction of the diversity in the resiliency of individuals, the possibility of recovery
can be expanded.
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Chapter 4
Human Evolution and the Implication
of Resilience for the Future
Hisao Baba
Abstract The first human ancestors appeared about 7 million years ago (Mya) in
Africa and finally evolved into Homo sapiens, developing human uniqueness. This
includes bipedal walking, using various tools, and was accompanied by brain
expansion that led to sophisticated cognitive abilities. Previously, such uniqueness
acted as resilience to survive in harsh environments and finally permitted humans to
invent agriculture, civilization, and the industrial revolution, which meant that we
can now enjoy comfortable lives. However, recently, civilization has become a
monstrous “desire-satisfaction system” and has begun to squeeze various resources
from present and past environments. This means that we are carelessly spending
almost all our resources without leaving any to our descendants. We all know that we
have to minimize our economies and conserve our natural environments, but the
“desire-satisfaction system” is so attractive that we cannot yet escape it. Thus, we
should reconsider the true implication of our resilience. Namely, at present, the most
necessary resilience is rational prevision and the courageous sympathy to do some-
thing altruistic for the future, before a crisis occurs.
4.1 Introduction
During human evolution, our ancestors experienced a severe reduction in their

habitats and population size due to harsh environments and conditions, such as
endemic diseases, drastic climate change, encounters with strong competitors, and
dangerous predators (Fagan 2004; Klein 2009). However, they survived, recovering
their habitats and populations through their own physical and cultural resilience and
partly due to lucky coincidences. As is well-known, we, Homo sapiens, invented
agriculture and stock farming as a result of our highly developed creativity and
imagination and produced civilizations and the industrial revolution, which has often
H. Baba (*)
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: baba@kahaku.go.jp

40 H. Baba
been cited as a success in the story of human history (Bellwood 2005; Fox et al.
2017; Diamond 1997; Cook 2005).
However, we are now facing crises in our present society through enormous
population increases, regional shortages of food, and environmental destruction,
including global warming (Fagan 2004; Diamond 2005). In particular, the
overconsumption of mineral resources will be fatal, since mineral resources are
part of past environments and will never be produced again (Randers 2012). Thus,
the resources from the past are public property for not only for present-day people
but also for future people, our descendants.
To avoid such a crisis, we must reconsider the real implication of civilization and
resilience. Civilization provides us with a comfortable life, but it also works as a
“desire-satisfaction system” and is in that way similar to drugs (Wisniewski 2015).
We all know that championing the desire-satisfaction system will finally cause the
collapse of civilization. However, we cannot yet escape from the system because we
lack the emotional courage to do so.
Resilience originally refers to the positive recovery of an individual, group,
habitat, population, and societies in human evolution (Davidson-Hunt and Berkes
2000). Formerly, such resilience has been activated after something terrible had
occurred. However, now that we know that the collapse or decline of civilization will
bring about a terrible global disaster, we have to activate our resilience before such a
crisis occurs. That is, the abilities of prevision insights and courageous altruism are
important and were gradually developed by our ancestors during the course of
human evolution.
Thus, considering the present situation, the resilience that we should put forth
must drastically restrain our civilized lifestyles. It is only through this that we can
leave a truly peaceful and sustainable world behind for future people. In other words,
our motivation determines how far we are able to extend our sympathy and altruism
to our future descendants.
First, I overview signals regarding how our early ancestors gradually developed
human-like rational recognition and sympathetic abilities over the course of human
evolution and show how modern humans accomplished such things, things that have
added meaning to our existence. Next, I introduce several admirable societies, as
examples of ideal models for a sustainable society in which our descendants will be
able to live indefinitely or at least for a thousand years.
The admirable societies that will be used as examples in this paper are as follows.
First, as is well-known, a modest industrial society after World War II was practi-
cably acceptable. Second, an ecological recycling agricultural and miner industrial
society in the early modern Edo era of Japan is very suggestive. Third, a diversified
hunter-gatherer and primitive agricultural society in the Mesolithic Jomon age of
Japan is to be considered. In addition, the strategy of Homo floresiensis is especially
unique and informative. The people of Homo floresiensis survived on the small
Flores Island for a million years by decreasing their body and brain sizes to half of
that of their ancestor Homo erectus.
4 Human Evolution and the Implication of Resilience for the Future 41
4.2 Who Are We? What Is Human Evolution?
Before embarking on the discussion, I would like to summarize important points on

the nature of human existence and evolution.
1. The scientific name of modern humans is Homo sapiens, meaning wise human in
Latin. Hominin is from a tribe name Hominini, which includes modern humans
and all members of our bipedal ancestors derived from our last common ancestor
with chimpanzees (Wood 2005). In this article, “human” is also commonly used
as “hominin.”
2. Genetically, the most closely related animals to humans are chimpanzees (Dia-
mond 1991) (Fig. 4.1). However, humans did not evolve from chimpanzees; both
species evolved from tree living ape-like creatures about 7–8 million years ago
(Mya) (Stringer and Andrews 2005). Then, chimpanzees acquired knuckle-
walking, and humans acquired bipedal walking on the ground (Fig. 4.2).
3. Humans evolved, diversifying into around 20 or more species. They can be
divided into five stages or grades, represented by the first, Ardipithecus (about
4.4 Mya); second, Australopithecus (about 3 Mya); third, Homo erectus (about
1.5 Mya); fourth, Homo heidelbergensis (about 0.5 Mya); and fifth, Homo
sapiens (about 0.2 Mya) (Fig. 4.3) (White et al. 2009; Baba 2014). Those
human species did not at once evolve to the next stage, but some species evolved
earlier and others later. Consequently, several species belonging to different
stages coexisted simultaneously.
4. During evolution, humans changed their living habitats from wet forests to dry
grasslands. That is, Ardipithecus lived in forests and open woodlands,
Australopithecus in woodlands and grasslands, and Homo erectus and the later
species in grasslands and elsewhere (Fleagle 1988; Stringer and Andrews 2005).
5. Generally, humans acquired their unique features in the following order: first, a
decrease in the size of the canines, corresponding with a decrease of aggression;
second, the development of bipedal walking and the free use of hands with
precision grip; third, the adaptation of the jaw bones and teeth for a specific
Fig. 4.1 Comparison of skulls. A chimpanzee has large canines, indicative of aggressiveness.
Australopithecus shows reduced canines and large molars for chewing hard foods in grasslands.
Modern humans exhibit reduced teeth due to the use of tools and fire. (Photo/Hisao Baba, stored in
the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo)
42 H. Baba
㻸㻡
㻳㼘㻚㻹㼑㼐㻚
㻳㼘㻚㻌㻹㼍㼤㻚
㻸㻢
㻸㻠㻴㼍㼙㻚
㻳㼘㻚㻌㻹㼍㼤㻚
㻳㼘㻚㻹㼑㼐㻚
㻴㼍㼙㻚
㻯㼔㼕㼙㼜㼍㼚㼦㼑㼑㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻭㼡㼟㼠㼞㼍㼘㼛㼜㼕㼠㼔㼑㼏㼡㼟㻹㼛㼐㼑㼞㼚㻌㼔㼡㼙㼍㼚
Fig. 4.2 Comparison of postures and muscles for walking. A knuckle-walking chimpanzee extends
the hip joint by the hamstring muscles (Ham.). The almost bipedal-walking Australopithecus
extended the joint mainly by the gluteus maximus muscle (Gl. Max.) and partly by the hamstring
muscles. The perfectly bipedal-walking modern human extends the joint by the gluteus maximus
muscle. The number of lumber vertebrae (L) is variable, four for chimpanzees, six for
Australopithecus, and five for modern humans, which indicates flexibility in the lumber region.
(Illustration/Hisao Baba)
diet (they became larger and later smaller); finally, the development of the brain
(encephalization) along with the use of tools, spoken language, and various
cultural activities (Fig. 4.4) (Aiello and Dean 1990; Baba 2014).
6. Human evolutionary changes progressed mainly due to environmental changes
and geographical isolation (Stringer and Andrews 2005). New species often
emerged by adapting to changing climates or by migrating into new environ-
ments. Of course, genetically, evolution occurred on the basis of coincident
neutral gene mutations (Mukherjee 2016).
7. The geographical areas and climatic zones in which our human ancestors lived
were as follows: hot and temperate zones in Africa for Ardipithecus,
Australopithecus, and Homo habilis; hot to cool zones in Africa and Eurasia for
Homo erectus; hot to cold zones in Africa and Eurasia for Homo heidelbergensis;
and everywhere else in the world for Homo sapiens (Fig. 4.5) (Roberts 2011).
㻭㼞㼐㼕㼜㼕㼠㼔㼑㼏㼡㼟㻌㻌㻌㻭㼡㼟㼠㼞㼍㼘㼛㼜㼕㼠㼔㼑㼏㼡㼟㻌㻌㻌㻴㻚㻌㼑㼞㼑㼏㼠㼡㼟㻌㻌㻌㻴㻚㻌㼔㼑㼕㼐㼑㼘㼎㼑㼞㼓㼑㼚㼟㼕㼟㻌㻌㻌㻴㻚㻌㼟㼍㼜㼕㼑㼚㼟
㻠㻚㻠㻌㻹㼥㼍㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻟㻌㻹㼥㼍㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻝㻚㻡㻌㻹㼥㼍㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻜㻚㻡㻌㻹㼥㼍㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻌㻜㻚㻞㻌㻹㼥㼍
Fig. 4.3 Outlines of skulls and reconstructed images of ancestor species which represent five stages
of human evolution. Along with evolution, the face (chewing apparatus) became smaller and the
head (brain) became larger. Even though standing erect, Ardipithecus could not walk for long
distances, due to the lack of arch structure in the feet. A stout body in Australopithecus shows
protective power against predators. Genus Homo (H.) could walk and run for long distances using
its long lower limbs. The numerals indicate the dates in million years ago (Mya). (Illustration/Hisao
Baba)
8. Homo sapiens appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago and dispersed all over
the world 70 or 50,000 years ago by creative and symbolic recognition (Roberts
2009). During this expansion, Homo sapiens people sometimes encountered
harsh environments and decreased in population but recovered due to their
flexible resilience (Oppenheimer 2004; Ehrlich and Ehrlich 2008). Finally, they
drove out or exterminated the ancient human species that lived there.
4.3 The Human Evolutionary Journey: Evidence

of Rational and Sympathetic Behavior
Humans are capable of unique humanity based on our sophisticated cognitive

abilities. There are two aspects to our humanity. On the one hand, rational logical
recognition is important to produce extraordinary technology, oral speech, and
civilizations (Deacon 1997). On the other hand, sympathy and altruism are important
44 H. Baba
Extinction of Brain
M-D diameter Paranthropus volume
of M2 (mm) (ml)
Bipedal walking 1500
15 gradually developed
14 Canine
rapidly Molars
shrank became
13 bigger and 1000
smaller
12 Brain at last
increased
11
500
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Mya
Fig. 4.4 Development of human uniqueness in evolution. Canines rapidly shrank in the earliest
stage. Bipedal walking was gradually developed, partly by Ardipithecus in woodlands, almost by
Australopithecus in grasslands, and perfectly by the genus Homo elsewhere. Molars were small in
woodlands, became larger in grasslands, and were reduced due to the use of tools and fire elsewhere.
The brain grew extremely large in the last stage of genus Homo. (Illustration/Hisao Baba)
to sustain a conclusive family system and provide mutual aid to neighbors, philan-
thropy to other humans, and sometimes guardianship to all living things and the
Earth (Mithen 1996; Diamond 2012). These human characteristics would not have
developed all at once in the age of Homo sapiens, but would have gradually
developed from the age of the ancient apes or early hominins. Thus, let us search
for evidence of germs of human uniqueness in our evolution from the very
beginning.
4.3.1 Ape Stage
About 20 million years ago (Mya), the early apes lived in the forests of Africa. They
gradually developed thick jaws and trigonocephalic molars to eat hard nuts, flexible
shoulder and hip joints for arboreal behavior, and larger brains for social activities
and increased in population and habitats (Begun 2016).
Around 10 Mya and since then, when the climate became dry, arboreal-terrestrial
monkeys who provided bilophodont teeth and could eat various foods, for example,
fruits, barks, grasses, tubers, insects, and so forth, flourished in Eurasia and Africa
7 5 4 2 1 0.7 0.2 Mya
Europe
Neander-
thals
Paran-
thropus
Africa Homo
Ardi- Australo- heid.
pithecus pithecus Homo
Homo H. s.
erectus
habilis
Asia Denisovans
Peking Man
Java Man
Homo
floresiensis
Fig. 4.5 Human evolution in Africa (middle) and dispersals into Europe (upper) and Asia (lower).
Homo erectus embarked on the first “Out of Africa” migration, Homo heidelbergensis the second,
and Homo sapiens the third. Homo erectus evolved to several regional groups in Asia. Arrows
indicate interbreeding between Homo sapiens (H. s.) and Neanderthals and Denisovans. (Illustra-
tion/Hisao Baba)
(Begun 2016). Contrastingly, the apes who persisted in the forests gradually
declined and only lived in narrow areas of tropical Africa and Southeast Asia.
Consequently, recent apes such as chimpanzees decreased in population to several
hundreds of thousands and are facing a crisis of existence.
One lineage of such apes, however, invented bipedal walking, migrated from
forests to grasslands, dispersed all over Africa, and then finally into the world. That
is the human lineage. This special event was a sort of come-from-behind homer for
ape families, but at the same time, this might be a manifestation of the crisis that we
are now facing.
Since fossils of apes are scarce, no evidence has been found to indicate high
recognition or the emergence of sympathy. However, it is reasonable to suppose that
they had certain kinds of primitive sympathy, because recent chimpanzees some-
times show compensation behaviors for strategic fraud and altruistic behavior in
taking care of an orphaned child (Boyd and Silk 2009; Boesch et al. 2010).
4.3.2 Ardipithecus Stage
Actual images of the earliest humans are very poor, because only partial fossil bones
have been recovered. In 2009, however, a precise report on an Ardipithecus fossil
skeleton revealed the astonishingly unique erect features of the earliest humans
(White et al. 2009).
46 H. Baba
Fig. 4.6 Reconstructed image of Ardipithecus, dated to about 4.4 Mya, showing the “Provisional
Theory” by O. Lovejoy. A kind male brings fruits (Myrianthus arboreus) from distant trees through
the use of bipedal walking and free hands and gives the fruits to a certain female who has habitually
accepted sexual intercourse with him. Her baby might be his child. This all accelerated the close
relationship between males and females and the development of bipedal walking. (Illustration/by
courtesy of Ms. Reiko Ishii)
Ardipithecus lived in the forests of Africa about 4.4 Mya and had a stature of
120 cm and grasping hands and feet for arboreal life as in modern apes (Lovejoy
et al. 2009). However, their pelvises became somewhat human-like, namely, the iliac
blades were wide to provide ample attachment areas for gluteal muscles and to
support abdominal viscera in erect bipedal walking, while their ischia and pubes
were long for climbing trees as in apes. They had small brains (about 300 ml) and
relatively gracile jaws to eat fruits found in the forest.
In Ardipithecus, males most likely decreased their aggressiveness, because the
sexual dimorphism in their body size was slight and their canines were smaller than
those of the earliest ancestors, for example, Sahelanthropus (Suwa et al. 2009).
Owen Lovejoy at Kent State University, studying Ardipithecus skeletons, proposed a
so-called Provisional Theory (Lovejoy 2009) (Fig. 4.6). That is, a certain male
collected foods through the ability of bipedal walking and gave them to a certain
female and her (and probably also his) baby, by which the baby would grow up and
be healthy. In compensation, the female often accepted sexual intercourse with this
male through the elongation and/or obscuring of the mating season. Thus, the ability
for bipedal walking and a tendency for active sexual behavior were inherited by
descendants, and the two gradually developed together.
This idea contains important hints at the origins of bipedal walking and a family
system based on the husband and wife sexual relation. In other words, the general
rule that rich and kind males are popular with females had already been activated in
ancient times. Moreover, the system in which those who controlled their aggression
and developed sympathy were selected could become a good model to reform recent
barbaric and selfish societies.
4.3.3 Australopithecus Stage
Around 4 Mya, Australopithecus descended from Ardipithecus and lived in a

complex habitat of woodland and grassland in Africa. Australopithecus almost
fully acquired the bipedal walking ability (Lovejoy 1988). Namely, their pelvis
became wide, low, and bowl-like as in Homo sapiens. Although their thighs and
legs were short, their knees were straight (not valgus). Their feet lost opposability of
the hallux and had an arched structure with a thick calcaneus consisting of a spongy
bone to absorb impact from the hard ground.
They developed large and thickly enameled molars to chew hard foods such as
tubers, seeds, beans, and insects found in the dry grasslands (Aiello and Dean 1990).
Some of the Australopithecus developed extremely large jaws and molars and
evolved to Paranthropus (Fig. 4.4).
In Australopithecus, males had larger bodies (about 150 cm in stature) than that of
Ardipithecus, showing relatively clear sexual dimorphism, but their canines were
small, indicating a lack of aggressiveness. In males, a large powerful body and large
opposable thumbs to tightly grasp thick sticks were useful to protect their families
against predators.
At Laetoli, Tanzania, many fossil footprint trails have been found, supposedly
made by Australopithecus that had lived there about 3.6 Mya (Leakey and Harris
1987). Among them, two trails are interesting. One trail consists of double footprints
that were likely made by a large male (26-cm-long foot) and a smaller female
(21 cm). The second trail could have been made by a child (18 cm), which is very
close to and completely consistent with the former. Thus, we can imagine that a
mother followed a father’s footprints, guiding her child by holding its hand. Other-
wise, the father guided his child and the mother followed (Fig. 4.7).
This implies the origin of important human uniqueness, in that a family system
was already considerably completed based on the husband and wife relationship.
Moreover, considering the presence of many other footprint tracks around there,
several or more families joined together cooperatively to form a larger band group,
without insisting on the benefit of their own families, which is known only in
48 H. Baba
Fig. 4.7 Reconstructed image of an Australopithecus family, walking on fossil footprint tracks
found at the Laetoli site in Tanzania, dated to about 3.6 Mya. A father is guiding his child, and the
pregnant mother is stepping on her husband’s footprints. (Illustrations/by courtesy of Ms. Kayomi
Tukimoto)
humans (Dawkins 1989; Erdal et al. 1994; Dunbar 1992, 1998). It is also supposed
that some kind of sympathy had already developed.
4.3.4 Early Homo Stage: Homo habilis and Homo erectus
Around 2.4 Mya, Homo habilis evolved from Australopithecus and began scaveng-
ing using primitive Oldowan stone tools (Fig. 4.8) (Stringer and Andrews 2005;
Klein 2009). Namely, Homo habilis people cut the bodies of leftover animals,
crushed bones to take out bone marrow, and collected various vegetables. Their
brain volume increased gradually (500–700 ml), likely consistent with the develop-
ment of recognition. They evolved to Homo erectus around 1.9 Mya and widely
dispersed into grasslands. The people of Homo erectus had tall and stout bodies
(about 180 cm and 70 kg in males) and long legs, exhibiting complete erect bipedal
walking ability (Fig. 4.9) (Roberts 2011).
They lost their thick body hair in order to evaporate sweat for cooling during long
distance walking and running in a hot climate (Carrier et al. 1984). They could hunt
animals and eat meat, meaning that their digestive system (jaws, teeth, and guts)
became smaller and, in compensation, their brains became larger (700–1000 ml)
(Aiello and Wheeler 1995). Later, about 1.7 Mya, they began to make symmetrical
Oldowan Acheulean Mousterian Aurignacian

Homo Habilis Homo erectus Neanderthals Homo sapiens
2 Mya 1 Mya 0.7 Mya 0.035 Mya
Fig. 4.8 Development of stone tool making technology, which might be almost parallel to the
progress of rational recognition. Oldowan (by Homo habilis) and Acheulean (by Homo erectus)
tools are cores. Mousterian (by Neanderthals) and Aurignacian (by Homo sapiens) tools are flakes
made by sophisticated techniques. The numerals indicate the dates in million years ago (Mya).
(Photo/Hisao Baba)
Acheulean hand axes, which are considered to have been used not only as objective
instruments but also for some kind of symbolic purpose (Fig. 4.8) (Klein 2009). This
indicates the presence of high recognition and a sense of beauty as well as hand
dexterity.
Before that time, around 1.8 Mya, some groups of Homo erectus supposedly
migrated from Africa to west Asia, as the first group “Out of Africa,” and dispersed
in the hot and warm areas of Eurasia. The oldest evidence for human occupation in
Eurasia is the Dmanisi site, Georgia, which has been dated to 1.8 Mya, which
suggests the age of the first “Out of Africa” (Gabnia et al. 2000; Stringer and
Andrews 2005). Many human bones belonging to several individuals have been
found there, along with thousands of animal bones and hundreds of progressive
Oldowan stone tools with sharp edges. The people of the Dmanisi site could likely
hunt various animals very easily, because the animals in the area at that time did not
know that humans were dangerous to them. Interestingly, one of the skulls found
there had lost all of its teeth, meaning that this individual was taken care of by others
and likely supplied with soft meat or internal organs as food (Lordkipanedze et al.
2005) (Fig. 4.10). This might be the oldest evidence of nursing; in other words, this
can be seen as a manifestation of definite sympathy or altruism.
4.3.5 Middle Homo Stage: Homo heidelbergensis and Homo

neanderthalensis
Around 0.7 Mya, in Africa, Homo heidelbergensis appeared as a descendant of

Homo erectus. The people of Homo heidelbergensis had stout bodies as those of
50 H. Baba
Fig. 4.9 Reconstruction of

a skeleton and live image of
Homo erectus, the Turkana
boy, found at West Turkana
in Kenya, dated to about
1.6 Mya. He was about
9 years old when he died
and had a stature of 160 cm,
which means that he might
have grown up to be more
than 180 cm tall. His slender
body indicates an adaptation
to long distance walking and
running in a hot climate.
(Photo/Hisao Baba.
Exhibition in the National
Museum of Nature and
Science, Tokyo)
Homo erectus and larger brains (1100–1300 ml) (Roberts 2011). A male skull found
at the Kabwe site in Zambia shows the possibility of the emergence of oral speech.
His anterior skull base had already become anteroposteriorly short as in Homo
sapiens (Baba et al. 2003), so that his larynx had descended to the middle of the
neck, indicating the presence of a long vocal tract for speech (Fig. 4.11). In addition,
his brain volume was about 1300 ml, showing rational recognition. These facts
imply that he could speak.
Homo heidelbergensis likely migrated from Africa as the second “Out of Africa”
about 0.5 Mya and dispersed into Eurasia (Stringer and Andrews 2005). One of the
groups migrated to Europe and became Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis).
They developed sophisticated Mousterian stone tools and stocky bodies adapted to
cold climates (Fig. 4.12). Later, Neanderthals expanded their habitat to west Asia.
Fig. 4.10 Reconstructed image of life at the Dmanisi site in Georgia, dated to about 1.8 Mya. An
old toothless person was fed by the others. This might be the oldest evidence of nursing, which
shows the development of sympathy and altruism. (Illustration/by courtesy of Ms. Kayomi
Tukimoto)
Homo erectus Homo heidelbergensis Homo sapiens

Sambungmacan 4 Kabwe 1 NMNST135
Fig. 4.11 Comparison of skull bases. The anteroposterior length of the squares corresponds to the
distance between the foramen ovale and apertura externa canalis carotici, and the mediolateral
width corresponds to the distance between the median line and the apertura externa canalis
carotici. The anterior skull base is long in Homo erectus, but short in Homo heidelbergensis and
Homo sapiens, as indicated by the shape of the squares. This suggests that in Homo heidelbergensis,
the larynx already went down to the neck and the vocal tract became long enough to speak as in
Homo sapiens. (Photo/Hisao Baba, Sambungmacan 4 stored in the Geological Survey, Indonesia
(by courtesy of Prof. F. Aziz), and Kabwe 1 stored in the Natural History Museum, London
(by courtesy of Prof. C. Stringer))
52 H. Baba
Fig. 4.12 Reconstruction

of a skeleton and live image
of the Neanderthal Man,
found at La Ferrassie cave in
France, dated to about
70,000 years ago. He was
middle aged when he died.
His stout body (165 cm,
90 kg) indicates adaptations
to the cold climate and big
game hunting. He was likely
wise, because his brain
volume (1600 ml) was
larger than the mean of
recent humans (1400 ml).
(Photo/Hisao Baba.
Exhibition in the National
Museum of Nature and
Science, Tokyo)
For example, in the Shanidar Cave, Iraq, several skeletons were found and dated to
about 60,000 years ago. They likely mourned their deceased, because several bodies
were carefully buried (Solecki 1971). Among them, the skeleton of an old man
shows that he lost his left eye and could not walk unaided because he had heavy
injuries to his head and limb bones (Trinkaus 1983). However, in spite of these
injuries, he recovered and lived for at least several years. Recently it was found that
Neanderthals made ornaments from shells and collected some precious materials
(Roberts 2011). These facts imply that Neanderthals almost completed high recog-
nition and were capable of sympathy and guardianship, as are we.
4.3.6 Later Homo Stage: Homo sapiens
About 200,000 years ago, some of the Homo heidelbergensis groups evolved into
Homo sapiens. People of Homo sapiens had only slightly larger brains (1400 ml)
than those of Homo heidelbergensis, but they had a creative and innovative attitude
Fig. 4.13 Reconstructed image of life at Blombos Cave in South Africa, dated to about
80,000 years ago. They are making a necklace from beautiful shells and preparing a red ochre for
cosmetics and rituals. These facts indicate the completion of the sympathetic mind to understand the
consciousness of others. (Illustration/by courtesy of Ms. Kayomi Tukimoto)
to develop sophisticated technology and produced complex tools to gather various

foods, for example, lances used for marine fish and atlatls to throw spears from a
distance (Deacon 1997; Klein and Edgar 2002; Klein 2009).
They were extremely fashionable and artistic. For example, in Blombos Cave,
South Africa, beautiful small shells for necklaces and retouched pieces of red ocher
for cosmetics and rituals were found in the soil layers dating to about 80,000 years
ago (Henshilwood et al. 2009) (Fig. 4.13). They should have been capable of high
imaginative ability, as are recent humans. That means that they could understand the
minds of others completely and had highly sympathetic minds, including the ability
for altruism and guardianship.
In Homo sapiens, various ontogenetic changes occurred with the expansion of the
brain, such as the elongation of life history, physiological prematurity at birth,
growth retardation in childhood, an adolescent spurt, and the existence of meno-
pause (Tanner 1998), all of which are modern human adaptive strategies and by
which our rational and symbolic recognition and sympathetic and altruistic minds
were accomplished.
Since the people of Homo sapiens adapted to various environments by means of
technology, they gradually lost their physical strength, and their masticatory appa-
ratus in particular, such as the teeth and jaws, were reduced, which made the face
smaller and set back further.
54 H. Baba
15
38
45 40
1.8
40
45 1.6 15
0.9
38
70
2
1.2 3
13
45
1.5
Fig. 4.14 Images of the “Out of Africa” migration. Homo erectus migrations are shown by broken
arrows and italic numerals in Mya. Homo sapiens migrations are shown by solid arrows and
numerals in thousand years ago. (Illustration/Hisao Baba)
Around 70 or 50,000 years ago, some groups of Homo sapiens in northeast Africa
migrated from Africa, via the Levant or the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula, to
Eurasia, as the third “Out of Africa” (Stringer and Andrews 1988; Stringer and
Mckie 1996) (Fig. 4.14). Since then, modern Homo sapiens quickly dispersed all
over the world and drove out or exterminated the former inhabitants, such as the
peoples belonging to Homo erectus, including the Java Man and Peking Man, Homo
heidelbergensis, and Neanderthals (Reich 2018).
Modern humans sometimes interbred with some of the ancient species (Neander-
thals and Denisovans) and exchanged DNA with each other, which was occasionally
useful to adapt to new environments (Paabo 2014) (Fig. 4.5). Modern humans
reached Australia around 45,000 years ago, America around 15,000 years ago, and
finally the islands of Oceania a few thousand years ago.
4.4 Two Worlds to Be Left for Our Descendants

in the Twenty-Second Century
I was a researcher of physical anthropology at the National Museum of Nature and

Science, Tokyo, and was the supervisor in a complete renewal project of the
permanent exhibitions (an area of 15,000 m2) from 1995 to 2007. The theme of
the exhibition was “Human Beings in Coexistence with Nature.” Among them, the
theme of the Global Gallery (opened in 2004) was “The History of Life on Earth”
(National Science Museum, Tokyo 2006). In that, we exhibited the co-influential
history of the Earth and living things, which finally includes the development of
humans through various harsh situations.
That is exactly the success story of human evolution, in which resilience meant an
increase in the sizes of populations and habitats. However, now that the present
civilization whose name is the “desire-satisfaction system” has continually increased
in size and global environments have continually worsened, we must consider
whether such a positive resilience is necessary and useful or if it is instead harmful
and destructive.
4.4.1 Emergence and Crisis of Civilization
As is well-known, ancient modern humans who dispersed all over the world
invented agriculture and stock farming around 12,000 years ago and developed
regional civilizations, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Maya, and so
forth, several or a few thousand years ago (Fagan 2004; Diamond 2005). However,
most of them declined or collapsed mainly because of the overuse of resources from
their regional environments, especially forests and groundwater. They were not
aware that such overuse would bring about the fatal destruction of the environment
until the collapse had already occurred. Even though the destruction was regional
and restricted, they only squeezed resources from the present environment; some
regional civilizations showed positive resilient abilities and recovered.
After the industrial revolution around 300 years ago, however, people began to
squeeze mineral resources from past environments, which will never be produced
again (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 2008). It is most deplorable that this was carried out not
for the happiness of all people in the world, but for the over-comfortable desire-
satisfaction of people in developed countries (Randers 2012).
As is well-known, industrial technology increased in agricultural products by
means of chemical fertilizers and insecticides, which caused enormous overpopula-
tion and environmental defects (Carson 1962; Randers 2012). In addition, irrigation
in arid areas will soon bring about damage from salt, and agricultural products will
become insufficient to feed an overpopulated world. The destruction of forests and
the exploitation of farmland have threatened ecosystems, including biodiversity. The
overconsumption of fossil fuels has brought about serious global warming and
various disasters (Randers 2012).
As the Club of Rome declares (Meadows et al. 1972), the exhaustion of resources
is so fatal that, sooner or later, conflicts will be serious enough among various groups
in social classes, regions, countries, races, religions, and ideologies to bring about
riots and wars in either local regions or globally. Some of this has already occurred.
In Africa in particular, in spite of poor political and economic situations, the
continuous increase in population and the destruction of environments have
increased rapidly, producing many refugees.
It is almost meaningless to satisfy ecology-directed activities, such as to restrain
global warming by raising efficiency in fuel consumption. These kinds of makeshift
56 H. Baba
activities will never bring about a truly sustainable future society. Many people
rationally know that the collapse of civilization is critical and that in order to
preserve the world’s environments we have to decrease the consumption of
resources by restraining population size and declining an over-comfortable lifestyle.
However, the desire-satisfaction system of civilization provides a strong tempta-
tion and acts similarly to drugs. Thus, once the system has been experienced, it is
difficult to make a clean escape. It has moreover been made much worse since the
Internet and globalization have scattered the desire-satisfaction virus into all corners
of the world; a huge eagerness for desire-satisfaction has already broken out and is
expanding to seven billion people (Diamond 2012; Ehrick and Ehrick 2013).
Humans were originally a minute species of primates living in forests. Through-
out almost the entire period of evolution, humans have gained food and other
resources from nature through the allowance of Holy Spirit. However, now humans
have over-flourished around the globe and have gained resources selfishly from
nature without any allowance of the Holy Spirit. Looking back at the course of
human evolution, the relationship between nature and human beings changed from
subordination, through obedience and coexistence, to plundering. Sometimes,
throughout the course of evolution, humans have made the wrong choices.
1. Around 7 Mya, the first human ancestors appeared in the forests and woodlands
of Africa. Bipedal walking developed, and aggressiveness was reduced. They
were completely subordinate to nature.
2. Around 2.4 Mya, the people of genus Homo appeared in the grasslands of Africa.
Tools were used, and brains were expanded. They were obedient to nature.
3. Around 200,000 years ago, the people of Homo sapiens appeared in Africa and
then dispersed all over the world. They had high imaginative and creative minds,
but they coexisted with nature.
4. Around 12,000 years ago, ancient humans invented agriculture and stock raising.
Later, they developed civilization and began to plunder resources from present
environments, which caused the regional collapses of civilizations. This might
have been the wrong choice.
5. Around 300 years ago, we, modern people, invented the industrial revolution and
began to plunder resources not only from present environments but also from past
environments, such as oils and metals. This was definitely a wrong choice and
may be the turning point for civilization on the way to a worldwide collapse.
4.4.2 Two Worlds in the Future
Considering the changing process of the above relationship, we must regret our
selfishness and stimulate our deep emotional sympathy and altruism for all people,
including our descendants. That is, we will courageously escape from the “desire-
satisfaction system” and take action for the future. Otherwise, we will be blamed by
our descendants in the twenty-second century for wasting precious resources from
the past which were originally deemed to be the common property of ourselves and
our descendants. As for them, we are the debauchees who stupidly wasted their
parents’ fortunes without noticing the necessity of leaving anything for our children.
There should be two possible worlds to be left to our descendants in the twenty-
second century. One is a distracting or distracted miserable world created by
allowing civilization to act high-handedly as a desire-satisfaction system. The
other is a peaceful, modest, and sustainable world that was created by tightly
restraining the desire-satisfaction system. The possibility of whether we can leave
the latter peaceful world to our descendants depends on how much we could extend
our sympathy and altruism not only to contemporary people, but also to future
people. That is, it depends on how much we could minimize our present comfortable
lifestyles.
4.5 Model Societies to Be Considered to Avoid the Collapse

of Civilization
As mentioned above, I was the supervisor of the permanent exhibitions at the

National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. The theme of the “Global Gallery”
(opened in 2004) was “The History of Life on Earth,” which was, however, actually
the success story of human evolution. The theme of the “Japan Gallery” (opened in
2007) was “The Environment on the Japanese Islands” in which we exhibited how
our ancestors modestly survived by cohabitating with the mild and rich environ-
ments of the Japanese Islands (National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
2009).
The reason why the Japanese Islands are so rich, and why we can continue the
practice of agriculture there, is that the climates are variable from subtropical to cold
zones with ample rain, many volcanoes, and wide forests producing mineral-rich
soil; seasonal climatic changes provide us with various kinds of foods, and the warm
and cold ocean currents are rich in marine products.
Thus, I will introduce the modest and decent lifestyles experienced by our
ancestors on the Japanese Islands and propose the necessity to consider reducing
the models of civilized systems, including population size. In addition, I introduce
the evolution of Homo floresiensis as a model of extreme reduction, which lasted for
a million years.
Generally speaking, we can easily turn our thoughts toward the past, but it is very
difficult to turn them toward the future. If we deserve the name of Homo sapiens, we
must be able to turn our sympathy and altruism acquired in the past toward the
future, toward the lives of our descendants.
58 H. Baba
4.5.1 A Poor and Decent Life Just After World War II
When I was a child, in the 1950s, my family was very poor. Our lands were
devastated, and as a nation, we could not afford to feed the 70 or 80 million people
of Japan. The USA generously gave us their surplus wheat. At that time, any kinds of
and any amount of meats were cause for celebration. In a commoner’s house, there
were no cars, refrigerators, electric cleaners, washing machines, air conditioners,
telephones, or televisions. The only electrical machines we had were lights, radios,
and irons.
The consumption of industrial products and energy from past environments were
only one-hundredth of that used in the present. However, we were happy because we
spent many hours looking and talking together, and hardship tightly knitted our
family together. Moreover, we lived in or close to natural environments and under-
stood the mercy of nature. For example, my mother (and sometimes myself)
collected fallen leaves and brushwood and made fires for cooking and heating.
At that time, we adored the rich lifestyle in the USA as seen in American movies
and dreamed of traveling there, not noticing that such a lifestyle in the USA was truly
a notorious desire-satisfaction system. It has now been several decades since then,
and we have also experienced a rich lifestyle. However, now that we understand the
true implications of civilization and resilience, we are strongly expected to return
home to the decent lifestyle we enjoyed just after World War II.
4.5.2 Perfect Ecological Recycling Life in the Early Modern

Edo Age
In early modern Japan, in the Edo Age, around 200–400 years ago, about 30 million
people lived with a completely self-sufficient recycling economic system (Ochiai
2007). People were fed mainly through rice farming and fishery. It is important to
note that cattle grazing, which often brings with it environmental defects, had not yet
been introduced. Thus, forests were mostly preserved at about 70% of the total
land area.
About one million people lived in Edo city, the capital of Japan, now Tokyo.
They recycled every resource, for example, they collected paper trash and rags and
used them as material for recycled paper, human excrement was kept in big tubs and
transported to the suburban agricultural area and used as fertilizer, and they used
other inorganic waste for the reclamation of Tokyo Bay. That is, they maintained a
complete recycling system by carefully and effectively using natural products and
energy from their present environment (Japan for Sustainability, 2003).
Their lives were modest, but they, without an industrial revolution, developed
well-organized and somewhat advanced social and administration systems, such as
clean water services, a postal system all over the country, the highly popular
education of commoners, woodcut printings and publications, and advertisements
including Kabuki and Noh plays. They also maintained a safe society without wars
for more than 200 years. For example, a young lady could travel from Edo (Tokyo)
to Osaka for 500 km by herself without any guards. No other countries were and are
safe in the same way as Japan in that age and also at present. The social systems of
the Edo Age may have cultivated decent and kind sympathetic minds in the people.
If we could reduce the population size down to about 50–60 million, we will be
able to live off of our own agricultural products indefinitely by recycling natural
products from the present and consuming very little fossil resources from the past.
4.5.3 Hunting-Gathering and Primitive Agricultural Life

in the Jomon Age
In the Jomon Age of Japan, about 15–2000 years ago, people lived a modest lifestyle
coexisting with the natural environment by means of hunting-gathering and primi-
tive agriculture (Akazawa and Aikens 1986) (Fig. 4.15). There were about 300,000
or more people living in a 370,000 km2 area in Japanese Islands. That means, the
population density (about 1) is approximately ten times higher than that of typical
hunter-gatherer people (about 0.1). The reason why they retained such a high
population density is that the land and sea were so rich that people could utilize
various foods in different seasons. The primary food energy resources were
Fig. 4.15 Reconstruction of life in the Jomon age in Japan. The father caught a big fish, and the
mother made pots for cooking. Dogs were useful for hunting wild boars. They spent their modest
lives consorting with the rich natural environments of the Japanese Islands. (Photo/Hisao Baba.
Exhibition in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo)
60 H. Baba
carbohydrates from hard nuts such as acorns and chestnuts, root tubers, beans, and
some millets. They often ate a small amount of animal meat and marine fish and
shellfish.
They invented earthen pods to cook food in. Some of the earthen wear (Kaendoki)
are extremely artistic. Japanese lacquer was used to paint earrings, combs, and
baskets. The trading of special products, such as obsidian, agate, shells, and dried
fish, were often conducted between remote areas. These facts indicate that they had a
modest but rich life, making good use of natural products from their present
environment. They used natural products through the allowance of Holy Spirits
and never plunder resources from the natural environment.
Even if the desire-satisfaction civilization was to break completely, we would be
able to revive the Jomon lifestyle and could then survive indefinitely.
4.5.4 Reducing of Homo floresiensis on an Isolated Island
Homo floresiensis was an extraordinarily small ancient human found at Liang Bua
Cave in Flores Island, Indonesia, in 2003 (Brown et al. 2004; Morwood et al. 2005)
(Fig. 4.16). It is reasonably supposed that small numbers of early Homo erectus
individuals who lived in the Sunda Shelf areas of Indonesia had accidentally been
drifted by a tsunami to Flores Island about 1 million years ago. They evolved into
Homo floresiensis, reducing their stature from about 1.7 to 1.1 m and their brain
volume from about 900 ml to 420 ml due to the so-called Island Effect or Insular
Dwarfism, and finally vanished tens of thousands of years ago (Kaifu et al. 2011).
Since there were no competitors and furious predators, their bodies and brains
were reduced in size to save food and avoid over-heating in the tropical climate.
However, even if their brains became smaller, they made and used stone tools as
ancient Homo erectus did. It is not known why they could make stone tools when
they had such small brains. This fact suggests that we must consider the relationship
between the function and size of the human brain.
This reduction looks like low or negative resilience, but it was actually a
wonderfully flexible adaptation for a more sustainable strategy. Even if we are not
able to reduce our bodies and brains, we can learn a great deal from this extreme
strategy and reduce our desire-satisfaction mind and economic system. These
strange-looking human-like creatures were around until about 50,000 years ago.
Thus, it is questionable whether early Homo sapiens who met Homo floresiensis
could recognize them as humans.
One more example is the Homo erectus people on Java Island, who are consid-
ered to be the ancestors of Homo floresiensis (Aziz and Baba 2013). They were also
almost isolated from the outside world, but their body size did not change at all, since
Java Island was larger than Flores Island and there were dangerous predators on the
island such as tigers. Their brains increased in size from 900 ml to 1100 ml, as
usually occurred in other lineages in other regions, and their skull morphology
uniquely changed during evolution (Baba et al. 2003). Their stone technology,
Fig. 4.16 Reconstructed

image of Homo floresiensis
with animals that lived in the
Flores Island. The ancestors
of Homo floresiensis were
likely drifted there by a
tsunami current from
elsewhere and reached the
island around one Mya.
They survived until tens of
thousands of years ago, by
reducing their body and
brain sizes. (Exhibition in
the National Museum of
Nature and Science, Tokyo)
however, did not progress at all, likely because there were no strong human
competitors who should have developed advanced stone technologies. The Javanese
Homo erectus vanished tens of thousands of years ago when early Homo sapiens
reached the island.
4.6 Concluding Remarks
For several decades, many scholars and the mass media have claimed that there
exists a risk of the global collapse of civilization. However, thus far we have only
made use of cheap tricks to address the situation, such as slowing down the rate of
global warming, and never engaged in more fundamental solutions, such as a sharp
decrease in the global economy and population, especially with respect to the use of
fossil mineral resources. Thus, we must courageously activate our emotional minds
62 H. Baba
based on sympathy and altruism. One of the reasons why I have dared to address the
risk of a civilizational collapse is that I realized that, looking at the faces of my
grandchildren, they will surely encounter dangerous situations later on in their lives.
More than 20 years ago, when I was a supervisor of the permanent exhibitions at
the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, I intended to exhibit the theme
of the civilizational collapse, but could not do so; I surmise that it was due to political
reasons. However, I would now like to shoulder this responsibility as a scholar of
anthropology and human evolution. I finally believe that the sympathetic altruism
and prevision insights of Homo sapiens will be activated and that we will find a way
to leave a peaceful and sustainable world to our descendants.
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Chapter 5
Pastoral Nomadization in the Neolithic Near
East: Review from the Viewpoint of Social
Resilience
Sumio Fujii
Abstract It is well-known that the Neolithization in the Near East, namely, the
far-reaching sociocultural reorganization based on the domestication of plant and
animal resources, proceeded within the Fertile Crescent during the ninth to eighth
millennium calBC. Though less clearly traced, it is also commonly accepted that the
pastoral nomadization followed with a few millennia gap in between. The question is
the intermediate stage between the two. Our recent investigation in the al-Jafr Basin,
southern Jordan, has produced archaeological evidence for pastoral transhumance
bridging the two. What is important is that this new lifestyle started during the early
stage of the Neolithization, more than one millennium earlier than the 8.2 ka cold/dry
event that is supposed to have triggered the pastoral nomadization. This fact suggests
the possibility that the early Holocene penetration into the arid margin had an aspect
of social resilience against a potential crisis of the emerging Neolithic society rather
than an adaptation to the climatic fluctuation. If so, the subsequent pastoral
nomadization could be understood as its extension. This paper reviews the research
outcomes in the al-Jafr Basin and discusses the initial process of pastoral
nomadization in southern Jordan from the viewpoint of social resilience.
5.1 Introduction
Along with agriculture, the origin of pastoral nomadism is among key issues of the
Near Eastern prehistoric archaeology. However, traditional discussion has stayed
within the dichotomic framework between the farming society established under the
early Holocene climatic regime and the nomadic society diverged from it during the
subsequent aridification. This is because initial pastoral transhumance bridging the
two has not yet clearly traced archaeologically.
Our comprehensive investigation in the al-Jafr Basin, southern Jordan, has got a
clear picture of this missing link. What attracted our attention first is that the
S. Fujii (*)
Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
e-mail: fujiikun@staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

66 S. Fujii
challenging penetration into the arid margin started during the early stage of the
Neolithic Revolution, more than one millennium earlier than the 8.2 ka cold/dry
event that is supposed to have triggered the pastoral nomadization (Alley et al. 1997;
Alley and Ágústsdóttir 2005; Flohr et al. 2018; Weninger et al. 2006). This unex-
pected fact strongly suggests that the initial pastoral transhumance had an aspect of
social resilience applied against a potential crisis of the emerging Neolithic society
rather than a mere response to the climatic fluctuation. If so, it would follow that such
social pre-adaptation paved the way to the subsequent pastoral nomadization.
This paper briefly reviews the series of research outcomes in the al-Jafr Basin and
discusses the initial process of pastoral nomadization in southern Jordan from the
viewpoint of social resilience. A key to the issue is Wadi Abu Tulayha, a desert
settlement dated to the Middle to Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (hereafter PPNB)
(Fujii 2009a). The initial pastoral transhumance attested at this remote settlement
provides specific insights into social resilience that the emerging Neolithic commu-
nities necessitated for their survival. The following discussion overviews the al-Jafr
Basin and the key site first and then proceeds to the main subject.
5.2 The al-Jafr Basin
Our discussion focuses on southern Jordan or, more precisely, the southern half of
the Trans-Jordanian Plateau (Fig. 5.1). In terms of topography, this region falls
broadly into the following two areas: the highlands forming the southern edge of the
Fertile Crescent, and the al-Jafr Basin as the arid margin of the former. Though
abutting on each other, both areas stand in contrast in many aspects. To begin with,
while the former is under the Mediterranean climatic regime and, therefore, rela-
tively rich in local vegetation, the latter is under an arid climate less than 100 mm in
annual average precipitation and, for this reason, characterized by poor vegetation
centering on thorny shrubs (Cordova 2007; Jordan National Geographic Center
1986). Understandably, specific evidence for the Neolithic Revolution focuses on
the former, where a dozen farming communities including Beidha (Kirkbride 1966;
Byrd 2005), Basta (Nissen et al. 2004; Gebel et al. 2006), Ba’ja (Gebel et al. 2017;
Kinzel 2013), and Shkarat Msaied (Jensen et al. 2004; Kinzel op. cit.) have been
located. Meanwhile, the latter is devoid of direct evidence for the episode and
marked by the scattered distribution of outpost-size settlements and small encamp-
ments mentioned below. This is not to say, however, that both areas were culturally
divided from each other during the Neolithic period. Rather, the opposite is true,
because, as discussed later, evidence for pastoral transhumance making a round trip
between the two areas has been attested at a few sites including Wadi Abu Tulayha.
In this sense, the region offers an ideal place for the discussion on the initial process
of pastoral nomadization in the Near East.
In terms of chronology, the following two common understandings constitute a
basic framework of our discussion (Table 5.1). The first is that as with the other
regions in the Near East, the Neolithic Revolution in southern Jordan began within
5 Pastoral Nomadization in the Neolithic Near East: Review from the Viewpoint of. . .
Fig. 5.1 Distribution of Neolithic farming communities and desert outposts in southern Jordan
67
68
Table 5.1 Chronology of late prehistoric sites in the al-Jafr Basin and the process of pastoral nomadization
S. Fujii
5 Pastoral Nomadization in the Neolithic Near East: Review from the Viewpoint of. . . 69
the highlands to the west during the first half of the PPNB or the 9-8 millennium
calBC (Bar-Yosef and Meadow 1995; Kuijt and Goring-Morris 2002). The other is
that pastoral nomadism derived from farming communities during the Late Neolithic
(Bar-Yosef and Khazanov 1992; Fujii 2013; Rosen 2017). The problem is the
deficiency of basic information on the intermediate stage between the two, which
has been compensated for by the findings of Wadi Abu Tulayha referred to below.
5.3 Wadi Abu Tulayha
Wadi Abu Tulayha, a benchmark of the desert PPNB in southern Jordan, is located
in the middle of a flint-strewn desert (Hamada in Arabic) that extends over the
northwestern part of the al-Jafr Basin. The excavations, taken place over six seasons
from March 2008 till September 2011, revealed an outpost-size settlement equipped
with a stone-built barrage and a pit-type, open-air cistern (Fig. 5.2: 1).
5.3.1 PPNB Outpost Complex and Pastoral Transhumance
This small settlement, the core of the tripartite complex, occupies a flat terrain c.
50 m north of the water-catchment system. Some 60, semi-subterranean, masonry
structures of various sizes and plans cluster together to form a total of 9 complexes,
which are connected in a lateral direction to constitute a linear settlement c. 0.2 ha in
total area (Figs. 5.2: 2 and 5.3). This value is equivalent to, or less than, one tenth of
the standard size of the farming communities in the Fertile Crescent, suggesting that
a small group was involved in the operation of this remote settlement. Furthermore, a
body of evidence including the wall-sharing relationship between any two adjacent
units indicates that the complexes gradually shifted westward, repeating abandon-
ment and construction at an abutting lot. It would follow that only a fraction of the
nine complexes was actually inhabited at a certain point of the occupational history
of the settlement. Thus, the truth may be that the settlement accommodated not more
than a few dozen inhabitants.
The settlement yielded a large number of artifacts centering on chipped flint
artifacts. The flint assemblage included hunting weapons (Fig. 5.4: 1–5), drills
(Fig. 5.4: 6–7), sickle blades (Fig. 5.4: 8), burins (Fig. 5.4: 9), and bifacial knives
(Fig. 5.4: 10–11). Meanwhile, limestone products included grinding tools (Fig. 5.4:
12–13), stone vessels (Fig. 5.4: 14–15), and so called game boards (Fig. 5.4: 16). In
addition, shell/snail adornments (Fig. 5.4: 17–18), animal bone tools (Fig. 5.4:
19–21), and miscellaneous stone products such as shaft-straighteners (Fig. 5.4: 22)
and a torso-type figurine (Fig. 5.4: 23) also occurred to a lesser extent. Floral remains
included domestic wheat and barley, whereas faunal remains, though limited in
number, contained domestic sheep and goats as well as wild animals. Both facts
will become important in discussing the function of the settlement.
70 S. Fujii
Fig. 5.2 Wadi Abu Tulayha (Layer 3)

1. Aerial view of the outpost complex (looking NW)
2. Outpost-size settlement (looking W)
3. Temporary entrance sealing (Structure B)
4. Basin-irrigation barrage (looking W)
5. Pit-type cistern (looking W)
Fig. 5.3 Wadi Abu Tulayha (Layer 3): plans of the site (above) and the settlement (below).
(© S. Fujii 2013)
A dozen C-14 dates converge on a limited time range 7700-7500 calBC,

indicating that the settlement was used during a few centuries from the end of the
Middle PPNB to the beginning of the Late PPNB (Fujii 2009a: Table 1). This
means that the desert settlement coexisted with many of the Neolithic farming
communities in the Fertile Crescent. It is most unlikely, however, that it was
inhabited all the year round, because the custom of temporary entrance sealing is
attested throughout the settlement (Fig. 5.2: 3). This unique custom, together with
the real settlement size suggested above and the harsh environment in the basin,
72 S. Fujii
Fig. 5.4 Wadi Abu Tulayha (Layer 3): small finds from the settlement. (© S. Fujii 2013)
strongly suggests that the settlement was used only on a seasonal basis by a small
group centering probably on young adults (Fujii 2016). There is no doubt that the
Neolithic farming communities to the west were the point of origin for the seasonal
migration. A close relationship between the two is traceable through active material
flow including flint bowlets (Fig. 5.4: 15), ritual vessels or pallets made of cortical
flint slabs ubiquitous in the al-Jafr Basin (Fujii 2009b, 2012).
Meanwhile, the barrage is constructed across a small gully that flows eastward in
front of the settlement (Fig. 5.2: 4). It appears that this V-shaped masonry wall,
measuring c. 110 m in total length and up to c. 0.5 m in preserved wall height, was
intended to create a shallow flooded area on permeable silty-sand deposits. In fact,
the masonry wall has not enough waterproof property, casting doubt on the use as an
impounding dam. Thus, it was probably used for basin irrigation of a small-scale
cereal field that was enclosed by the low masonry wall on three sides (Fujii 2007,
2010). No in situ finds were recovered from the floor deposits due to repeated
flooding, but the adjacent settlement yielded a certain amount of carbonized cereal
and pulse seeds in addition to agricultural tools such as the grinding implements and
the sickle blades (Nasu et al. in preparation). There is little doubt that the barrage was
used for the basin-irrigation agriculture. Although no C-14 dates were retrieved from
the barrage itself, the stratigraphic correlation with the settlement corroborates the
chronological synchronism between the two.
The cistern is located c. 100 m upstream of the basin-irrigation barrage. This
composite structure consists of three amorphous rooms, measuring, as a whole, c.
18 m long, c. 3–4 m wide, and up to c. 2 m in floor depth (Fig. 5.2: 5). A body of
evidence – the location immediately beside the gully, the large floor depth more than
twice the standard value of the semi-subterranean dwellings in the settlement, the
utilization of a flint layer as an impermeable floor, and the clay coating of the side
walls – clearly demonstrates that this unique facility was used as a cistern for
supplying drinking water. A few C-14 dates from the floor deposits indicate that
this cistern was combined with the adjacent settlement and barrage to form a well-
organized architectural complex for sustaining a seasonal stay in the arid margin
(Fujii 2009a, b: Table 1).
The question is the subsistence strategy of the remote settlement. It appears that
the desert outpost was sustained by a mixed economy consisting of small-scale
cultivation of cereal and legume plants (attested by the occurrence of their carbonized
seeds and the series of agricultural tools, on one hand, and the existence of the basin-
irrigation barrage, on the other hand), pastoral transhumance (suggested by the
mixture of domestic sheep/goat bones among faunal remains), and hunting of
wildlife (illustrated by the occurrence of their bones and the predominance of
hunting/butchering tools). It would follow that though in a small scale, the initial
pastoral transhumants brought the multi-facetted, risk-diversifying subsistence strat-
egy proper to their parent settlement into their seasonal outpost and, by so doing,
secured a solid base for the seasonal stay in the remote dryland. In this sense, the
desert outpost can be said to represent another aspect of the PPNB cultural landscape
in southern Jordan.
Contemporary outposts equipped with similar water-catchment facilities have
been located at Jabal Juhayra (Fujii 2017; Fujii et al. in print-a) and Wadi Ghuwayr
17/106 as well (Fujii et al. 2011a, b), corroborating that the PPNB Jafr Basin
witnessed the rise of initial pastoral transhumance. It should be noted, however,
that both the farming communities and the desert outposts yield a large number of
hunting weapons as well as wild animal bones. This fact indicates that hunting still
played an important role in the livelihood during the early Neolithic. In other words,
74 S. Fujii
pastoral transhumance still remained subsidiary. The scarcity of domestic sheep/goat

bones at Wadi Abu Tulayha can be understood in this context (Hongo et al. 2013).
5.3.2 Demise of the Outpost PPNB and the Beginning

of Pastoral Nomadization
It appears that the PPNB outpost complex at Wadi Abu Tulayha was short-lived. The
C-14 dates suggests that the final complex (i.e., Complex IX) was deserted at around
7500 calBC, only a few centuries after the establishment of the settlement.
What coincided roughly with this episode was the functional conversion of the
cistern (Fig. 5.5). A small hearth and a limestone quern were found in the middle fill
layer c. 1 m higher than the original floor, which means that the abandoned, half-
buried cistern was re-used as a semi-subterranean encampment protected by the
masonry walls (Fujii 2014). However, it is unlikely that the desertification of the
settlement resulted in the disuse of the cistern. Rather, the opposite seems true. In
view of the existence of a thick fill layer sandwiched between the original and second
floors, it is more reasonable to assume that the onset of the aridification (culminating
eventually in the 8.2 ka event) caused the functional disturbance of the cistern (and
the basin-irrigation barrage) first and, then, led to the abandonment of the settlement.
This makes sense when we consider that the survival in dryland depends exclusively
on the procurement of drinking water. The demise of the outpost complex and the
appearance of the small-scale campsite in the half-buried cistern highlight a shift in
lifestyle from pastoral transhumance to pastoral nomadism.
Another line of evidence for the demise of the Jafr outpost PPNB has been
confirmed at the Layer 3 rock-shelter settlement of Jabal Juhayra (Fig. 5.6: 1).
This unique settlement consists of six, semi-anthropogenic rock-shelter dwellings,
which yielded C-14 dates parallel to those from the disused cistern. Even though
modified to some extent, the use of rock-shelters as dwellings is suggestive of the
decline of the Jafr outpost PPNB equipped originally with substantial masonry
structures. Here again, the functional disturbance of the barrage and cisterns has
been attested at the final stage of the occupational history, corroborating anew that
the gradual aridification made the operation of the desert outpost difficult.
Even more convincing is the existence of Khashm ‘Arfa, a Late Neolithic
encampment that immediately followed the two outpost complexes mentioned
above (Fujii et al. 2017). This site is located in a hilly terrain that fringes the eastern
edge of the basin, consisting only of three round, semi-subterranean dwellings and
several small slab-lined features (Fig. 5.6: 2). This small-scale encampment is
isolated in the dryland, and neither barrage nor cistern accompanies it. The disman-
tlement of the three-part outpost complex and the appearance of the small encamp-
ment highlight the decrease in group size and the increase in group mobility, two
essential aspects of pastoral nomadization. The typological return to round structures
can also be understood in the same context. It is evident that the encampment was
Middle/Late PPNB
Initial pastoral transhumance
sustained by a mixed economy
and a well-organized water catchment system.
7683-7603 (86.8%) calBC

7589-7567 (71.8%)
7573-7117 (100.0%)
Functional disturbance of the cistern

7539-7464 (100.0%) and the basin-irrigation barrage.
7578-7514 (100.0%)
7555-7491 (86.8%)
Late PPNB/Final PPNB
7513-7451 (66.9%)
7412-7358 (47.2%)
Pastoral Nomadization in the Jafr Basin
Initial pastoral nomads

who encamped at the disused, half-buried cistern.
5 Pastoral Nomadization in the Neolithic Near East: Review from the Viewpoint of. . .
Fig. 5.5 Wadi Abu Tulayha (Layer 3): functional conversion of the cistern. (Revised from S. Fujii 2013: Fig. 40)
75
76 S. Fujii
Fig. 5.6 Other sites in the al-Jafr Basin

1. Jabal Juhayra (Layer 3): Rock-shelter 6 (looking SW)
2. Khashm ‘Afra (looking NE)
3. Jabal Juhayra (Layer 2): Rock-shelter 5 (looking W)
4. Wadi Abu Tulayha (Layer 2): Cairn 1 (looking NE)
used for a short stay of initial nomads yet-to-be-equipped with a full-scale tent. It
should be added, however, that as with the case of the other two sites, they still made
great use of hunting and butchering flint tools. This fact means that they continued to
retain the eclectic character of the PPNB pastoral transhumants. In fact, preliminary
faunal analysis suggests that domestic sheep/goat bones were still limited in relative
frequency (Dr. Hitomi Hongo pers. communication).
5.3.3 Advance of Pastoral Nomadization
From this stage onward, the archaeological footprints of prehistoric nomads in the
al-Jafr Bain become difficult to trace. This is partly because masonry structures were
replaced by tents in terms of architectural landscape, and partly because flint industry
eventually declined in terms of small finds. Both phenomena highlight the advance
of pastoral nomadization. Wadi Abu Tulayha was no exception to this, and the traces
of visitors became invisible for a while after the temporary encampment at the
disused cistern.
Although the Layer 2 rock-shelter encampment at Jabal Juhayra barely provides a

glimpse into everyday life during the Late Neolithic/early Chalcolithic transitional
phase (Fig. 5.6: 3; Fujii 2015; Fujii et al. 2018), the decreased archaeological
visibility of local nomads was not recovered until the Late Chalcolithic or the
Early Bronze Age when full-scale pastoral nomadism was established. The advanced
nomadic society was associated with the appearance of large-scale cemeteries and
open sanctuaries and the revival of flint tool production (specifying in tabular
scrapers for wool-shearing), both of which suddenly recovered the archaeological
visibility of post-Neolithic nomads once almost lost in the course of pastoral
nomadization. The cemeteries/sanctuaries have been attested at Harrat Juhayra 1–3
(Fujii et al. in print-b) and Wadi Burma (Fujii 2004, 2005), for example. Though
much smaller in scale, a similar cemetery was found in an upper layer of Wadi Abu
Tulayha as well (Fig. 5.6: 4). The revived flint industry, on the other hand, has been
illustrated by the existence of huge flint quarries extending along the northern edge
of the basin (Quintero and Wilke 1998; Quintero et al. 2002; Fujii 2003) and a dozen
tabular scraper caches at Wadi Qusayr 173 (Fujii 2011) and Harrat Juhayra 2 (Fujii,
Adachi and Nagaya op.cit.).
It is conceivable that the full-fledged nomadic society thus established was based
on tribalism in terms of social organization and the production and trade of second-
ary products including wool and dairy products in terms of subsistence. The two
phenomena noted above (i.e., the appearance of the large-scale cemeteries/sanctu-
aries and the existence of the tabular scraper caches) support this interpretation.
5.4 Discussion
Though still patchy, the series of research outcomes has enabled us to trace the initial
process of pastoral nomadization in the al-Jafr Basin. The following discussion
reviews the process from the viewpoint of social resilience.
5.4.1 Palaeolithic Crisis and Neolithic Crisis
Social resilience manifests itself as a response to, or a buffer against, social crisis.
Thus, social resilience can be understood through social crisis. Before entering the
main subject, it is useful to compare Palaeolithic crisis and Neolithic one.
The people in the Palaeolithic period depended exclusively on hunting and
gathering and, therefore, lived a high-mobility life in a small, band-size group.
This survival strategy was vulnerable and unpredictable in terms of subsistence
but highly flexible and resilient in terms of social structure in the sense that their
distributed and migratory lifestyle contributed to the avoidance or dispersal of most,
if not all, crises. This explains the reason why the Palaeolithic Age continued over
78 S. Fujii
millions of years. The traditional notion that the Palaeolithic was a monotonous era
lacking progress is just one side of the story.
Meanwhile, the Neolithic society launched production economy based on the
domestication of plant and animal resources and, for this reason, necessitated
settlement life by a relatively large group. It is a natural consequence that this new
lifestyle faced the increase in conflict within and among groups in exchange of the
stable supply of food. In this sense, in contrast to the Paleolithic one, the Neolithic
society was sustainable and predictable in terms of subsistence but unexpectedly
vulnerable in terms of social structure. The more the population increased with the
advance of Neolithization, the more the problem became serious. However, because
of its characteristic, with the few exceptions mentioned below, the Neolithic society
was no longer able to resort to the Palaeolithic resilience. What compensated for this
dilemma were the intensification of rules and systems, on one hand, and the
development of technology, on the other hand. The subsequent history rushing
toward civilization could be understood in this context.
5.4.2 Initial Pastoral Transhumance: Palaeolithic Resilience

against Neolithic Crisis
Pastoral nomadization is among the few exceptions. It is our proposal that the initial
pastoral transhumance attested in the PPNB al-Jafr Basin could be taken as a sort of
Palaeolithic resilience applied against the Neolithic crisis. A key to this issue is the
research outcomes from Wadi Abu Tulayha. Though located in an arid terrain
outside the Fertile Crescent, the site yielded a small number of domestic sheep/
goat bones. This fact, together with the seasonal use of the settlement and the harsh
environmental conditions around it, strongly suggests that the complex was used as a
seasonal outpost for pastoral transhumance derived from the farming communities to
the west. The initial pastoral transhumance bridges the village-based pastoralism
established under the early Neolithic climatic optimum and the full-scale pastoral
nomadism developed during the subsequent aridification, thereby making it possible
to discuss the origin of pastoral nomadism in southern Jordan in a sequential way.
What is important here is the fact that the initial pastoral transhumance started
shortly after the Neolithic Revolution, during the early-Holocene climatic optimum
more than one millennium earlier than the 8.2 ka cold/dry event. This unexpected
fact implies that the episode had an aspect of social resilience against a potential
crisis of the emerging Neolithic society rather than an unavoidable response to the
climatic fluctuation. It is highly suggestive in this regard that the contemporary
farming communities reached their cultural zenith called “mega-site phenomenon”
(Gebel 2004; Rollefson 2004). It can be easily imagined that the appearance of such
huge, all-year-round settlements over 10 ha in total area caused some conflict within
and among them (Fig. 5.7), as suggested by the sudden increase in ritual objects such
as plastered skulls and torsos (Rollefson 2000; Milevski et al. 2008). There is a good
Fig. 5.7 Ba’ja: Reconstructed mega-settlement. (© M. Kinzel 2013)
possibility that the initial pastoral transhumance centering on young adult males led
to the dispersion of the potential social crisis through the seasonal segmentation of
the mega-settlement.
Incidentally, the origin of pastoral nomadism allows for various interpretation. It
is certain that the scale expansion of both cultivated land and livestock herd with the
advance of settlement life necessitated the separation of the two especially in the
grain-filling period (Köhler-Rollesfon and Rollefson 1990; Quintero et al. 2004). It
should also be considered that dwindling animal resources around the mega-
settlements required an intact land to compensate for the deficiency (ibid.). Mean-
while, the research evidence from Wadi Abu Tulayha has enabled us to approach the
issue from a different angle. It is our new perspective that the initial pastoral
transhumance as a starting point of pastoral nomadization was a challenge to cope
with the Neolithic crisis by means of reviving the Palaeolithic resilience (based on
the small group size and the high group mobility) in the arid margin of the Fertile
Crescent. However, it was not a mere return to the previous resilience but a renewed
return accompanied with the small-scale livestock herding and cereal cultivation.
Thus, to be more precise, it can be said to have been a return to the Palaeolithic
resilience reinforced by the Neolithic one in terms of subsistence strategy.
The reason why such a seemingly anachronistic return was necessary is that the
new crisis was so serious. Why then was it possible? This is precisely because, as
suggested by the great use of hunting weapons, the PPNB society still had enough
groundwork to revive the Palaeolithic resilience just lost during the Neolithic
Revolution. It would be for these two reasons that the return started during the initial
stage of the Neolithic, more than one millennium earlier than the onset of
aridification.
80 S. Fujii
5.4.3 Pastoral Nomadism: Further Return to Reinforced

Palaeolithic Resilience
Research evidence from the Jabal Juhayra rock-shelter settlement and the Khashm
‘Arfa encampment suggests that the final pastoral transhumants or the initial pastoral
nomads in the al-Jafr Basin tried to cope with the onset of full-scale aridification by
means of further decreasing their group size and further enhancing their group
mobility. In this sense, the pastoral nomadism can be understood as a further return
to the Palaeolithic resilience reinforced by the Neolithic one. However, it appears
that the contents of the reinforcement underwent profound changes in response to the
advent of nomadic way of life. To begin with, basin-irrigation barrages disappeared
at least around the encampments, which indicates that small-scale cereal cultivation
in an intramural agricultural field declined in exchange of the specialization in
livestock herding. Second, the ubiquity of the tabular scraper caches suggests that
the trade of secondary products with the emerging urban-rural society started in
earnest. It is concievable that such setting of conditions first materialized the full-
scale nomadic society.
Hereafter, the Near East including southern Jordan shifted into a bimodal or
dimorphic society composed of the urban-rural sub-society within the Fertile Cres-
cent and the nomadic one around it. This bimodality or dimorphism was noted by
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) six centuries before (Ibn Khaldun 2015), but it is our new
perspective that the former sub-society tried to overcome the surviving Palaeolithic
crisis by the enhancement of newly acquired Neolithic resilience, whereas the latter
attempted to cope with the increasing Neolithic crisis by the reinforced Palaeolithic
resilience. Even though occasionally opposed to each other, the coexistence of both
sub-societies created higher-dimensional social resilience essential to the subsequent
urbanization and civilization. Considered in this light, it is more than a mere
coincidence that the ancient civilizations around the world were almost exclusively
associated with nomadic sub-society at their arid margin.
5.5 Concluding Remarks
The review from the viewpoint of social resilience has highlighted another aspect of
pastoral nomadization that has been discussed exclusively from the economic aspect.
It is our new interpretation that the Neolithic society coped with Neolithic crisis in
two ways: the development of Neolithic resilience in the core area and the revival of
Palaeolithic resilience (but that reinforced by Neolithic one) in the arid margin.
Although experienced various changes over time, the bimodal or dimorphic society
thus established still marks the Near East. In this sense, the fresh perspective is
expected to contribute to a better understanding of the modern Near Eastern society
as well as the Neolithic one.
Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Munthar Jamhawi, Director
General of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, for his steady support to our long-term research
project in the al-Jafr Basin. I also wish to appreciate Dr. Moritz Kinzel who kindly allowed me to
cite his original illustration. Last but not least, I am also grateful to the two editors who had the
patience to wait for my draft.
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Jordan (pp. 1–19). Berlin: Ex Oriente.
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und Ba’ja in der Petra-Region, Südjordanien. Berlin: Ex Oriente.
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PPNB finds from Yiftahel, lower Galilee (Israel). Paléorient, 34(2), 37–46.
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archaeobotanical study of a PPNB agro-pastoral outpost in southern Jordan.
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Ex Oriente.
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of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 42, 113–121.
Quintero, L. A., Wilke, P. J., & Rollefson, G. O. (2002). From flint mine to fan scraper: The late
prehistoric Jafr industrial complex. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 327,
17–48.
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R. Neef (Eds.), Central settlements in Neolithic Jordan (pp. 201–213). Berlin: Ex Oriente.
Rollefson, G. O. (2000). Ritual and social structure at Neolithic ‘Ain Ghazal. In I. Kuijt (Ed.), Life
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(pp. 165–190). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
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Gebel, & R. Neef (Eds.), Central settlements in Neolithic Jordan (pp. 145–155). Berlin: Ex
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401–420.
Chapter 6
Infectious Diseases: Conquest or
Coexistence?
Taro Yamamoto
Abstract The twenty-first century is considered to be one in which the development

of medical science and a science of infectious diseases based on “coexistence” is
being sought. However, coexistence will incur costs. We do not have a prescription
for coping with the problem at hand. However, I am certain without question that
“coexistence” is the direction to which we should be advancing. As there is no such
thing as complete adaptation and as we learn from history that a complete adaptation
does not go beyond raising the curtain for the next tragedy, coexistence may possibly
be something that must be sought as an act of compromise, which “cannot be said to
be comfortable.”
6.1 Measles
6.1.1 Recorded Measles Outbreaks on Islands
In locations such as Iceland, Alaska, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the islands of the
Arctic Circle, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, and other islands in the Pacific Ocean, there are
records of the various diseases and epidemics that have occurred. The most detailed
of these records is of the measles outbreak in the Faroe Islands.
The Faroe Islands are a self-governing Danish territory in the northern Atlantic
Ocean located around 62 degrees northern latitude between Iceland and the western
coastline of Norway. With a total land area of approximately 1400 square kilome-
ters, the Faroe Islands consist of 18 volcanic islands. Although the current popula-
tion numbers slightly over 48,000 people, a mere 7800 people lived there in the
mid-1800s. The predominant trade of the locals is and has always been fishing. In
1846, a measles outbreak occurred on these islands. As a result of this outbreak, the
Danish government sent a doctor, Peter Ludwig Panum (1820–1885), to the Faroe
Islands. He was 26 years old at the time.
T. Yamamoto (*)
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

86 T. Yamamoto
Upon arrival, the young Panum began visiting each village, interviewing and
examining the inhabitants. From these visits, Panum left behind detailed records
(Panum 1940) of the individuals who had exposed the village to the infection and
where they had been infected initially.
Ten men from Tjörnevig Village had arrived in the village of Vestmannhavn to
participate in whaling. This was on June 4, 1846. After the initial appearance of
symptoms, which included coughing and conjunctivitis, all 10 men had begun to
exhibit symptoms specific to measles by June 18. Approximately 2 weeks later,
measles broke out among the people of Vestmannhavn. Individuals who had avoided
the initial outbreak also developed measles 2 weeks after that. After surveying
42 villages, Panum was able to determine that the average incubation period of the
disease, from exposure to the development of symptoms, was between 10 and
12 days. He also determined that a measles patient was infectious 2 days prior to
the appearance of symptoms, isolation was ultimately ineffective as a preventative
measure, and no one over the age of 65 had contracted the disease. The previous
measles outbreak on the Faroe Islands had occurred 65 years earlier in 1781.
Although there were very few deaths from the outbreak of 1846, out of the approx-
imately 7800 inhabitants, 6100 had become infected with this disease at some stage.
Panum’s observational report was published the next year in 1847.
Panum noted that the nature and climate of the Faroe Islands meant that the
temperature remained cool even in the middle of the driest summers and that fires
were essential throughout the year. There were strong winds and very few trees, and
herbaceous plants were the predominant vegetation. When the wind finally stopped,
the ensuing silence was deafening. He also noted the thick winter snow, and the
monochromatic, melancholic scenery of winter was a far cry from the comfortable
Danish climate he had left behind.
6.1.2 Great Tragedy in the History of the Pacific
In 1875, measles broke out in the Fijian Islands (Hays 2005; Morens 1998). This
epidemic began after the King of Fiji returned from a formal visit to Australia. King
Seru Epenisa Cakobau (1815–1883) and his sons, Ratu Timoci and Ratu Josefa, had
been infected with measles during their stay in Sydney. Despite the royal family
contracting the disease, the British naval vessel Dido carrying the royal party
continued its journey, neither flying a yellow flag as notification of a disease
outbreak onboard nor anchoring offshore for quarantine purposes.
To celebrate the return of the King and his sons, the chiefs and their retinues of
over 100 islands gathered in the capital of Levuka on the island of Ovalau. Celebra-
tory banquets were held for 10 consecutive days. Once the celebrations were over,
the chiefs returned to their islands, and in one fell swoop, measles was spread across
the entire Fijian region, spanning a total area of over 1.8 million square kilometers.
Of the total population of approximately 150,000 people, 40,000 died in just
3 months. The mortality rate exceeded 25% and both adults and children were
6 Infectious Diseases: Conquest or Coexistence? 87
affected in the same way. The sheer ferocity of this terrible disease is believed to
have been the result of the Fijian Islands being virgin territory for the measles virus.
The severity of this measles epidemic was such that it has gone down in history as
“one of the great tragedies in the history of the Pacific.”
6.1.3 Common Infections
However, measles of epidemic proportions lasted to the very end in the islands of the
Arctic Circle. In Iceland, measles outbreaks occurred in 1846, 1882, and 1904,
outbreaks that took place once every 20–30 years. The outbreak of 1904 began
with the introduction of measles by Norwegian whalers during April of that year.
Measles spread to the entire island after a church mass was conducted in a remote
village, with those who attended becoming mediators of the disease (Cliff et al.
1983). The outbreak that occurred in Greenland in 1951 is believed to have been the
last large-scale outbreak in virgin territory. Of the 4262 people living in the south of
the country, a mere few dozen escaped infection (Bech 1962, 1965). Heart failure
caused by pulmonary edema was the most serious of the complications and was seen
in around 2% of the infected; with only a single exception, those with this compli-
cation were over the age of 35. The onset of encephalitis was seen in six individuals,
while many experienced pneumonia or middle ear inflammation, but the most
frequently observed complication was nosebleeds.
There has not been a measles outbreak of this magnitude since the Greenland
outbreak, which affected the very population dynamics of the region. This is due to
none other than the world becoming “smaller” because of the development of air
travel and the fact that this has led to all humans acquiring immunity against measles
as one large global group.
Of the various infectious diseases, measles has become one of the world’s more
common infections.
6.1.4 Measles Through Human History
Around the time the first civilizations suddenly arose, the measles virus, once hosted
by dogs and cattle, jumped species to begin infecting humans (Table 6.1). As a result
of this adaptive evolution, measles became a human illness (Andrews 1964). The
Table 6.1 Diseases passed Human disease Closest pathogen found in animals
on from animals
Measles Dogs
Smallpox Cattle
Influenza Waterfowl (ducks)
Whooping cough Pigs, dogs
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Fertile Crescent, located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, was the birthplace
of measles. Measles arose in this location simply because it was the first location in
human history to contain a population large enough to sustain the continuous
prevalence of the disease.
It has been suggested that a population of at least a few hundred thousand people
is required for measles to be constantly prevalent (Cockburn 1971; Black 1966).
Societies with such populations first appeared with the sudden rise of civilization
when agriculture first began. Since then, humans have built cities and developed
industries, enabling the rapid expansion of populations; however, all this is relatively
recent in the grand scheme of things when considering the few million years that
human history spans.
In the meantime, the population dynamics of various islands differ. The popula-
tion scale of these islands is small, and in many cases, the small number of
inhabitants is spread out across a number of islands. Measles outbreaks that are
almost epidemic in proportion occur in a regular cycle every few decades by
introduction to the population from the outside. The outbreak, however, is tempo-
rary. The measles outbreaks on each of these isolated and remote islands, including
the Faroe and Fijian Islands, Iceland, and Greenland, are examples of this type of
disease prevalence.
In addition to those on islands, a similar situation would most likely have
occurred in other small groups. In such groups, a highly infectious acute infection
such as measles is introduced to the population and an outbreak occurs; however, as
the scale of the group population is relatively small, the disease cannot be maintained
and the infection disappears (Adels et al. 1962).
From this perspective, the measles virus was very “well timed.” The virus had the
“good fortune” of being in the same area as the cradle of human civilization,
Mesopotamia. While the disease, which had been established in human society
around 3000 BCE, was based in Mesopotamia itself, sudden outbreaks would
occur repeatedly in the surrounding regions. Eventually, agriculture spread through-
out the world, leading to societies of fixed population scales appearing worldwide.
These subsequently became new residences for the disease, and thus the measles
virus spread throughout the world.
Measles, a disease that had arisen in Mesopotamia in 3000 BCE, eventually
“breached” all virgin territory by the mid-twentieth century. It had taken approxi-
mately 5000 years for measles to become established in every corner of the globe.
Measles is well known as a highly infectious disease, and it is difficult to believe that
a disease with such a high level of infectiousness required 5000 years to finally
“invade” all virgin territory.
Measles spread worldwide over the course of 5000 years, becoming one of the
most common infections. It was not that the biological composition of the virus
required this period to spread the disease. It is more accurate to say that the changes
to human society allowed measles to span the world, resulting in it becoming
commonplace. The development of various means of transportation, including
mass transport, and the transition to a modern world system where the whole
world was drawn into a single labor division system changed the pattern of measles
prevalence. No matter how isolated, there are no longer any societies that are
removed enough from measles for an outbreak to reach epidemic proportions.
6.1.5 “Children’s Diseases”
In modern-day society, measles is known as a “children’s disease.” Not only measles

but also highly infectious diseases such as mumps, rubella, and chickenpox are
included in this category. Although considered “children’s diseases,” this does not
necessarily mean that children are particularly susceptible to these infections. With-
out immunity, adults are just as susceptible to these diseases. Such examples can be
observed in the measles outbreaks in various isolated areas. In the Fijian Islands,
where measles wiped out one-quarter of the local population, both infection rates and
mortality rates were higher in adults than in children. In modern society, however,
where a large number of adults have immunity, children are solely susceptible. It is
for this reason that such diseases appear to affect only children.
As society changes, such children’s diseases may cease to become exclusively
childhood diseases. This is seen in advanced countries with regard to polio and
chickenpox. In societies with improved hygiene, and where families no longer live in
such close proximity with one another, exposure to pathogens during childhood
becomes less likely. Children avoid such infections during this time, resulting in an
increased number of infections during adolescence and adulthood.
In the spring of 2007, a measles outbreak occurred among university students
within the central metropolitan area of Tokyo, and as a result, a large number of
universities within the area were forced to close (Nagai et al. 2009). Measles is
considered a notifiable disease under the Infectious Disease Control Law in Japan,
and the numbers of infected individuals are reported weekly from 3000 sentinel
pediatric hospitals around the country. According to these surveillance reports, the
number of infected children peaks at 1 year of age, with approximately half of all the
infected being under the age of 2 years.
The ratio of older infected individuals has increased in recent years, regardless of
the declining rate of vaccinations. Typically, vaccinations lead to an increase in the
average age of infection. When a group of people is inoculated with a vaccine,
thereby increasing the ratio of the population with immunity, infection declines
during the childhood years. As a result, the onset of the classic “children’s diseases”
during childhood becomes less likely.
6.1.6 Mysteries Surrounding Measles
Measles caused vast amounts of damage when sudden outbreaks occurred in isolated
communities considered virgin territory. During the Fijian measles epidemic of
1875, 40,000 people, over one-quarter of the entire population, died within the
90 T. Yamamoto
very short period of 3 months. When measles broke out among the Inuit people of
isolated Alaska in 1900, the mortality rate exceeded 40%.
The larger damage caused to adolescents may also be characteristic of measles
outbreaks in such virgin territories. Even Panum, who surveyed the measles out-
break of the Faroe Islands in 1846, noted in his report the epidemiological charac-
teristic of a higher death rate among those in their prime. When examining the death
rates of each age bracket in family registries between 1835 and 1845, there were no
changes to the mortality rates in the 1–20-year age bracket when comparing the years
during which measles outbreaks occurred and the years in which they did not.
However, the mortality rate increased by 2.5 times in 30–50-year-olds.
In the Western countries, the mortality rate from measles has declined greatly
since the beginning of the twentieth century. Once a lethal illness, measles is now an
“amicable” children’s disease. In fact, the measles mortality rate in the Western
countries in the 1940s had decreased to one-tenth of the rate recorded 100 years
earlier. In fact, this was the case decades before the introduction of vaccinations. It
was around this same period that a large number of people in the Polar Regions
became victims of sudden outbreaks (outbreaks within the virgin territories).
Even today, the mortality rate from measles in developing countries remains high
(5–10%). Although some scholars blame malnutrition among other reasons, some
research results contradict this, demonstrating that malnutrition is not one of the
main causes of this high mortality rate. Clearly, there are no conclusive explanations
even today.
6.1.7 Big Tragedies, Small Tragedies
In Panum’s report, he noted that the mortality rate in Faroe Island children around
the time of his surveys (during the mid-nineteenth century) was in fact lower than
that of his Danish homeland. Compared with around 360 deaths for every 1000
children under the age of 10 years in Denmark, there were only about 260 deaths out
of every 1000 children in the Faroe Islands. The average lifespan of the Faroe
Islanders was approximately 45 years, higher than the average lifespan of
Europeans of the same period. The average lifespan at the time was around
21 years in Russia; 30 years in Germany; 35 years in Switzerland; 36 years in
France, Denmark, and Belgium; and 39 years in England. Panum explained that at
the very least, in Faroe Islands, there were no outbreaks of acute infections such as
smallpox, measles, whooping cough, or scarlet fever between 1835 and 1845.
Whooping cough is an acute respiratory infection caused by the gram-negative
bacillus Bordetella pertussis and is a disease characterized by convulsive fits of
coughing. Even today, this disease causes between 200,000 and 400,000 deaths
(predominantly of children) in developing countries. Scarlet fever is an air-borne,
eruptive infection that often manifests in children between the ages of 2 and 10 years.
Inflammation of the middle ear and kidneys occur, with rheumatic fever a possible
complication. Prior to the development of antibiotics, this was a greatly feared
disease. The last smallpox outbreak in the Faroe Islands was in 1705. According to
local history, the smallpox outbreak of the time wiped out an entire village.
In a society where acute infections have become “children’s diseases,” children’s
lives are lost annually and the child mortality rate increases. Conversely, in societies
where such acute infections are yet to be classified as “children’s diseases,” these
acute infections, which assail the population every few decades, have a devastating
effect on not only children but also the entire society. Being at the mercy of these
effects, such societies regenerate in the interim few decades. This then paves the way
for the occurrence of an entirely new tragedy, where history repeats itself. Looking
back over the history of human societies, what put the brakes on such “big tragedies”
was the shift of acute infections becoming “children’s diseases.” This, however,
brought about the annual alternative “small tragedies.”
Yet, what can be done to minimize these small tragedies while completely
avoiding the bigger tragedies that could potentially destroy a society? To answer
this question, we must learn from history. This cannot be achieved simply by
eradicating a pathogen. Pathogen eradication is like magma building up underneath
the earth’s crust, silently waiting for the next eruption, undoubtedly bringing about
future catastrophes (a large tragedy). A symbiotic relationship with the pathogen is
therefore required, regardless of the consequences being unpleasant for
human beings. I discuss this subject in the final part of this chapter. Nevertheless,
before we reach those final pages, let us first embark on a journey that traces the
relationship between infectious diseases and humanity.
6.2 The Infectious Diseases of the Hunter-Gatherers
6.2.1 Isolated Populations and Infection
Members of the Yale University Departments of Microbiology and Epidemiology

have been studying the prevalence of two types of infectious diseases in the
indigenous people living in the Amazon Basin (Black 1975). The first type includes
chronic infections such as tuberculosis and leprosy. The second consists of acute
infections, such as measles, rubella, mumps, influenza, parainfluenza, and even
poliomyelitis. Among the indigenous societies in the Amazon Basin, the chronic
infections, classified first, are endemic; however, the acute diseases classified sec-
ondarily cannot be maintained. Whether a disease is endemic is determined using an
antibody test. If carriers of a disease are found uniformly throughout all age groups
of a population, the disease is considered endemically prevalent, while the presence
of antibodies only in individuals above a certain age suggests the sudden prevalence
of a particular disease around the time these individuals were born.
These results support the hypothesis derived from observing measles outbreaks in
isolated locations such as islands or the Polar Regions, in that acute infections cannot
be sustained in isolated, small populations. According to a study conducted to North
Alaskan Eskimos, even infections of polio – a virus that can continue surviving
92 T. Yamamoto
outside the body for months at a time – could not be sustained in small population
(Paul et al. 1951; Paul 1951). Speaking of small populations, it is understood that
during the early stages of humanity, people lived in even smaller groups than they do
now. How was the life and health of such early humans?
6.2.2 Infection in the Early Stages of Humanity
Approximately 10 million years ago, the Great Rift Valley spanning north to south
along the African continent became increasingly active, elevating the surrounding
areas. The equatorial westerly winds that brought moist air from the Atlantic hit this
elevated area, and over time, gradually changed the eastern side of the Great Rift
Valley into dry grassland, savannah. Under such circumstances, one primate species
began to move into this newly emerged grassland environment. These were the
ancestors of modern-day humans.
To these humans, who until then had resided in forests, the large numbers of
wildlife inhabiting these grasslands was an entirely different ecology. The opportu-
nities for early humans to encounter wildlife, in particular large animals, were
suddenly increased. Under such circumstances, these early humans would have
been exposed to both fecal matter and water contaminated by them (fecal matter);
therefore the risk of parasitic infection originating from other animals is also thought
to have increased. The risk of such parasites being passed from person to person,
however, would of course have been much lower than in a society centered on a
fixed settlement.
Despite the human ancestors of this time adapting to a new ecological environ-
ment, it is believed that these early humans strongly retained similar characteristics
to other primates of the same ancestry. This, too, is true of the hunter-gatherer
lifestyle adopted in small groups by these early humans. The lack of sustained
acute infections in such small groups has been mentioned previously; however,
some infectious diseases can be maintained in such an environment. These are
diseases where pathogens can survive for long periods within the host or pathogens
that have a host other than a human. One example is leprosy, whose causative
bacteria can survive for long periods within the host or zoonotic diseases such as
malaria and schistosomiasis, for which a vector or intermediate host ensures the
survival of the infection outside the human body. Even early humans would have
experienced some kind of infection. Among these, undoubtedly, were infectious
diseases transmitted from other primates.
Even today, wild gorillas and chimpanzees are affected by common infections as
humans are, including tuberculosis and malaria. It is also highly likely that malaria
existed in the early stages of human evolution. The co-speciation hypothesis sug-
gests that the protozoan responsible for causing malignant malaria is highly likely to
have become specialized in a common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, in
parallel with the divergence of them, around 5–7 million years ago, and since then
evolved separately in humans (Rich et al. 2009).
6.2.3 African Trypanosomiasis and Early Humans
The gross volume (biomass per unit land area) of large wildlife is said to have been
the highest in Eastern Africa during this period compared with that in any other
environment or time throughout history (Howell and Bourlière 2008). When the
ancestors of humans abandoned their arboreal lifestyle and advanced into the open
grasslands, a void unlike anything encountered before appeared in the food chain.
Our human ancestors began to prey on large wildlife on an enormous scale. As a
result, many large animals became extinct at the hands of our ancestors.
Despite this, not all large animals were hunted to extinction. In fact, one factor
that saved some of these animals during this critical time was an infectious disease,
in particular African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness).
African trypanosomiasis is a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan
Trypanosoma brucei. These protozoa are carried by the tsetse fly, which is widely
distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This disease has caused major damage to
both humans and livestock living in the region between the Sahara and Kalahari
Deserts. In terms of livestock, an area of 15 million square kilometers, close to
40 times the area of Japan and 1.5 times to the United States, is no longer suitable for
livestock husbandry because of this infectious disease. In humans, 60 million people
are exposed to the risk of infection even today; 500,000 people become infected and
approximately 60,000 deaths are recorded each year. This infectious disease, thought
to have diverged from other trypanosomiasis protozoa around 300 million years ago
(Haag et al. 1998) and becoming specialized in African mammals via the tsetse fly,
does not cause ill health in African animals such as the gazelle or antelope
(Steverding 2008). This incredibly long evolutionary process may have brought
about adaptive relationships in certain species. If African trypanosomiasis did not
exist, the early humans sitting at the very pinnacle of the food chain would have
overrun the grasslands, potentially leading to the extinction of all large fauna. Had
this happened, human history would have led to a very different outcome from what
it is today.
6.2.4 Prehistoric Humans
There existed the primarily nomadic, hunter-gatherer people of northern Lake

Tanganyika, where the total population amounts to around 800 individuals. A
study (Steverding 2008; Jelliffe et al. 1962) was conducted on this population. The
daily food intake consisted of items either hunted or gathered and in some cases even
included baboons and hyenas, but not turtles. After childbirth, the umbilical cord
was severed with a knife, and until the remaining umbilicus fell away naturally, it
was tied off using items such as animal tendons and covered with a mixture of soot
and grease. Of 62 children examined among these people, none was malnourished
and there was not a single case of tooth decay. Tapeworm was observed in the fecal
94 T. Yamamoto
matter of only four children, and although flagellates were observed in three chil-
dren, no cases of roundworm or hookworm were observed in any of the children
examined. Although many of the children suffered from tinea, infectious diseases
such as measles or rubella were not observed. When these children were 10 years
old, they began hunting birds and small animals, and once they learned to hunt, they
left the care of their parents to live among another tribe.
In addition to being a small group, a specific characteristic of the hunter-gatherer
society is mobility, and among the hunter-gatherers mentioned above, there have
been incidents of individuals who were seriously ill or on the verge of death being
abandoned when the tribe moved on. Settling in one location is difficult in a lifestyle
dependent on natural resources by hunting game and gathering plants. It also
exhausts the natural resources of the immediate surrounding area, which in turn is
detrimental to the people living there. One way to avoid such an outcome is to
become nomadic and be constantly on the move. The movement of people would
therefore repeatedly coincide with the regeneration periods of the surrounding
natural environment.
Many characteristics stand out in such a nomadic society when compared with a
settled society. One such characteristic is the very few cases of re-infection occurring
because of fecal matter, which occurs more frequently in settled societies. Other-
wise, perhaps it is more accurate to say that the risk of coming into contact with one’s
own fecal matter increases by settling in one site. Based on staying in one location
and living in the same space for a long period, it is easy to imagine the increased risk
of coming into contact with fecal matter that has accumulated close to a human
settlement. Human settlement, thus, increases the risk of contracting both gastroin-
testinal infectious diseases and parasitic diseases. Undoubtedly, some diseases are
transmitted through human use of contaminated water. Although a generalization, it
can be said that a settled living arrangement is grounds for the easy transfer of
infectious diseases in comparison to a nomadic life.
A study has been conducted to determine whether any traces of parasitic diseases
could be detected in coprolites left behind by indigenous people and found in caves
in the state of Nevada in the United States. A coprolite is the fossilized fecal matter of
animals or humans. Analyzing the contents of a coprolite, such as pollen or parasites,
allows a researcher to speculate on the eating habits and health of the person who left
it. Coprolite research has been developed in the Americas, where soil acidity is
relatively low. In a country such as Japan, which has relatively acidic soil, coprolites
and other fossilized remains of organic matter are difficult to obtain.
No parasite eggs or larvae were detected from these particular coprolites. Anthro-
pologists have concluded that prehistoric humans possibly lived with comparatively
little association with parasitic diseases of the gastrointestinal system.
On one hand, these results can lead to some bold deductions. Of the intestinal
parasites, hookworm, roundworm, and whipworm are parasitic only in humans.
Infection becomes possible for these parasites once their eggs are incubated in the
ground or once the larvae have developed within the eggs. For egg incubation or
larval development to take place, the temperature must first be around 20 C. The
ancestors of the indigenous American people who lived in the caves of Nevada,
however, were the Mongoloids that had journeyed from Siberia approximately
25,000 years ago. They are thought to have reached the New World by crossing
the Bering Sea, which was solid land at that time due to the lowered sea levels of the
last ice age. By the time the Bering Sea had become sea once more around
14,000 years ago, the Mongoloid people had crossed Siberia and then Alaska over
many generations and had made their way south toward the New World. The
question here is whether intestinal parasites were able to sustain the infection cycle
through areas as cold as Siberia and Alaska. If the parasite eggs excreted in the fecal
matter were unable to incubate or develop due to the cold, the cycle of infection for
this parasite would be broken. Thus, the ancestors of the indigenous Americans
might have inadvertently removed such parasites simply by passing through the
Arctic Circle.
In turn, the indigenous Americans are said to have traditionally eaten wormseed,
locally called epazote, a wild herb. The name of epazote is a combination of Aztec
words for “skunk” and “sweet.” Epazote is a plant that grows throughout the year
even in the most barren of areas. The young leaves are crimson purple. It is also
known for its anthelmintic medicinal properties and is utilized as an anthelmintic in
some areas even today. At some point, parasitic infections may have appeared
among the indigenous American people. This may also suggest adaptive trends in
the behavior of people in relation to disease, with such adaptive behavior also
observed in chimpanzees and gorillas. In other words, this adaptive behavior toward
diseases common in higher-order primates may have been genetically programmed
at an early stage during their evolution.
The vital infections during this period were the zoonotic diseases, such as anthrax
and botulism (Cockburn 1971). Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, a
rod-shaped, gram-positive bacterium. Transmission to humans is usually via the
fur or meat of an infected animal. Transmission through the skin is most common;
however, infection can occur through the inhalation of spores or by eating tainted
meat. The disease occurs primarily in three forms: cutaneous, respiratory, and
gastrointestinal. In cutaneous anthrax, the bacteria usually invade the host through
a small skin lesion, such as an abrasion. Papules appear days after infection, erupting
and ulcerating, subsequently leading to black scabbing. A high fever ensues, and
without treatment, the mortality rate lies between 10% and 20%. Pulmonary anthrax
occurs as a result of the anthrax bacteria being inhaled. Influenza-like symptoms
appear, including high fever, coughing, and bloody phlegm, and the mortality rate
exceeds 90%. Gastrointestinal anthrax occurs due to the ingestion of anthrax bacte-
ria. The primary symptoms include high fever, vomiting, stomachache, ascites, and
diarrhea, and the mortality rate is between 25% and 50%.
Botulism is caused by the toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum, a gram-
positive bacillus. This bacterium is strictly anaerobic and is transmitted by the
ingestion of animal flesh. The toxin produced by the bacterium invades the periph-
eral neuromuscular junction and autonomic synapses, often causing paralysis in all
four limbs. In severe cases, paralysis occurs in the respiratory muscles, causing
death. Fever is not usually a symptom, with the victim remaining conscious and
lucid until death. Between 1945 and 1962, mass outbreaks of botulism occurred
96 T. Yamamoto
among the Eskimos living in Alaska no less than 18 times. Fifty-two individuals
contracted the disease, following which 28 people died (Myer 1956). Neither
anthrax nor botulism is transmitted from person to person, but the bacterial spores
responsible can survive for tens of years in the surrounding environment.
Had the prehistoric humans escaped such infectious diseases, they may have led
relatively good and healthy lives. Compared with today, exposure to cancer-causing
chemicals and agents or lifestyle diseases brought on by a lack of exercise would
undoubtedly have been rare. Even studies conducted on modern-day nomads rarely
demonstrate a severe lack of lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and
high blood pressure. The almost sole exception is the claim that prehistoric humans
were prone to arthritis. Provided accidents were avoided during infancy and injuries
sustained during adolescence were overcome; adults in prehistoric times were most
likely relatively healthy and suffered from very few diseases. At the very least, the
image conjured of prehistoric man today is definitely not one of humans huddled in a
dark cave, suffering from infectious diseases and living in unsanitary conditions.
6.3 An Epidemiological Turning Point
A turning point in the relationship between humans and infectious disease came with
the beginning of agriculture, the creation of fixed settlements, and the domestication
of wild animals.
6.3.1 Increased Populations
With the beginning of agriculture, society changed completely, all the way down to
its very foundations. First, through an increased harvest yield per unit area, a much
higher population could be supported in a specific area of land. As a result,
populations increased. Second, agriculture gave rise to a new living arrangement,
where people could stay in one location. These settlements allowed the shortening of
birth intervals, which further contributed toward an increase in the population. In
comparison to the birthing interval somewhere between 4 and 5 years of a hunter-
gatherer society (Howell 1986), a settled agricultural society halved this interval to
an average of 2 years. Without the need for constant movement, more time and effort
could be set aside for raising children. Incidentally, other predominantly arboreal
primates have a much longer birthing interval, with the average birthing interval of
chimpanzees being 5 years and that of orangutans being approximately 7 years. The
orangutan has the longest birthing interval of all primates.
Of course, the population is not likely to have increased in a completely linear
fashion. Nutrition would have declined somewhat during the early stages of agri-
culture. In the short term, the population would also have stagnated. As a long-term
trend, however, human populations have continually been on the rise.
Prehistoric populations are estimated using calculations of the population-bearing

capacity of the land. According to one calculation method, the land required to
sustain a single hunter-gatherer during the first half of the Paleolithic age (approx-
imately 1.5 million years ago) was approximately 26 square kilometers. Using basic
calculations, this would equate to a population-bearing capacity of 0.025 people per
square kilometer. By the latter half of the Paleolithic age (approximately
50,000 years ago), this had risen to 0.1 people per square kilometer, which was
about the same time a new breed of humans emerged in Africa (approximately
50,000–70,000 years ago), with the population increasing from a few tens of
thousands to approximately 1 million (Simmons 1996). Of this population, a few
hundred people, or 2000 at most, left Africa and began to spread throughout the
world (Wade 2007).
This spreading population had increased to 5 million by the time agriculture
began about 11,000 years ago, breaking through the 100 million barrier around
500 BCE and numbering approximately 300 million by start of the new era in the
Western calendar. The global population that had taken 50,000 years to multiply
20 times had multiplied the same again in just 10,000 years after the dawn of
agriculture, after which it increased 20-fold again in just 2000 years.
Yet, when farming and agriculture was first discovered, did people jump at this
revolutionary technology that could guarantee a higher food yield than hunting or
gathering? The reality was likely not so simple. Seeds planted in the spring are
harvested in the fall. There is no way, however, of accurately predicting what would
happen between these seasons. This is particularly true of the first attempts at
agriculture, a new concept that had never until then been encountered by humans.
There could have been floods. There may have been drought. The plants may have
become victims of disease or attacked by plagues of locusts. Agriculture, particularly
in those early stages and even in comparison with hunting and gathering, did not
necessarily have high expected returns. Furthermore, agriculture requires a longer
period of labor than hunting or gathering. Thus, agriculture undoubtedly began
gradually alongside hunting and gathering, rather than simply taking over. Even
after agriculture began, people would have continued their hunting and gathering
activities. At this point, it is unlikely that humans truly and fully grasped the
potential that agriculture held. Looking at the result, however, agriculture has greatly
changed the course of human history after its initial development.
6.3.2 Domestication of Wild Animals
At around the same time settlements were formed and agriculture began, the
domestication of animals also occurred in the same areas. This took place approx-
imately 11,000 years ago around 9000 BCE. This great step was taken in Mesopo-
tamia, the area located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This area is known
as Iraq today.
98 T. Yamamoto
The domestication of wild animals changed human society in a number of ways.

First, the fecal matter of livestock was good fertilizer. Second, horses and cows
expanded the area of arable land. For example, the indigenous people living in the
Great Plains of North America that lie east of the Rocky Mountains farmed only
along river valleys. This was purely because cultivation was conducted only by
human hands and the soil along these valleys was soft and easy to plow. Farming on
harder ground was only made possible after livestock and plowing technology
reached the Americas from Europe in the nineteenth century. Third, domesticated
animals also functioned to store surplus crops. Any surplus production was utilized
as feed, and during times of famine or failed crops, the livestock themselves became
a food source for the people. Although not a definitive solution to such problems,
there is no mistaking that the existence of domesticated animals determined the
survival of humans at one stage or another. In this way, the domestication of wild
animals contributed through these means to an increase in human populations.
After agriculture took off, or even prior to this point in time, the labor involved in
hunting and gathering was becoming a task that reaped little reward. Excessive
hunting and gathering was depleting natural resources, with one theory stating that
this depletion was the reason humanity turned to agriculture and domestication.
Easter Island is an example of this theory (Flenley and Bahn 2003; Van Tilburg
1994; Diamond 2006).
Located in the eastern corner of the Polynesian Triangle, Easter Island is 3700
kilometers west of the Chilean capital of Santiago and 4000 kilometers east of Tahiti.
With a perimeter of 60 kilometers and an area upward of 160 square kilometers,
Easter Island is also known as “Rapa Nui,” which means “widespread land” in the
Polynesian languages. There are no true islands in the vicinity. In fact, Easter Island
is completely isolated in the Pacific Ocean. The closest island is 415 kilometers
away, with the closest inhabited island around 2000 kilometers away.
Humans arrived on this island at around 500 CE. They brought the domesticated
fowl with them. These people crossed the Pacific in boats carved from wood. At the
time of their arrival, Easter Island was abundant with thick, green palms. By the
seventh or eighth century CE, the people were building altars, and by the tenth
century, they began creating the great “Moai” sculptures out of stone. This continued
until around the seventeenth century. Then, the creation of the Moai statues suddenly
ceased. The reason for this sudden cessation lay in the destruction of the environ-
ment due to excessive deforestation. Vast amounts of topsoil had leached from the
island, which had lost its forests. The land was depleted and the sea polluted. Food
shortage became a serious problem.
It was at this point that the locals began utilizing the fowl as a staple food source.
Heretofore, as long as wild birds and small whales could be secured as food, there
was no need for the domesticated fowl to become a major food source. Bone remains
exhumed from the island testify to this. A similar story unfolded in the Fertile
Crescent, where the first human civilizations emerged. The domestication of wild
animals in Mesopotamia has been said to have occurred as a result of a decline in
gazelle numbers, the target species of hunters at the time.
There are even scholars that claim that a rise in global temperatures brought about
the beginning of agriculture and the domestication of wild animals. The last ice age
ended approximately 10,000 years ago. Since then, the Earth has entered an inter-
glacial period and a warm and stable era has continued. This era, which includes the
present, has been called the “miracle 10,000 years.” This warmer climate has
contributed toward providing land suitable for agriculture and has expanded the
habitat range of wild animals in addition to providing the flexibility in choosing
livestock appropriate for agriculture.
6.3.3 The Emergence of Infectious Diseases
Although the full-scale shift to an agricultural and settled society fostered the
development of civilization, this shift is also responsible for the many trials that
humanity has faced throughout history. One such trial was infection.
Settling permanently in a single location caused an increase in parasitic diseases,
such as ancylostomiasis (hookworm disease) and ascariasis. Ancylostomiasis occurs
from parasite eggs excreted in feces that incubate and hatch in the ground that then
grow and infect the body through the skin. Ascariasis occurs through the excretion of
parasite eggs in the feces that enter the body via ingestion. An increased human
population means that fecal matter is accumulated in the areas surrounding the
permanent settlements. Thus, these parasitic diseases became established success-
fully in this environment, with the reuse of fecal matter as fertilizer further
entrenching such diseases.
Surplus food grown and stored as a result of farming became a food source for
mice and other small animals. Carrying fleas and mites, these rodents then began
carrying certain types of infectious diseases into human society. Well-known infec-
tious diseases carried by fleas and mites include Lyme disease, made famous by
infant arthritis; rabbit fever, characterized by fever, shivering, and ulcerations;
Coxiella disease (Q-fever) and scrub typhus caused by Rickettsia; and of course,
the plague.
The domestication of wild animals introduced animal-originated virus infections
into human society (please refer to the graph below). Smallpox is thought to have
originated in cattle, measles in dogs, influenza in waterfowl, and whooping cough in
either pigs or dogs. Needless to say, these species are sociable and, prior to
domestication by humans, lived in groups in the wide, open grasslands spanning
the Eurasian continent.
There are even pathogens that have been transmitted to domestic animals from
humans. For example, Mycobacterium bovis, which is responsible for bovine tuber-
culosis but also causes the disease in human, originated from M. tuberculosis, a
human strain. Genetic analyses suggest that the M. bovis branched away from the
M. tuberculosis some 30,000 years ago, give or take a few thousand years (Gutierrez
et al. 2005).
100 T. Yamamoto
Increase in food production Population increases

Agriculture begins
Sedentary living (Providing grounds for
infection transfer)
(Accelerated)
Domestication of wild animals

(Measles, smallpox, whooping cough,
influenza, etc.)
Certain types of infections

take root in human society
Fig. 6.1 Mechanism of infection expanding
Pathogens originating in domestic animals became firmly established within

human society based on an increased human population. In academic terms, a new
ecological niche had been created for the pathogens.
Every living organism has an environment that is essential to its survival. Each
organism must struggle and compete for survival within an ecosystem. When an
organism wins this competition or survives this struggle, the status they have
obtained becomes their ecological niche. The emergence of new ecological niches
in turn brings about evolutionary changes such as adaptive radiation. A striking
example of adaptive radiation is the appearance of multicellular organisms during
the Precambrian era. During this era, the ocean was a giant testing site. First,
organisms emerged from the deep oceans into the shallow seas and began to
photosynthesize. As oxygen concentrations increased, the ozone layer was formed.
This ozone layer then filtered out ultraviolet rays. Such processes led to the estab-
lishment of new ecological niches on land. These new niches freed organisms from
the shackles of stability and encouraged adaptive radiation by providing a new
environment free from competition.
Studies into the mitochondrial genes of malarial parasites show that this parasite
may have suddenly diversified between 20 and 40 million years ago (Hayakawa
et al. 2008). This period coincides with the adaptive radiation of mammals following
the extinction of the dinosaurs (65 million years ago). As the host range expanded
explosively, a new ecological niche was created for the malaria parasite, therefore
possibly leading to the diversification of the protozoan.
The flow chart summarizes the information provided thus far (Fig. 6.1). The rise
of agriculture brought about an increase in food production and a more sedentary
lifestyle. These factors led to an increase in the human population, which in turn
provided the grounds for new infectious diseases. The domestication of wild animals
contributed to the increase in food production by expanding the area of arable land.
Simultaneously, pathogens that had originally utilized wild animals as their hosts
now had access to human hosts (a new ecological niche). With their new ecological
niche, the diversity of these pathogens suddenly increased.
6.4 Rethinking Illness: Conquest or Coexistence (?)
6.4.1 What Is Illness?
In this book, we define both health and illness as an “environmental adaptation

scale.” Adaptation is defined in this context as changes, modifications, and varia-
tions enabling a person or group to survive in a given environment. Like any other
animals, humans adapt through a variety of biological mechanisms, yet they depend
on cultural adaptation more than other species. Further, the word “environment”
does not only refer to the biological environment but is used in a broader sense that
also includes the sociocultural environment. This overlaps with the definition of
health by Richard W. Lieban (Keet et al. 1996):
Health and illness is a scale of the efficacy of a human group with both biological and
cultural resources to adapt to the environment.
Following this train of thought, ill health denotes a condition where an organism
has yet to adapt to its environment. Toward that, human behavior has demonstrated
adaptive trends, which has been mentioned earlier in this chapter.
Should the environment change, however, a temporary maladaptation would
occur. The larger or faster the change, the larger the margin of maladaptation. The
dawn of agriculture spelt a complete change in the environment for humankind. For
a long time, prehistoric man maintained comparatively good health, and as a result,
adaptation to change may have been a difficult transition.
Adapting to changes in the environment begets further changes in the environ-
ment, and adaptations to these new changes bring about further environmental
changes in turn. Since the introduction of agriculture, humans have experienced
this cycle with extreme ferocity. That is, humans have created an environment that
greatly influenced their own good or bad health and have the ability to alter this
situation.
This may have been a Pandora’s box that was never meant to be opened. It is said
that among the many evils that escaped from the box, only a fragment remained, on
which “Elpis” had been written. In ancient Greek, Elpis is translated as both
“expectation” and “hope.” Pandora’s box can be interpreted in two ways. The first
is that although Pandora’s box released many evils into the world, hope remains. The
second interpretation centers on Elpis itself, in that hope and expectations were left
behind; therefore humans were not to give up hope, and despair, but must continue to
hope while forever living with pain and suffering. The story of Pandora’s box is
considerably allegorical but also allusive.
102 T. Yamamoto
6.4.2 Learn from the Past
As was discussed regarding the enigma of measles in the prologue, the fatality rate
from measles, which was previously high, has dropped in urban areas of various
countries and regions, where measles has become epidemic on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, in isolated places, where the population size is small, sudden measles
epidemics have occurred once in a few decades, specifically in polar region villages
or ocean islands. Thus, measles, as ever, continue to exhibit high fatality rates.
Likewise, the mortality rate from tuberculosis has been decreasing since even
before the introduction of modern medicine, suggesting new discoveries of patho-
genic bacteria and the development and widespread use of vaccines or therapeutic
drugs.
Tuberculosis became the greatest infectious disease in nineteenth-century
Europe, along with the development of manufacturing cities as the Industrial Rev-
olution progressed. Polluted air, living in crowded cities, and working long hours in
poorly ventilated factories abetted the tuberculosis epidemic. The leprosaria (leprosy
treatment centers) of the middle ages were replaced by sanitaria (tuberculosis
treatment centers) in various areas. The German author Thomas Mann
(1875–1955) portrayed the life and death of people in an Alpine tuberculosis
sanitarium at the beginning of the 1900s as the setting in his representative work,
The Magic Mountain. It reflects his experience and impressions during a period
when his wife was confined to Waldsanatorium in Davos, Switzerland.
Over the years, the fatality rate from tuberculosis has changed. The figure shows
the number of tuberculosis-related deaths from the mid-1800s and later. The number
of deaths due to tuberculosis over the past 150 years has consistently declined.
Further, the decline began even before the discovery of the pathogenic bacteria,
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, by Koch and the development and introduction of
antibiotics. There is no doubt that the development of vaccines and the discovery
of antibiotics contributed to the decrease in the overall tuberculosis mortality rate.
However, as can be inferred from the mortality rate reduction curve, the effects
thereof are limited. Factors contributing to the decrease include improvements in
nutritional conditions, the living environment, and the working environment or the
result of the combined action of these factors. However, the impact of these factors
on the decrease in the tuberculosis-related mortality rate remains to be fully
understood.
Such attenuation of epidemic strength has also been observed in other diseases.
The epidemic of leprosy (Hansen’s disease) that occurred in Europe during the
middle ages, that is, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, was discussed. In
the centuries that followed, the epidemic slowly waned. The etiology of leprosy
(Hansen’s disease) was not known in that period nor had treatment methods been
established. A number of explanations of the decline in leprosy epidemic have been
proposed, but the underlying cause remains a mystery till date.
Many specialists have come to think that “pathogenicity” is something unique to
the pathogen. In other words, they have come to think that it is determined by the
pathogen’s relative relationship with the host’s resistance. We know that an infection
that does not cause illness in a healthy person will often become fatal in a person
receiving immunosuppressant drugs after transplantation or in a person with an
acquired immunodeficiency condition. However, the decreasing trend in the number
of deaths from tuberculosis and leprosy and the change in the virulence of measles in
the nineteenth century suggest the possibility that the “pathogenicity” of the patho-
gen is influenced by changes in human society or lifestyle.
6.4.3 People’s Behavior and the Evolution of Pathogens
People’s behavior exerts selective pressure and causes pathogens to evolve. We used
a simple mathematical model to virtually simulate an HIV that has a short incubation
period and high infection efficiency and fatality rates (a highly virulent HIV strain)
and an HIV that has a long incubation period and low infection efficiency and fatality
rates (a less virulent HIV strain) in one population at the same time, dividing the
population into two sexual interaction patterns and examining a comparison of the
HIV outbreak aspects.
From the results, a number of facts were understood. First, it was understood that
in the short term (5–100 years), there was a preponderant outbreak of the less
virulent HIV strain in the population whose sexual interaction was temperate,
whereas the highly virulent HIV strain was preponderant in the population whose
sexual interaction was active. The results indicate that in AIDS epidemic, people’s
behavior can exert a pressure that selects the virus strain, with a propensity to select
the highly virulent strain. This kind of selection can be achieved in a relatively short
period, namely, 50–100 years. Nevertheless, in the long term (500–1000 years), the
less virulent strain becomes predominant.
These results agree well with the results of the research by Jaap Hauschmidt et al.,
who conducted a study of AIDS from the initial stages of the outbreak. A research
conducted in Amsterdam from the first half of the 1980s through the 1990s enrolled
male homosexuals as study subjects (Keet et al. 1996; Veugelers et al. 1993;
Veugelers et al. 1994a, b). In the study, the average incubation periods for AIDS
were compared between the beginning of the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic began
in Western European; the latter half of the 1980s, when the new infection rate saw a
peak; and around 1990, when the new HIV infection rate declined. The average
incubation period was shortest in the period when the new infection rate peaked and
was prolonged in the initial period and the period when the new infection rate
declined.
In the beginning of the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic began in Western
Europe, young sexually active homosexuals in Amsterdam were found to have
sexual relations with several people a day or in excess of 100 partners in a year. In
this period, the annual new infection rate among the male homosexuals in Amster-
dam increased to as high as 8%. Among male homosexuals, the transmission of the
virus frequently occurred through anal intercourse. Such frequent virus transmission
104 T. Yamamoto
contributed to the selection of the highly virulent virus. The turning point was in the
middle of the 1980s, when the campaign to promote safer sex was successful,
resulting in prolonged average incubation periods.
The highly virulent HIV strain tends to deplete and escape from its host because
of the high degree of infectivity, fatality, and short incubation period, suggesting that
it can only exist in an environment in which hosts are supplied in succession. That is,
the lower the frequency of contact between those who are infected and those who are
not infected, the more likely the highly virulent virus would undergo natural death,
which is defined as its “virulence.” In addition, when viewed over the long term, the
highly virulent virus tends to disappear while infecting the host population that
supports it (i.e., the sexually active population in terms of HIV infection), whereas
the less virulent virus, which has a long incubation period and low infection
efficiency and fatality rates, becomes predominant and establishes some sort of
stable relationship with its human host.
6.4.4 Co-evolution of Pathogens and Human Beings
In that regard, we will look into the case of the African green monkey virus. SIV,
which is a virus that is closely related to HIV, has infected the African green monkey
for several thousand years. Currently, there are no occurrences of AIDS in African
green monkeys. However, the SIV might have brought about the existence of AIDS.
The possibility that most SIV-infected African green monkeys died at the early stage
of the infection cannot be denied. The small number of males and females that were
left living after being infected produced offspring, and then additionally, the small
number of offspring from among those offspring that remained alive after being
infected left offspring; this cycle is repeated several times over a long period. Finally,
the African green monkeys may have become hosts so that the entire population was
able to coexist with the virus.
Why would the SIV infection initially encountered by African green monkeys
cause AIDS? The strongest selective pressure with regard to adaptation may be that
the pathogen is not especially optimal but operates when it encounters a host that is
susceptible. The replication of the pathogen is initially at the lowest level, but
evolution in the direction of adaptation gradually begins, leaving behind pathogens
that can replicate efficiently. The pathogens that remain alive gradually raise their
total intracorporeal number through the infection of other individuals. The hypoth-
esis is that AIDS occurs as a result. The more imperfect the adaptation is, the higher
the level of the total intracorporeal number that is maintained by the pathogen will
be, probably to withstand the selective pressure. The selection is a selective action
that operates in individuals having different genotypes and is caused by the differ-
ences in survival rate and degree of fitness. Accordingly, the selection acts most
effectively under conditions in which, together with mutations, a large number of
individuals – in this case, pathogens – exist. With that process, illness in the host
occurs; however, if, for example, a virus having a degree of fitness is selected in the
initial selection stage, there is no longer a need to be subject to the selection for
adaptability. In the end, the virus comes to establish a stable relationship with
the host.
John Maynard-Smith (1920–2004), who introduced game theory and “evolution-
arily stable strategy” to biology and greatly influenced twentieth-century biology,
has gone further to state that if the pathogen and the host can exist as separate
individuals, there is no doubt that natural selection will operate “selfishly” with
regard to each individual. However, the selection pressure on a pathogen such as a
virus, which cannot survive without the existence of a host – a condition Maynard-
Smith termed “direct transmission” – finally acts in a direction that raises the degree
of adaptability to the environment of the host (Fester and Margulis 1991).
In his words:
With direct transmission, the genes of the symbiont will leave descendants only to the extent
that the host survives and reproduces. In general, therefore, mutations in the genes of the
symbiont will be established by selection only if they increase the fitness of the host (Fester
and Margulis 1991; Smith and Szathmary 1999).
Maynard-Smith alludes to the fact that beyond a stable relationship, there is a

possibility that the virus increases the fitness to the environment of the host,
suggesting that the likelihood of survival is increased.
6.4.5 The Limits of Adaptation
However, complete adaptation is impossible, and if the environment changes, the

adaptation to the previous environment, on the contrary, causes maladaptation. The
more it adapts, the greater the amplitude becomes. As an example of a case of
overadaptation, we have looked into sickle cell anemia, which is an evolutionary
adaptation against malaria. Societal cultural adaptations can also be considered with
regard to adverse effects due to overadaptation. When excessive hunting is done, the
ecosystem falls apart. This is also true in the case of large-scale livestock raising. We
know how some types of adaptations bring about short-term prosperity and, after
that, long-term difficulties.
The same could also be said about infectious diseases and human beings. Could
not the eradication of a pathogen be called an “adaptation” that has gone too far? The
eradication of infectious diseases neutralizes the selection of genes that imparted
resistance to the infectious diseases. Viewed in the long term, there is a possibility
that the effects on the human race cannot be ignored.
It is also necessary to pay attention to “the conservation of catastrophe” described
by William McNeill (Morse 1993). McNeill raises the history of the subduing of the
Mississippi River that has been attempted by the US Army Corps of Engineers as an
ironic effort of the human race. When spring arrives, the Mississippi River over-
flows, flooding the river basin. From the early 1930s, the US Army Corps of
Engineers began to build levees and embarked on the containment of the Mississippi
106 T. Yamamoto
River. Owing to these efforts, the annual flooding was stopped. However, year after
year, silt accumulated on the riverbed and the levees were also built higher to
accommodate the accumulation. In China, the same has been done from around
800 BC in the Yellow River basin. Every time the Yellow River broke through the
levees and sought a shorter route to flow to the sea, a broad region was flooded. In
the case of the Mississippi River, the levees continued to be built higher. However,
the river cannot flow 100 meters above the ground; thus, eventually a rupture occurs.
When that happens, there is a possibility of extraordinary damage occurring even in
areas unaffected by the ravages of the usual annual flooding before the construction
of the levees.
The more effort put into developing a society without infectious diseases, the
more we wait impatiently for the curtain to rise on a disastrous tragedy. The attitude
of “coexistence,” or “symbiosis,” is necessary to avoid catastrophe. What is more
important than that is probably to understand that at some point in time, the
adaptation that is realized is a product of compromise, which “cannot be said to be
comfortable.” In addition, any type of adaptation is impossible to complete. This is
because a comfortable adaptation does not go beyond being the beginning of the
next tragedy.
6.4.6 The Cost of Coexistence
The twenty-first century is considered to be one in which the development of

medical science and a science of infectious diseases based on “coexistence” is
being sought. However, coexistence will incur costs. To present an easily understood
example, one can cite the case of the Mississippi River, where there flooding
occurred at an annual basis before the building of the levees. In the same manner,
we are faced with infectious diseases that prove to be fatal. There are many that have
not yet built a stable relationship with human hosts. As those who are involved in
medical science, such as physicians, we cannot overlook such diseases. As with
being able to prevent annual flooding by building levees, a modern method needs to
be developed to cope, even partially, with the tragedy, even if we know that the
accumulation of cases of infectious diseases will lead to catastrophe.
I do not have a prescription for coping with the problem at hand. However, I am
certain without question that “coexistence” is the direction to which we should be
advancing. However, when there are individuals who will have to personally pay the
price of such advancement, how should we respond to that dilemma? There is no
correct answer one way or the other. As there is no such thing as complete adaptation
and as we learn from history that a complete adaptation does not go beyond raising
the curtain for the next tragedy, coexistence may possibly be something that must be
sought as an act of compromise, which “cannot be said to be comfortable.”
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Chapter 7
Resilience in the Andes: Ancient Civilisation
and Indigenous Society
Tetsuya Inamura
Abstract In this chapter, we look at changes in the lives and societies of the people
in the Andes region through the lens of resilience. Specifically, we will study the
following historical events to understand how various aspects of resilience develop,
change, and endure in a specific region: disaster resilience in the ancient Andean
civilisation; redistribution system as a form of social resilience supporting the
prosperity of the Inca Empire; the destruction of the Inca Empire following its
encounter with the Europeans; and the Spanish colonisation and its effects on the
indigenous people.
7.1 Preface
This chapter will focus on visualising the past and present of the Andean region,
which has been my field site for many years. First, an overview of the movement of
people and formation of ancient civilisation will be presented. We will then study the
systems that supported the Inca Empire, the conquest of the Spanish, and the
subsistence and society of the indigenous people. As an example of the strong
Inca culture revived today, we will also explore Chacu – a kind of collective hunting
of vicuñas – as a tradition that celebrates coexistence with nature. These themes will
help us understand how various aspects of resilience develop, change, and endure in
specific regions.
Let us begin with an overview of the geography and climate of the Andes. The
Andes stretches for over 8000 km along the west coast of the South American
continent. It can be recognised into the northern, central, and southern parts, and it
was in the central Andes where the Andean civilisation flourished. In the Andes, the
eastern and western mountain range parallel, and the plateau called puna, which is
about 4000 m above sea level, spreads in between the two. As the eastern side of the
mountain leads to the Amazonian tropical rain forest, this eastern range is consumed
T. Inamura (*)
Open University of Japan, Chiba, Japan
e-mail: inamura@ouj.ac.jp

110 T. Inamura
by moisture, which causes heavy rainfalls resulting its mountain top to be constantly
covered with snow. On the other hand, a contrasting desert stretches along the
narrow coastal area located on the west side of central Andes. This is created due
to the Humboldt Current (cold current), flowing into the coast from the south. Yet
fertile valleys are formed in the basins and estuaries of the rivers that flow from the
Andes highlands to the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, while driving from north to south
along the coast, one will past valleys seeing landscapes of somewhat like an oasis
every ten or so kilometres where unique civilisations flourished from ancient times.
Mountainous areas like the Andes are harsh environments for human beings with
steep terrain, thin air in the highlands, and severe changes in temperature. Further-
more, there are frequent earthquakes due to the mechanism of mountain range
formation. On the other hand, the central Andes is a region with the most diverse
natural environment in the world. This is due to its specific geographical condition
being a large low-latitude (tropical) mountainous area. In the central Andes, because
of the elevation differences, ecosystems from tropical to snowy regions are concen-
trated in a relatively small area. Hence, the people of the Andean region have made
good use of the environmental diversity to cultivate various crops and build highly
advanced civilisations. This is why the Andes is a region that provides us with great
examples of cultural adaptation to the natural environment, sustainable use of
resources, and overall resilience.
7.2 Human Migration and Establishment, the Formation

of the Andes Civilisation, and Resilience
7.2.1 Human Migration and Establishment of the South

American Continent
From around 15,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had travelled from Asia to the North
American continent walking along the current Bering Strait which had transformed
into a continuous ground due to the decline of the sea level in the glacial period.
Human beings at the time had little pathogens and no infections from livestock
because they had not domesticated animals other than dogs. In addition, as they were
isolated in a very cold place (such as Alaska) for a long time, human beings were
protected from various infections. Once the glacial climate ended 13,000 years ago
and the enormous ice plates in Canada melted, human beings began to travel
southwards. They steadily and rapidly increased their population with excellent
hunting techniques, successfully catching large mammals as mammoths, mastodon,
and large sloths. After moving and spreading throughout North America, human
beings passed to South America through the Panama isthmus. Some groups may
have been pushed away by population pressure, and other groups may have headed
into the unknown world in search for richer environment. Finally, human beings are
believed to have reached the southernmost part of the South American continent in
7 Resilience in the Andes: Ancient Civilisation and Indigenous Society 111
the stretch of around 1000 years since they began their journey from south Alaska
(Akazawa et al. 1993).
Human beings began living in the Andean Highlands from around 12,000 years
ago. At that time, hunters camped in the caves of the Andean Highlands and used
small stone points to hunt deer, camelids, and rodents. Many of those caves are in the
plateau at an altitude of around 4000 m. These caves were also found at lower
location such as the Guitarrero Cave (altitude 2580 m) located in the northern
highlands of Peru. It is hypothesised that people habituated in the high plateau and
used the western coasts and mountainous areas of the Andes as their active region
(Onuki 1995). The spread of mankind in South America is thought to have moved on
the Andean high plateau as it is relatively flat and was easy to travel.
Soon after the end of the last glacial period, environmental changes caused by
abrupt rise in temperature and excessive hunting by humans caused the extinction of
large mammals in the Americas leading to serious food shortages. Hence, human
beings shifted the centre of their livelihood from hunting to farming, relying also on
the abundance of the ocean.
7.2.2 The Characteristics of the Andes Civilisation
It was previously thought that farming had encouraged settlement but, from archae-
ological research in West Asia, it was found that hunter-gatherers began to settle at
the end of the late Palaeolithic period before farming began (Nishida 2007; Fujii
2001). In the case of Peru, fishing is thought to have prompted settlement. More
specifically, it was when fishnets made of cotton came to use that progressed more
settlements.
The Andean people who began farming skilfully utilised diverse environments to
cultivate various crops. Domesticated crops in the Andes included varieties of tubers
such as potato, manioc, sweet potato, oca (Oxalis tuberos), olluco (Ullicus
tuberosus), and others. Grains such as quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and various
kinds of beans and chilli were also grown. Corn was first grown in Mexico and
became an important crop harvested in the Andes. In addition, camelids living on the
plateau were domesticated and became the current llamas and alpacas. Agriculture in
the rough Andean mountain region had significantly improved productivity due to
the development of terraced fields and irrigation facilities. Irrigation facilities in
particular were crucial for farming in the coastal area as it completely relied on water
from the mountains; hence, it is hypothesised that military forces were strengthened
to protect them.
Now, let us look at the regional integration and networks that supported the
development of the Andean civilisation. In the Andes, rather than the system of trade
between various groups like Mesoamerica, it is thought they had developed a
“vertical control” system which integrated social groups to control different ecosys-
tems (Murra 1975). For example, in Lupaka, a local kingdom in the area of Lake
Titicaca, people used to raise llamas and alpacas as their livestock in the high
112 T. Inamura
plateau. They used to grow crops such as potatoes and quinoa on their highland as
well as having enclaves on the west (Pacific coast) and the east (the Amazonian) of
the mountain securing abundance of tropical resource. The route to each area was
mainly to follow the water that descends to east and to west, and llamas were used for
transportation. It is said that it took around 2 weeks to travel by foot.
The ancient Andean civilisation, like the Mesoamerican civilisation, did not
interact with the civilisation of the old continents (Asia and Europe) and established
its own development. While they created enormous and elaborate stone construc-
tions, carefully crafted pottery, textiles incorporating detailed patterns, and elabo-
rated gold and silver articrafts, they did not have wheels or iron. Machu Picchu, an
archaeological site famous for being a world heritage site, is the remains of the Inca
Empire (which flourished from around 1420 but was conquered by the Spanish in
1533) that marks the end of the Andean civilisation. The Andean civilisation before
the Inca Era is collectively called pre-Inca. From around 1000 BC to 50 BC, the
famous Chavin civilisation thrived in a wide range. For a long time, this Chavin
civilisation was considered the “mother of civilisations” of the Andes. This was
because various elements of the Andean civilisation were reaching completion such
as huge stone temples, stone carvings representing the jaguar deity and others, and
elaborated potteries and textiles. However, when an Andean Research Team from
University of Tokyo began their archaeological survey of Peru in 1960, they
discovered an archaic temple older than the Chavin civilisation in Huanuco, a
mountain area in central Peru (Onuki 2016). This greatly changed the Andean
ancient history (Fig. 7.1).
One of the features of the Andean civilisation stressed by Yoshio Onuki (former
leader of the Andes research team at the University of Tokyo) is “Renovation
of Temple” – a concept referring to the custom of constructing a larger temple by
covering the older temples. It is thought that this custom encouraged the organisation
of people, increased food production, and led to social development such as tech-
nological innovation, advance in intellectual ideas, and revelation of ceremonies
across generations (Onuki et al. 2010). Perhaps it can be stated that “the ability to
recognise fiction” described by Harari (2014) established the entity of the temple.
This ability encouraged people to share their unique view of the world as well as
their faith, and it was these collective beliefs that became the driving force behind the
construction of huge monuments (temple) as symbols. It was these temples that
affected people’s perception in the form of feedback. In addition, practices of
collective efforts such as building temples sparked collective awareness by individ-
uals sharing unique worldviews and thus eventually resulting in social organisation.
The custom of temple renovation repeated in the Andes reinforced the resilience of a
group, making its size bigger and its social tie stronger.
Fig. 7.1 “The temple of crossed hands” in the Kotosh ruins. As the oldest temple of the preceramic
period, it greatly changed the history of Andean civilisation at that time (Photo provided by Yoshio
Onuki)
7.2.3 Disaster Resilience of the Ancient Andean Civilisation
In recent years, temples in the form of pyramids dating back to around 3000 BC have
been found one after another in the central and northern coastal region of Peru. One
of which is Caral, a world heritage site (Fig. 7.2). In 2005, a team from Museo
Amano in Peru discovered the Ruins “Las Shicras” at a valley 80 km north of Lima
called Chancay valley. I cooperated in this excavation. In the central and northern
coastal region of Peru, shicra, a net made of plants for wrapping stones, was used to
cover the old temples. (Fig. 7.3). The name of the ruins “Las Shicras” derives from
shicra as the temple used an abundance of it.
At the time of excavation, it was hypothesised that “the shicra had an antiseismic
capabilities similar to that of sandbags”. Although verification is difficult, it is
studied that later architectures of the Andean civilisations used to have a strong
foundation that protected against earthquakes. For example, the masonry walls of
Inca Empires, such as Machu Picchu, are designed to be slightly inclined to the
inside of the building, with windows and entrances designed to be trapezoidal and
the corners of the walls being particularly elaborate (Fig. 7.4). The huge structural
wall of the ruins of Sacsayhuaman is zigzagged which is considered to protect
against seismic waves from any direction (Fig. 7.5). The Grand Pyramid of the
114 T. Inamura
Fig. 7.2 Caral ruins dating back to 3000 BC. The great pyramid architecture with a large circular
square
Fig. 7.3 Shicra, a net of plants wrapping stones
Cahuachi Ruins of the Nazca civilisation (about 100–600 BC) is made of adobe
(sun-dried brick), and some of its internal structure is layered with soil and plant. The
discoverer, archaeologist Orefici, points out that this has the effect of reducing
quakes as well as weight stress (Orefici and Drusini 2003).
Fig. 7.4 The temple of the Sun in the Machu Picchu ruins. The walls, entrances, and windows have
a trapezoidal structure
The Andes is a region with many earthquakes. Not only that, the El Niño
sometimes causes heavy rains and floods in the coastal area where it is mostly dry.
It is also pointed out that a major disaster is caused when earthquakes and landslides
are combined after this phenomenon (Oliver-Smith 2008). It is natural to think that
devices of damage reduction had developed in large-scale structures during the
ancient Andes to adapt to such natural disasters. It would be very interesting if the
construction of temple monuments included elements of disaster resilience, specif-
ically “co-evolution” with “Renovation of temple”.
7.3 Resilience in the Rise and Fall of the Inca Empire
7.3.1 The Prosperity of the Inca Empire and Encounters

Between the New and Old Continents
The Inca Empire, gained power from around 1420 and its territory reached 5000 km
north-south in the span of 100 years. The Inca Empire controlled their territory by
116 T. Inamura
Fig. 7.5 Saqsaywaman on the hill in the Cusco Basin. Huge stones are closely combined and has a
zigzag structure as a whole
securing resources using their “vertical control”: a system that utilises the diversity
of ecosystems.
At the time the Inca Empire was called Tahuantin Suyu (four provinces), locating
chiefs in each province. The Inca route had been constructed starting from the
emperor’s capital Cusco extending to all four provinces. In the capital city of
Cusco and at prominent regions, large-scale warehouses were built where food
and supplies were stored. It is believed that aid supplies had been sent to areas
where disasters and poor harvest occurred. Food and specialty products from
different parts of the empire were accumulated and were effectively redistributed
to local societies. Llamas (domesticated camelid) played a crucial role in this as they
were used for transportation.
However, the Inca Empire also fell into the empire’s dilemma – his territory was
too vast due to rapid conquest and governance. With the death of the 12th emperor, a
battle of succession to the throne took place between the prince of Cusco and the
prince who grew up at the royal palace of Quito in Ecuador.
In the end, Prince Atahualpa of Quito conquered the battle. Meanwhile, much had
occurred in North American Continent: in 1492 Cristobal Colon (Christopher
Columbus) set sail west for the Golden Country of the far-east. Arriving at an
unknown land after a sail of extreme hardship, Columbus believed they had reached
East Asia (India, as they referred to at the time) and named those who lived there
Indio. Soon after, conquerors came to this land one after another from Spain. The
Spanish eventually reached the Pacific travelling across the continent. Amerigo
Vespucci voiced that this land was not Asia, but a continent that was new to the
Europeans and named it America referencing his own name.
7.3.2 Collapse of the Inca Empire and the Spanish

Colonisation
In 1532, a group led by Francisco Pissarro navigated the Pacific coast and arrived on
the northern coast of Peru coming close to Cajamarca – the armed camp of the new
emperor Atahualpa in the Andean mountain region. The approach of “people of
white skin” was informed by a chaski (courier) to the new emperor. Having had won
the battle of succession to the throne and leading a powerful army, Atahualpa
believed there was nothing to scare his 170 troops; hence, he had invited Pissarro
and his group to his camp. The Spanish were quick to capture Atahualpa with their
advantages in horses and guns and executed him after robbing the gold that Ata-
hualpa was forced to collect from all over the country. They then charged forward to
the capital Cuzco and hoisted the empire in their hands by puppeteering the royal
family who was opposed to Atahualpa. Soon after, the Inca caused a revolution, but
the Spanish did not consider them as their enemies – this was due to their military
differences. This difference in military force, as Jared Diamond points out, was the
lack of iron, guns and immunity to pathogens for the Inca (Diamond 1997). Not only
did the Inca lose the battle, but they also collapsed due to the spread of infections
such as smallpox, flu, and typhoid. As Yamamoto mentioned in the previous chapter,
on the Old Continents people were immune to pathogens from cattle and other
domesticated animals, but on the New Continent, it was the contrary. After being
destroyed by the Spanish, Cusco transformed into a Spanish-style town, although
bases of Inca-style wall made by stones were maintained (Fig. 7.6). Soon after the
capital Lima was built on the coast and in 1542 the vice king was sent from Spain on
behalf of the Spanish king. By this time, much of the South American continent was
colonised by Spain. This was the beginning of a long history of hardship for the
descendants of Inca, who came to be called indio. The Spanish migrated from their
home country one after another, and a system was established in which a few
Spanish would control the indio (the indigenous people). When the number of
those who were mixed race called mestizo increased, they formed the middle
class. The Spanish language, the European culture, and the Christian Catholic faith
began to spread, and people’s lives started to change. In the coastal area, sugarcane
haciendas (large plantations) were built, and traditional farming was transformed
into a monoculture. The resilience of the Indigenous people was destroyed by abuse,
hopelessness, and infectious diseases and the population declined. African slaves
were introduced to compensate for the workforce and after their liberation, Chinese
hardships (coolie) and Japanese immigrants were introduced from 1899. However,
there was a little bit of hope; as the Andean mountainous areas were not suitable for
the Europeans due to low oxygen levels (which caused problems with births), this
118 T. Inamura
Fig. 7.6 Cusco’s streets are filled with Inca-era temple and palace walls with Spanish-style walls
are added to it. It shows the fusion of indigenous culture and Spanish culture
became the habitat for a number of indigenous people continuing to this day. Here,
the Inca-derived lifestyle and their traditions have been fairly maintained.
Let us summarise the encounter between the old continent and new continent
through the viewpoint of resilience. The Inca society developed strong resilience
within the continent, yet the resilience did not function at all once in touch with a
completely different world (Europe) and eventually collapsed. Regardless, the
Andean society lived on in the high mountainous areas. Next, let us look at the
content of resilience that has been maintained to the present in the Andean indige-
nous society as it changed its form.
7.4 Persistent Resilience Seen in the Andean Indigenous

Society
7.4.1 Agriculture of the Andes
In the mountainous region of the central Andes, various crops have been cultivated
with terraced fields in the canyons, taking advantage of diverse environments due to
the height differences (Fig. 7.7).
Potatoes are particularly important crops at high altitudes in the Andes. Dozens of
breeds of potatoes are cultivated at the same time in a community (Fig. 7.8). From
the viewpoint of production efficiency, it is more advantageous to grow a single
Fig. 7.7 An indigenous family planting potatoes in terraced fields
Fig. 7.8 Varieties of potatoes with various shapes and colours. Each of these varieties is named
(Photo provided by Norio Yamamoto)
120 T. Inamura
crop, and in fact, in modern society, this has been encouraged and intensified.
However, Andean farmers have grown a diverse range in the same field. Their
logic is that it reduces the risk for weather anomalies, pests, and diseases.
Bitter potatoes called ruki are cultivated in the high altitude of 4000 metres. Ruki
contains toxins and cannot be eaten raw, and it maintains the characteristics of its
authentic ancestral species. The toxic component contained in the potato prevents
pests and, thanks to its strong resistance to low temperature, it can be grown in the
highlands 4000 metres above sea level. To make ruki edible, the Andean people
developed a processed food called chuño. For processing chuño they take advantage
of the dry climate of the central Andean highlands where there is a significant
temperature difference between day and night. The harvested potatoes are spread
out in the fields to freeze through the night and they are defrosted during the day.
After this procedure is repeated over a period of several days, the potatoes are
stomped on by feet to drain. Thus, the poison from ruki is drained and then is
dried by sunshine. They become dried and lightened and better suited for transpor-
tation and storage.
The agriculture of the Andes, which continues the cultivation of a variety of crops
that retain the characteristics of their ancestral wild species including its toxic
components, emphasises sustainability rather than efficiency. This is one of the
knowledge that the indigenous society has passed on to, to this day. Agricultural
sustainability can be viewed as a component of the Andean society’s resilience.
7.4.2 Andean Livestock
The pastoral form of the Andes has a contrasting character to the Mongolian
nomadism; this is why it is interesting to compare the two. I have investigated a
full-time herder, keeper of alpacas and llamas, who live in the high plateau that
extends over 4000 m in height in the Puica district, southern Peru (Inamura 1995,
1981, 1988, 2002, 2006a, 2014). Alpacas are mainly kept for their wool and llamas
mainly for transportation (Figs. 7.9 and 7.10). In the gentle valleys of the Andean
plateau, water driving from melted ice and snow from the Andean high mountains
form many wetlands making it suitable for pasturing alpacas (Fig. 7.11). As this
wetland allows the herds to be maintained all year around, I signify the Andean
pastoralism as “sedentary pastoralism”. Herders live in a stoned fixed house, around
which livestock corrals are built by stone (Fig. 7.12). Pastoral families each occupy a
certain grazing area and keep hundreds of livestock. Herders usually have two fixed
residences and move between them within their relatively small land. Houses
utilized during the dry season locate themselves near a spring for easy water access.
Houses and their corrals for domestic animals, used throughout the rainy season
from November to April, locate themselves in a gentle hill so the rain is well drained.
However, as camelids tend to excrete at the same place, when snow or rain falls, the
ground of the corrals mixes with the faeces risking the possibility of contamination
of bacteria. As rainy season coincides with the birth period of the livestock, and
Fig. 7.9 Alpaca shearing. One holds the alpaca’s head and the other cuts with a knife. The person
standing is sharpening the knife with a stone
Fig. 7.10 Llama’s caravan. The crops obtained in the canyon villages are piled up on the back of
the llama and carried to the plateau herders’ homes
122 T. Inamura
Fig. 7.11 A group of alpaca that graze in the wetlands of the Andes Plateau (about 4600 metres
above sea level)
Fig. 7.12 Fixed residence of Andean herders. Ceremonies are held in hopes of increasing livestock
vulnerable offspring are prone to disease, rotation of corrals in the residence is

performed amongst several corrals to ensure a clean habitat as much as possible,
especially during this rainy season.
Thus, Andean pastoralism, which appears to move at first glance, is completely
different from Mongolian nomadism. The movement of livestock is within the area
of each household, and the purpose is to maintain the health of young animals during
the rainy season. In other words, it can be said that the Andean pastoralism is
“sedentary pastoralism”, that herders maintains livestock all year round in a certain
area at a high ground. Andean pastoralism also has the unique feature of not milking
their livestock. As they cannot constantly be slaughtering their livestock for meat,
they travel down to get produce from farmers living in the canyon downstream.
There are two traditional ways to do this: the first is a method where farmers ask
herders to carry their harvests from terraced fields to their homes by llamas and, in
exchange, give part of their harvests for the herders’ transportation service. The
second is trading, in which meat, dried meat, and other objects like rock salt and
potteries carried by llamas are exchanged with agricultural harvests.
In the central Andes, the pastoral area of the plateau and the agricultural area of
the canyon are divided bordering on about 4000 m. The two ecological zones are
adjacent. Here, the separate lives of herdsmen and farmers parallel and the use of
llama has maintained a stable mutually beneficial relationship. The relationship
between the two has not been limited to their economic benefits but, as seen in the
next section, has developed into various social relationships such as holding festi-
vals. Thus, the Andean pastoralism has been built on a strong foundation of its close
relationship with agriculture. The utmost reason why milking was unnecessary for
Andean pastoralism is that they could easily obtain crops from farmers.
7.4.3 Reciprocity and Redistribution in Indigenous

Communities
Next, let us look at the resilience of the Andean indigenous people and their social
relations. Amongst the indigenous Andean people, their bonds are maintained by a
variety of mutual aid. This is called ayni and defines the act of helping one another
such as building a house. For farmers, labour exchange such as sowing and
harvesting are some of the ways of ayni. In the case of pastoralists, helping in
shearling of alpaca wool is one way of ayni. Between farmers and herders, in
addition to their exchange system of transportation for harvests mentioned earlier,
this idea of ayni is also executed in the form of gift giving – meat or herbs from the
plateau are given in exchange for a roof above the herders’ head for a night. This
kind of gift-giving or labour exchange which does not necessarily ask for an
immediate return is often referred to as reciprocity in cultural anthropology.
Festivals are also an important opportunity to strengthen the bonds of indigenous
communities. Festivals often involve redistribution, meaning, the wealthy persons
would redistribute their wealth to the community shown in an extravagant manner.
124 T. Inamura
Fig. 7.13 A Catholic saint festival held in a rural church in the centre of Puica. A herder who took
over as cargo leads the llama caravan dressed up and participates in the festival
In Puica district, a festival is also an opportunity to deepen the bonds between

herders and farmers. Herders participate in the feasts held in the village of Puica (cap-
ital of Puica district) and serve as the festival’s cargo (managerial positions). Herders
serving as cargo pile up a lot of meat in the caravan of llamas and travel from the
plateau to the canyon, then rent a house of their close farmer in the village. The
festival celebrates the holiday of the Catholic saints, and the herders who carry on the
role of the cargo have the duty of performing a holy process led by the llama
(Fig. 7.13). This festival is significant in a social sense as the herders hold feasts
inviting the villagers to eat together. To make this come to life, herders gain much
help from the farmers as good meals, alcohol, and music are crucial for these
festivals. The herders show their appreciation to the farmers by giving customary
gifts such as alpaca meats and fats and medicinal herbs.
There are several steps in the cargo system, and those who have accomplished the
highest rank receive the respect as an elder which gives them a stronger voice in their
community. High-ranking cargo often spends a lot of money. This shows it is a
social system that generates authority and leadership by redistributing accumulated
wealth. In the Inca era, there was a massive redistribution system with the emperor at
the top and the local chiefs at the centers of the communities. With the collapse of the
empire, colonial dividing policies separated the indigenous peoples into smaller
communities. Yet, these festivals and cargo system maintained in indigenous com-
munities are micro versions of the traditional redistribution system – it is the
surviving system of the fragmented Inca society transformed and maintained.
7.4.4 Wild Animals Vicuñas “Non-killing Hunting”: The

Revival of the Inca Tradition
At the high altitudes of the Andes lives vicuñas (wild ancestry species of alpaca) and
guanaco (wild ancestry species of llama). During the Inca Empire, there was a
hunting system known as chacu, where the emperor would gather many people to
chase and corner their prey. Chacu is described in the chronicles written after the
conquest, specifically by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (2000), who was born between a
Spanish conqueror and a royalty of Inca and raised in Spain. In chacu, after
cornering the vicuñas and catching them bare handed, one would shear their wool
and released them alive. As the wool of vicuñas is high in quality. It is studied that
the captured wild animals are said to have been recorded by as if they were livestock.
With the chacu methods, deer were also hunted and eaten; however, female deer, as
well as male deer that were considered valuable, were liberated for fertility.
In the first half of the sixteenth century when the Inca Empire was conquered, it
was believed that there were about 2 million vicuñas, but after the Inca Empire was
conquered, the Spanish overhunted the wild animals as they possessed guns. In the
1960s, vicuñas dropped their numbers to less than 10,000 and were threatened to
extinction. Hence, the Peruvian government established a wildlife reserve and
embarked on the protection of vicuñas and sought to revive chacu. However,
wildlife protection was stagnated in the 1980s with activities of the ultraleft group,
Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). This caused protected areas to become targets of
attack. The administration of President Fujimori was launched in 1990, arresting the
leader of Sendero Luminoso, leading to its collapse. He then worked to restore
security and succeeded in a massive revival of chacu using new technology in
1993 (Fig. 7.14).
This new technology is a method in which nylon nets are stretched in the form of
a fan on a meadow and trap the prey in the enclosure at the rivet of the fan. During
the time of the Inca Empire, chacu was done with many people making somewhat of
a wall of humans in trapping the prey but, with this new method, hunting can be done
with a relatively small number of people. One will capture the vicuñas, lay it on its
side, use a kerosene generator to trim the wool on its back with an electric clipper,
and then release it (Fig. 7.15).
Village Lucanas in departamento de Ayacucho has a wildlife reserve. Here, chacu
is commenced several ten times a year and carried out in the grasslands of
4000 metres above sea level where thousands of vicuñas wool are cultivated and
exported to Europe. The income from chacu has been used for the construction and
maintenance of public facilities and equipment such as village schools and govern-
ment offices. It is also utilised for supporting local technicians: men who shear the
wool and women who differentiate and clean the wool. Chacu now spreads in the
Andean Highlands with people recognising the value of wild vicuñas. This lead to
the surveillance for poaching being intensified which successfully increased and
recovered the number of vicuñas to over 100,000 at least (Inamura 2006b).
126 T. Inamura
Fig. 7.14 People chasing vicuna, a wild camelid, in Chacu
Fig. 7.15 Catching and pushing down the vicuna to shear the hair on the back
Fig. 7.16 Ceremony by Inca Emperor and Princess. Performed by school teachers at a festival held
with Chacu
Chacu, which was popular in the period of ancient Andean civilisation before its
conquest, is a very interesting example of the use of wildlife in the Andes. Human
reproduction control for deer (the sorting of males) is an example of an anthropo-
genic management of wildlife, leading to the domestication of animals.
Both Chacu and Chuño include elements that can be described as semi-
domestication of animals and plants.Through them, resilience can be seen in the
diverse and flexible relationships between subjects (Andean indigenous people) and
objects (natural environment).
Chacu originally commenced to provide costume materials for the royal family
during the Inca era. In modern times, however, indigenous communities are more
entrepreneurial: they export wool to the world market, especially Europe, for
income. This also marks an important milestone in the revival and development of
Chacu in the time of globalization and a market economy.
In Lucanas, there is a chacu festival where the Inca emperor and the empress are
played by school teachers (Fig. 7.16) and the Inca soldiers and sun maidens are
played by students. These festivals provide opportunities for the indigenous people,
who have been overlooked by the white class since colonial times, to review their
glorious history and traditional culture that has been handed down to this day.
In Chacu, a tradition of the Inca empire that had been restored after 400 years, we
can see the resilience that is strongly rooted in the indigenous Andean people. In this
chapter, we have traced how various aspects of resilience developed, changed and
endured in the Andes.
128 T. Inamura
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(in Japanese).
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Madrid: Editorial Castalia.
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un Distrito. In J. A. Flores Ochoa (Ed.), Llamichos y Pa-cocheros: Pastores de Llamas y
Alpacas (pp. 203–214). Centro de Estudios Andinos: Cuzco.
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Kadensha. (in Japanese).
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Research, 6(1), 85–102.
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resurrección del “chacu”, la tradición incaica en el Perú. In L. Millones & T. Kato (Eds.),
Desde el exterior: El Perú y sus estudios (pp. 35–70). Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Facultad de
Ciencias Sociales: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
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39–48.
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Chapter 8
Resilience Among Nomads and Urban
Residents in Mongolia’s Transition
to a Market Economy
Shoko Ishii
Abstract Since 1990, Mongolia has been transitioning from socialism and a con-
trolled economy to democracy and a market economy accompanied by dramatic
changes throughout society. This paper focuses on nomads’ responses and urban
residents’ adaptations to these changes to clarify the essence of Mongolians’ inher-
ent resilience. Historically, the traditional nomadic lifestyle in Mongolia emphasizes
resilience. Nomads flexibly respond to changes in nature and social situations, cope
well with natural disasters, and cooperate within families and communities. Their
lives are filled with an understanding of resilience that continues even after they
immigrate to cities and become urban residents. Resilience comprises mobility,
commonage of place, flexibility, and mutualism cultivated throughout their nomadic
history.
8.1 Mongolia’s Transition to a Market Economy
In 1990, Mongolia rejected a planned socialist economy in favor of a democratic

system characterized by a market economy. Initially, this transition from a socialist
economy, in which all property was communally held, to a market economy based
on private property created a great deal of confusion for citizens and led to consid-
erable social unrest. The reforms entailed dramatic changes in social structure and
public life in across the county, from major cities to community settlement districts –
and, of course, for the nomadic pastoralist society too. The state-owned enterprises
were privatized or shuttered to distribute property among the citizens. Every citizen
was given MNT 10,000 (the tögrög (Tughrik)) to use to transition to gainful
employment in a money economy. By using this money, rural nomads bought
livestock, which had been communal property. In the early 1990s, Mongolia’s
economy was collapsing; however, by the 2000s, the market economy was rapidly
recovering. Furthermore, with the implementation in May 2003 of a land privatiza-
tion law (excluding nomadic areas), citizens were required to navigate the issue of
S. Ishii (*)
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

130 S. Ishii
land in the midst of an already confusing situation. Urbanization and modernization

sped up in the national capital, Ulaanbaatar.
This study reflects on the resilience of Mongolian people by examining rural and
urban people’s responses to the societal confusion. Real-life examples and narratives
were used to explore nomads’ responses to the dismantling of the negdel (pastoral
cooperatives), privatization of livestock, expansion of the market economy, and the
new land ownership system. As part of the study, I conducted personal interviews
with residents of Ulaanbaatar to explore their responses to land ownership in
2003–2007. Mongolia’s ger districts are walled neighborhoods of portable resi-
dences or ger (yurts used by nomads) in or adjacent to Ulaanbaatar. Many of these
residents are immigrants from areas that no longer practice a nomadic lifestyle.
However, although they no longer follow a nomadic lifestyle in terms of livelihood,
their nomadic cultural traditions persist.
Another major development in post-socialist Mongolia is the revival of religion.
Since the thirteenth century, Mongolia’s principal religion was Tibetan Buddhism,
but its practice was suppressed during the socialist period and most of the country’s
temples were destroyed. Under the influence of democratization, Tibetan Buddhist
temples have been rebuilt, and Tibetan Buddhism has rapidly recovered. This
study’s ger district is adjacent to Gandantegchinlen (aka Gandan) Monastery,
which is the main Tibetan Buddhist temple and has a considerable influence on
religious revival. Nevertheless, my research focused on the residents’ responses to
the market economy rather than the religious revival.
8.2 Nomadic Society Under Socialism
The negdel pastoral cooperatives were introduced during the socialist period under
the direction of the former USSR. Modeled on kolkhoz (Soviet collective farms),
negdel were organized into soum (sub-provincial administrative districts) throughout
Mongolia, and by the end of the 1950s, all privately owned livestock had been
collectivized under the negdel. Nomadic herders were hired as employees to drive
the negdel’s stock. Historically, Mongolia’s nomads had formed khot ail (herding
communities comprising several households of extended family and friends that
communally managed livestock). However, during the negdel period, khot ail
transformed into the less flexible suuri (the basic unit of labor in negdel), and their
locations, migration routes, and timing of their movements were rigidly enforced by
the negdel (Onuki 1985). Because migratory ranges were restricted, settlement was
more likely to occur. The negdel also controlled the hay meadow commons where
dried hay was prepared and instead built immovable barns with roofs and fences.
Historically, Mongolian nomads have herded five types of livestock (sheep,
goats, cattle, horses, and camels) to mitigate the risks of relying on one type of
animal. Drought, dzud (severe winter weather), or disease could lead to a total loss of
livestock. However, in 1965, the negdel began implementing a division of labor that
assigned just one type of livestock per household. Mr. A (born in 1932) was a former
8 Resilience Among Nomads and Urban Residents in Mongolia’s Transition to a. . . 131
negdel director in Dundgovi Province of southern Mongolia. He described the way

the situation unfolded for the nomads as follows:
The first negdel were established in 1956. The first negdel brought together the livestock
owners with people who had skills, such as woodworking. In terms of size, these were small
groups of 10 or so families who might have lived in one bagh [a soum subdivision]. Then,
policies were introduced to increase taxes on the livestock owned by the nomads who had
not joined the negdel, which encouraged those who owned many animals to begin joining
the negdel. Also, smaller negdel gradually began to merge, resulting in large negdel. The
negdel directors began to simultaneously serve as soum chiefs and began wielding signif-
icant economic power (Mr. A, 70 years of age, personal communication, August 17, 2002).
When the livestock were collectivized, the nomads were paid to work with them
based on the numbers and types of the animals they herded. Mr. A explained the
wages as follows:
[Wages] were higher for herding camels and goats. Large animals would pay 10 Tughrik per
head, and small animals would pay two or three Tughrik per head. The country, province,
and soum gave prizes of about 1,000 Tughrik [currently about USD 100] for the best herder
at the soum level, 3,000 Tughrik for the winner at the provincial level, and 6,000 Tughrik for
the national winner (Mr. A, 2002).
Mr. A pointed out that, when the negdel were established, the cooperative effort
was more efficient:
Previously, a well that would have taken three days to dig could be completed in one day.
The negdel’s main purpose was to produce three things: animal feed [e.g., hay and mixed
feed], wells, and livestock enclosures and huts to protect young animals during the winter
and spring (Mr. A, 2002).
The central government was deeply involved with hay production and marketing.
For example, Dornod Province was the largest provincial producer of hay. After
cutting, hay was loaded onto freight train cars for a lengthy journey of about
3000 km to Mongolia’s Selenge Province via Russia before transit to the inner
provinces. From there, 200–300 trucks owned by 15 enterprises moved the hay to its
final destinations. This major process was possible only because the central govern-
ment paid for it. Securing sufficient hay was one way to protect families and
livestock against the harsh effects of severe winters, but this can no longer be
accomplished on a large scale in today’s Mongolia. Mr. A recalled the effects of a
harsh winter as follows:
We had a very severe winter in 1999, and we lacked experienced nomads, which resulted in
heavy damages. Many young adults left for the city and no longer participated in otor
[spontaneous rather than regular migrations]. These young adults started learning to use
motorcycles and cars, and they had fewer opportunities to ride horses than before. . . .
[Moreover,] because the negdel did everything for us, we lost our sense of agency, and,
because the country covered the costs, our sense of thrift diminished (Mr. A, 2002).
Mr. A expressed a great appreciation for the major accomplishments of collec-

tivization, but as a former negdel director, he also recognized the weaknesses of
socialism, such as the loss of independence and the diminished importance of
132 S. Ishii
frugality. He described the income/wealth disparities that emerged in the transition

to a market economy.
Although we had poor folks and rich folks during the negdel period, there weren’t such
extreme disparities in wealth. This meant that before there weren’t many problems in terms
of communication. But, now, we have a huge gap between rich and poor that is complicating
efforts to communicate (Mr. A, 2002).
Variation among people during the negdel period is illustrated below by the
narrative of Mrs. F, a nomad of Dundgovi Province who was born in 1942. She
described her experiences as follows:
For thirty-two years, I was devoted to keeping a herd of about 200 camels, on average. At
least 60 camels were born each year. We were required to report the number of livestock
births and deaths to the negdel. I could express my interest in the livestock I would be
managing in the negdel. I also watched over about 100 livestock I owned (about 20 camels,
20 horses, 10 cattle, and 50 goats and sheep). At first, when the number of animals owned by
an individual exceeded a set number, we needed to give them to the negdel, but, later, we
began to be compensated between five and 10 Tughrik per head. When we had many
animals, we sometimes slaughtered them for our relatives in Ulaanbaatar. Although privately
owned livestock could be relied on for milk and meat for our food, the negdel could seize
animals if they wanted or needed them. There were quotas for the amounts of animal
products, such as milk, wool, and animal dung, that we gave to the negdel, and our wages
rose or fell based on the extent to which we met these quotas. Generally, incomes were about
300 Tughrik per month, but sometimes, they were as high as 1,000 to 1,200 Tughrik per
month. If an animal was sick, the negdel sent a veterinarian. Now, however, we must take
care of everything ourselves, even during a natural disaster (Mrs. F, 59 years of age, personal
communication, August 19, 2001).
The interviews with Mr. A and Mrs. F suggest that, although nomads were
controlled during the negdel period, they also had some freedoms and received
some material support, such as medical care for their animals and relief during the
winter. During the socialist period, systems were developed to gather the livestock
from the rural areas and bring the animals into the cities for protection. However,
these support mechanisms mostly disappeared in the transition to a market economy,
which forced the nomads to handle these problems alone (Konagaya 2002). They
also were on their own regarding protection during severe winters and natural
disasters. When nomads lost their livestock, they had little choice but to immigrate
to the cities. Those who took that option attempted to respond to Mongolia’s shift to
a market economy through a variety of life strategies.
8.3 The Influence of the Transition to a Market Economy

on Nomadic Society
8.3.1 Nomads’ Responses to the Market Economy
The negdel were dismantled after democratization and the shift to a market economy
in 1990, which significantly changed Mongolia’s nomadic society. When former
R(56) N(61)
BI(20) G(26) L(31) P(29) UR(30) B(30) U(33) BTS(37)
E(6)
BaT(9) BoT(12) O(6) CHI(8) M(13)
Fig. 8.1 Mr. N’s family tree: The two families indicated by broken lines comprise khot ail.
Numbers in parentheses are the individuals’ ages in 2003
negdel members were given vouchers to purchase animals, they began to maintain
herds of the five types of livestock kept in the area, becoming self-sufficient in terms
of animal (particularly food) products. The khot ail system revived, and many people
began to choose migration routes for their nomadic herding without consulting
anyone. New lifestyles emerged that reflected the growth of the urban market
economy.
Mr. N lived in Bayantsogt soum in Tov Province, which is about 95 km northwest
of Ulaanbaatar. The direct links between Bayantsogt and large markets in Ulaan-
baatar meant that the local economy and people’s livelihoods were hugely impacted
by the transition to a market economy. I visited Mr. N many times from 2001
to 2007.
In 1942, when Mr. N was born, his parents were living the traditional nomadic
life. When the negdel were established, his parents were assigned to raise dairy cattle
in a part of the negdel. Mr. N graduated from the negdel technical school in
Bayantsogt in 1961 and worked as a tractor driver at the Bayantsogt state-run farm
until 1990. He became a nomad in 1991 when socialism collapsed. Figure 8.1 shows
his family relationships: he lived with his wife, youngest son, and third daughter. His
eldest son, eldest daughter, and second daughter left the family when they married.
His eldest son (Mr. B in Fig. 8.1) was a nomad and formed a khot ail with his father.
Table 8.1 shows the numbers of livestock he kept over time. His livestock began to
increase after 2003 and reached more than 1000 in 2007.
Mr. N’s income and expenditures as a nomad were influenced by the changes in
the economy. His annual income in 2001 from livestock products was about MNT
134 S. Ishii
Table 8.1 Changes in the Sheep Goats Cattle Horses Total

size of Mr. N’s herds
2002 200 51 30 51 332
2003 430 120 26 60 630
2007 800 200 40 100 1140
Table 8.2 Mr. N’s household income and expenses in 2001 and 2002
2001 2002
Income Expenses Income Expenses
Item Amount Item Amount Item Amount Item Amount
Cashmere 470 Hay 360 Cashmere 740 Hay 300
20 kg 35 kg
Wool 70 Gasoline 50 Wool 20 Gasoline 180
500 kg 400 kg
Livestock 270 Flour 180 Sheep 20 Flour 180
skin
Airag 200 Rice 100 Livestock 2000 Rice 60
Sugar 30 Airag 60 Sugar 40
Salt 10 Salt 30
Tea 10 Tea 10
Cooking 10 Cooking 10
oil oil
Candles, 20 Candles, 20
matches matches
Children’s 250 Children’s 300
education education
expenses expenses
Cloth 100 Cloth 30
Solar 370
battery
Second car 2000
Tsagaan 200
Sar
Total 1010 Total 1120 Total 2840 Total 3730
Unit: 1000MNT ¼ 1USD
1,010,000 (about USD 1010, as of 2001), which was roughly equal to the average
annual income of a civil servant in Ulaanbaatar (Table 8.2, left). His main sources of
income were cashmere wool (about MNT 20,000 to 27,000/kg), sheep’s wool (about
MNT 120 to 150/kg), and livestock (one cow and seven sheep). For about 2 weeks in
July 2001, his eldest son brought 16 horses to the grasslands along the road near
Ulaanbaatar. They milked the mares to make airag (fermented mare’s milk), which
they sold for a large profit. This is an interesting example of a strategy used by
nomads on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar to adapt to and use the market economy.
Mr. N’s sources of income in 2002 were the same as in 2001 (Table 8.2, right). He
made more money directly selling livestock in Ulaanbaatar than by using agents, so
he sometimes traveled to the city for that purpose.
Regarding expenses, Mr. N purchased more hay than usual for his livestock in
2001 because of a bitter winter. The most expensive commodities were wheat flour
and rice. The cost of educating the children of his daughters and eldest son, including
school supplies and clothes, comprised about one-third of his total expenditures. His
expenses for 2002 were significant and exceeded his income by about MNT
890,000. However, this deficit was reduced by his reliance on traditional bartering
when necessary (e.g., exchanging livestock for a motorcycle).
A major change occurred between 2001 and 2002. Mr. N sold cashmere, sheep’s
wool, hides, and airag at markets in the eastern part of Ulaanbaatar. Thanks mostly
to the increased price of cashmere, Mr. N’s household income was more than double
the average of an urban resident in Mongolia at the start of 2002. Moreover, because
nomads’ household budgets included livestock as assets (wealth) that might be
liquidated at any time, nomads tended to have an advantage compared to workers
in Mongolia’s cities.
His other expenditures included new deel (traditional Mongolian clothing) for
celebrating Tsagaan Sar (Mongolian Lunar New Year). For Tsagaan Sar, Mr. N
hosted 200 guests, and he bought them gifts, such as candy, cigarettes, socks, shirts,
deel fabric, belts, handkerchiefs, and scarfs. Mongolia has an active gift economy,
and in addition to Tsagaan Sar and Naadam (a national festival in midsummer), gifts
are exchanged at weddings and on Daah Urgeeh (a child’s first haircut ceremony). A
special purchase in 2002 was a used car for the family, bought with the proceeds
from the sale of two cows and 55 sheep. He also purchased solar energy panels with
income from selling cashmere. The family had been watching a television purchased
in 2000 for MNT 30,000 by powering it with a car battery; thanks to the solar panels,
they were able to watch it for longer periods.
In 2003, Mr. N’s third daughter matriculated at a university in Ulaanbaatar.
Tuition was expensive, but the value of investing in education has gradually taken
hold in the culture. His second daughter graduated from a university in Ulaanbaatar
and was married after working at a television company for a while. In 2006, Mr. N
sold 10 horses and 50 sheep to buy a car for his youngest son, who was living with
him at the time (Mr. G in Fig. 8.1 above). Mr. N died in 2007, and his youngest son
inherited the estate under the common practice of ultimogeniture. That year, the
price of cashmere increased to MNT 43,000/kg, and the market price of livestock
increased as well. The household’s income for the first half of 2007 was MNT
4,250,000 (USD 3400, as of 2007), and the youngest son built a new wooden house
in a residential area of Bayantsogt.
The case of Mr. N shows how nomads living in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar who
have more than average livestock assets became relatively wealthy because of the
favorable markets for cashmere and livestock. They retained the self-sufficient
aspects of their livelihoods while adapting to the market economy by directly
engaging in the urban markets. They are easily defined as independent small
business entrepreneurs. However, these successes were not uniformly experienced
throughout Mongolia. Mrs. F (described and quoted above) stated that she knew of
136 S. Ishii
attempts by people in areas to the far south of the Mongolian capital who preferred to
build economic relationships with China instead.
8.3.2 Land Privatization in Nomad Areas
On May 1, 2003, during the final stage of Mongolia’s transition to a market

economy, a law was passed allowing Mongolian citizens private ownership of
land (Land Privatization Act (LPA)). The LPA provided Mongolian citizens with
a one-time distribution of land free of charge for a maximum 0.07 ha in the capital
city, 0.35 ha in prefectural capitals, and 0.5 ha in other places. Previously, the idea
that the land belonged to no one was a core belief, and land privatization in Mongolia
caused a major shift in people’s values. Beginning in 1990, communal and national
property was distributed to all Mongolian citizens. Domestic livestock that was
communally owned during the socialist period was mostly privatized by about
1994 (Inamura 2001). The move to privatize all land was an extension of these
changes. Mongolia was also under international and foreign pressure to revitalize its
economy by privatizing land.
However, the public, particularly the nomads, strongly opposed these changes,
and for the most part, the laws failed to take hold. The nomads were opposed because
they were afraid that their freedom to migrate would be reduced if pasturelands were
privatized. Land reform legislation was brought up several more times until the LPA
passed in 2003 with modifications to appease the nomads. The LPA exempted
pasturelands from the areas subject to privatization.
Nomads could own their residential lands within the soum. In August 2003,
Mr. N, living in Bayantsogt soum, said, “even though we receive land, it is
meaningless unless we use it,” and he was not planning to own his land. Other
pastoralists expressed similar opinions on the subject of land privatization. However,
by May 2005, Mr. N owned his residential land in central Bayantsogt soum, and
almost all of the nomads living in residential districts in the center of soum had
become owners of private land. As a practicing nomad, Mr. N had no immediate use
for land in the residential district at the center of the soum, but his daughters had
recommended he take it, and he followed their advice. The progress of privatization
in the nomadic districts tended to lag behind Ulaanbaatar, but Bayantsogt was
different because of its location on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar.
8.4 Resilience and Responses to Land Privatization Among

Ulaanbaatar Residents
The LPA and transition to a market economy had more influence on urban than rural
residents. The residents in Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts were particularly affected by
the associated social changes. This section describes the history of Ulaanbaatar’s
urban formation and development using the ger districts as an example. Through
interviews, the resilience of ger district residents in response to social change
emerged.
8.4.1 Ger Districts and the Transformation of Ulaanbaatar
A ger temple dedicated to the grand lamas of Tibetan Buddhism was established in
1639 when Ulaanbaatar originated, and the temple monks created their ger around
the temple (Matsukawa 1998). The temple owned many herds, and because it was
relocated to follow the migrating herds, the capital is thought to have changed
location more than twenty times during its first 100 years. The capital was
established at its present location in 1855 (Baabar 1999). Thus, the original capital
was a religious city with a unique, nomadic character.
In 1924, the Soviet Union influenced the rise of a socialist regime and the city’s
name was changed to Ulaanbaatar (Red Hero) (Batbayar 2002). It was a religious
city inhabited by about 10,000 monks (Matsukawa 1998). During the 1930s, the city
began to feel the influence of Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union as heavy taxes were
imposed on the temples and monks, whose livestock and properties were confiscated
and/or destroyed. Many monks were purged and forced to leave the religious life.
Temples were repurposed as government offices and factories and Ulaanbaatar’s
religious character was lost (Matsukawa 1998). Figures 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4 are of a ger
district during the Stalin era. Figure 8.2 (taken in 1968 by Mr. Y, a photographer)
Fig. 8.2 Third and fourth districts, as of 1968 (Mr. Y, private photographic collection)
138 S. Ishii
Fig. 8.3 Apartment houses constructed with the support of Soviet Union in the third and fourth
districts in the late 1970s (Mr. Y, private photographic collection)
Fig. 8.4 City center area, east of Gandan Monastery, in the 1980s (Mr. Y, private photographic
collection)
shows the ger district which is located west of the Gandan Monastery. Figure 8.3
shows the wide straight road with high-rise apartment buildings on either side that
was built there in the second half of the 1970s. Figure 8.4 is of many of the high-rise
apartments erected in the city center in the 1980s.
During the 1970s, the Mongolian government, with aid from the Soviet Union,
focused on industrialization, urban construction, and mining development. The
government encouraged rural-to-urban migration, and by 1989, about 60% of the
population was urban. More than 40% of city dwellers had migrated from rural areas
(Neupert and Goldstein 1994). Increasing numbers of nomads rejected livestock

clustering and relocated to the city, which further increased the urban population.
Housing construction was promoted to address the needs of the growing population,
but construction could not keep up with constant inflow of people, and many people
erected ger adjacent to high-rise apartment buildings.
These ger districts should not be characterized as temporary settlements or slums
because they were the most common type of residential area in Ulaanbaatar and
apartment living was the exception. This point is crucial for understanding the
essence of ger districts. When nomads immigrated to the city, they lived first in
ger districts. Living in a ger meant that a significant initial investment in shelter was
unnecessary. Livestock were kept within hashaa (fences) that enclosed the resi-
dences, and residents thereby maintained their connections to the nomadic lifestyle.
As long as livestock remained, returning to the nomadic life in the rural districts was
a possibility. The ger districts can be understood as nodes that mediate the city and
the nomad areas (Ishii 2015), and they created a sense of psychological and physical
well-being.
8.4.2 The Progress of Land Privatization in Ulaanbaatar
In Ulaanbaatar, ger districts were initially subjected to privatization. About 45% of

Ulaanbaatar’s residence lived in ger districts (JICA 2002). When the LPA was
enacted in 2003, the rural-to-urban migration to Ulaanbaatar increased and the ger
districts rapidly expanded. This growth created various problems, including the
illegal occupation of land (squatting). People’s concerns delayed land privatization,
and land ownership in 2004 was 42% in Ulaanbaatar and 6.5% in the rural areas,
with a national average of 17.5% (Ulaanbaatar Municipal Land Administration
Bureau 2004). Apartment dwellers could register land after the residents of the ger
districts. They were able to register land of their choice, and many people watched
the process unfold as they searched for land that would increase in value. However,
some residents did not like the idea of the increased tax burden they would take on
by obtaining land they would not use, and many opted out of the process. Initially,
the transfer of land to private ownership was expected to be complete within 2 years,
but its slow progress by May 2005 required a 3-year extension. On May 22, 2008,
the LPA was revised when it was decided that privatization, which, under the
original LPA, was at the household level, would be possible at the individual level.
140 S. Ishii
8.4.3 Residents of Gandan Monastery Ger District in Central

Ulaanbaatar
Many of Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts are on the city’s periphery, but the ger district
around Gandan Monastery is in the central city. When the monastery was founded in
1838, the district was a residential area for monks (Matsukawa 1998). Even during
the socialist period, the monastery was exceptional because it avoided the destruc-
tion visited on other temples. Since the 1990s, the number of visiting worshippers
has increased and it is since a center of Tibetan Buddhist revival. The privatization of
the land there was caused swift because land prices increased rapidly. The residents
of this ger district tended to have higher incomes than those of the other ger districts,
but the gap between rich and poor became quite large.
Between 2003 and 2008, I conducted fieldwork in the ger districts to gain an
understanding how people have dealt with the transition to a market economy (Ishii
2009). I analyzed the budgets of 40 households and found the following forms of
income generation: 8 unemployed, 11 pensioners, 5 salaried employees, 3 part-time
workers, 3 monks, 1 fortune teller, 1 emigrant laborer (living in in South Korea), and
8 self-employed. Incomes ranged between MNT 100,000 and MNT 150,000 (about
USD 100 to USD 150) per month, and the monthly pensions were about MNT
20,000 to MNT 30,000 (about USD 20 to USD 30) in 2003. The basic cost of living
was about MNT 40,000 to MNT 50,000 (about USD 40 to USD 50), making life on
an unsubsidized pension income difficult, and about one-half of the households were
living in poverty.
Numerous residents remarked that the gap between rich and poor had widened
after the transition to a market economy. Many of the ger district residents had left
the nomadic lifestyle, immigrated to the city, and were first- or second-generation
immigrants. The ger district was their gateway into Ulaanbaatar. A sample of how
they described their lives follows. These narratives are about the ger district resi-
dents’ lives in Ulaanbaatar where the cost of living was high and many people barely
survived, but somehow managed to live hopeful lives.
I was born in Ovrkhangai Province, then moved to Ulaanbaatar in the 1960s, where I laid
pipe for a living. These days, I live off my pension. My eldest daughter is 20 years old and
unemployed, a single mother with a baby in arms. Tuition fees for my eldest son, second son,
and second daughter have been expensive, and there have been times when we’ve had
nothing to eat, having spent all of my pension on school fees. We can eat meat for about
4 days after my pension comes in, but there have been times when we’ve subsisted on tea for
the 10 days before the next pension money came. I can’t really afford heating fuel in winter,
so we are extremely cold. The municipal office and the Red Cross have provided us with
some support on occasion, but we don’t expect anything regularly. Life is something we just
must endure. (Mr. D, 63 years of age, personal communication, August 12, 2003).
I was living as a nomad in Henti Province, but came to Ulaanbaatar after all of my livestock
died in the dzuds [severe winters] in 2000 and 2001. I live with my eldest daughter, who has
children aged 10 and seven. My daughter divorced her husband and is raising the children all
by herself, but it’s hard on her health. If I could get my hands on some livestock, I would like
to go back to the nomadic life in Henti. I’d like to die in Henti. (Mrs. O, 66 years of age,
personal communication, August 8, 2005)
I was laid off from a bus repair company, and am unemployed at the moment. My eldest
daughter is brilliant, but, has no money, I can’t afford to send her to university. She works at
a construction site where she earns a monthly income of 80,000 Tughrik, but it’s a hard job,
from eight in the morning until midnight, with no holidays, so it’s hard on her health. My son
is in the first grade of elementary school, but, although he went to school last year, he
dropped out. There’s just not enough money to live on. Back when I was working, I was
making 150,000 to 160,000 Tughrik a month, but it was still not enough because we had
such a big family. I’m as poor as you’ll find in this district. I don’t bother going to the
municipal office for consultation because I know that I wouldn’t be able to get any
assistance. I don’t much like to ask acquaintances for advice either, since I don’t like my
hardships being known to others. In Ulaanbaatar, we are all poor, and life is hard. But, I think
people’s lives are going to start improving from now on. Life was very hard right after the
transition to democracy, but now it’s getting better, little by little. (Mr. E, 38 years of age,
personal communication, August 29, 2004)
8.4.4 Ger District Residents’ Adjustment to Land

Privatization
I interviewed Mr. L, a nomad who had been a negdel director. After settling in the
ger district, he had adjusted to the transition to a market economy. Mr. L was born in
1947 in Uvs Province, and at the time of the interview, he owned a large building on
the road outside the monastery’s western gate. He began working at a negdel in
Khovsgol Province after he graduated from Mongolian State University of Agricul-
ture, and he was a negdel director for 16 years. When the negdel were dismantled, he
saved money by working a variety of jobs before settling in Ulaanbaatar in 2002. At
the end of June 2003, he gained a land allotment (20 m by 26 m) in the ger district.
Just after the enactment of LPA in 2003, Mr. L supported its policy. He stated,
“This policy is followed around the world. I am very happy we can own land. I
applied as soon as the law came into effect. Although it is just land, soon we will
make much better use of land” (Mr. L, personal communication, August 12, 2003).
Despite his rural history, Mr. L was highly educated, and because of his previous
career as a negdel director, he quickly understood the significance of political change
and, despite his lack of experience, he seemed to have adjusted well to Mongolia’s
transition to a market economy and land privatization. In 2007, his income, includ-
ing rental income, was about MNT 1000,000 (about USD 800, as of 2007) per
month. Mr. L described the transition to a market economy as follows:
In the era of socialism, everything belonged to the country. Everyone was given a job and
got paid. There was no difference between rich and poor. Although I had no savings, even
when I was a negdel director, I didn’t lack food, clothing, or shelter, and I was able to live in
a state-owned apartment. When the negdel dissolved, the work dried up, and I no longer had
any idea what to do with my life. Although I had been a negdel director, I had no security of
any kind. I had to leave my state-owned apartment as well, and I ended up asking an
acquaintance to build me a ger. Animal husbandry, agriculture, commerce, I did it all. In
142 S. Ishii
2002, I moved to Ulaanbaatar, where [before the privatization law] I paid 2.5 million
Tughrik [about USD 2,500] to secure the right to use land. I built a new house with the
money I’d earned during the previous 15 years. I had worked for the sake of the country in
the socialist period, but, after democratization, I work hard for myself. Not only has it
improved my personal life, it’s also had a positive impact on society. After the shift to a
market economy, people who work smart and use their heads are finding success. However,
the fact that disparities between rich and poor have grown more severe points to problems in
the government’s policy. Ulaanbaatar will continue to develop. I feel that if we can find a
way to solve the problem of air pollution, we’ll be able to live longer as well. (Mr. L,
56 years of age, personal communication, August 12, 2003)
Unlike people in the rural areas, many residents of Ulaanbaatar, such as Mr. L,
welcomed the LPA. Their reasons included the idea that “it is now possible to
possess land that no one can chase us away from,” and because of land ownership,
“it is now possible to obtain financing from the banks by using your land as collateral
to start or expand your business” (Mr. L, 2003). However, in the beginning, many
people had concerns, particularly the poorest people. For example, Mr. D, a pen-
sioner, was worried at first about the privatization process, but he changed his mind.
At first, he thought he would “wait to see what everyone else did. It seemed to me
that privatizing wasn’t a very good idea. It would be tough if that meant you’d have
to start paying taxes. But, if I’m kicked out, where would I go?” (Mr. D, 2003).
However, 2 years later, he had “privatized our land as the whole family’s property.
Before, I’d been worried that if I privatized our land, I would have to start paying
property taxes, and that it would be difficult to make a living” (Mr. D, personal
communication, March 13, 2007). Land prices were quickly increasing in the
Gandan Monastery ger district, and he pointed out, “Now, however, I’m relieved,
since the taxes ended up being cheap” (Mr. D, 2007). Mr. D started to perceive land
privatization positively. Slowly, residents who registered private land in central
Ulaanbaatar benefited, and the economy was stimulated. However, adjusting to the
changes was not a smooth process for everyone, and it contributed to the widening
gap between rich and poor.
8.4.5 Nomads’ Sentiments and Issues of Land Privatization
Various problems arose during the land privatization process; two in particular
illustrate the unique temperament of Mongolia’s nomadic tribes. First, because of
squatting and the informality of ger living, multiple households might lay claim to
one piece of land. Second, because ger are easy and inexpensive to build, people
squatted on land that was not meant for privatization.
Mrs. U had previously been the leader of the heseg (the smallest subdivision) of
the Gandan Monastery ger district. She was born in 1935 in Arkhangai Province.
She moved from Arkhangai to Ulaanbaatar and lived in the Gandan Monastery ger
district for many years. She had a caring disposition and always spent time with me
during my field surveys in the district. The problems she raised in her interview are a
good illustration of the kind of problems that could arise around land privatization:
the first had to do with a dual registration by a household living on her property and
the second with land for which privatization was prohibited.
Her dual registration problem concerned a ger built on her property (in addition to
her personal wooden house and ger) that belonged to an acquaintance, Mrs. G, a
woman in her 30s. In 2003, Mrs. U had applied to register her land and received the
decision notice in April 2004. However, Mrs. G had also applied to privatize that
same land. Mrs. G and her household had immigrated from Tov Province 5 years
earlier and had asked Mrs. U to live on her land together for a short time until they
get land near Gandan Monastery. It is a Mongolian custom not to refuse anyone the
use of unoccupied land, and Mrs. U agreed, so long as it was for a short period of
time. However, after they settled, Mrs. G’s household was not easily moved out, and
when the LPA was enacted, she applied for the land. Mrs. U legally owned the land,
but Mrs. G was permitted to register it, partly because she knew many influential
people. After 4 years of legal battles, the land title was apparently finally in Mrs.
U’s name.
The second problem was about land that could not be privatized. Some ger were
built on land belonging to temples near Gandan Monastery, and these residents were
asked to leave. Nevertheless, they applied for the land under privatization. Privati-
zation of the steeply sloping land on the eastern side of Gandan Monastery was
denied because the terrain was considered dangerous especially in the case of natural
disasters, but people were building ger there. Furthermore, ten or more households
were living on the roadsides in ger districts where their dwellings obstructed roads so
that emergency and other vehicles could not pass. Despite these concerns, these
lands were sold for MNT 3 or 4 million (about USD 3000–4000). The buyers were
fully aware that the lands were exempt from privatization, but they apparently
believed that they would obtain permission after they built structures on the land.
The traditional perspectives and attitudes of Mongolia’s nomads likely encour-
aged both of these illegal activities. Historically, nomads have valued mobility,
mutuality, and commonage (the idea that lands should be held jointly). In the ger
districts, many properties have numerous ger and wooden houses where several
families live together providing mutual support. This arrangement is similar to the
traditional khot ail where nomads live in groups of two or three families. Because
private ownership of land is exclusionary by definition, it is contrary to the norms
and culture of the Mongolian people. This inconsistency explains why some of these
problems arose. Although nomads from rural areas initially erect ger in ger districts,
they tend to relocate when they find better places to live. Some immigrants live in the
ger districts during the summer and move into the (warmer) apartments for the
winter. They seem willing to change their occupations, dwellings, and co-residents,
and they sometimes erect ger on other people’s property. An atmosphere of mutu-
ality encourages these practices.
144 S. Ishii
8.5 Conclusion
This paper describes adaptive strategies among Mongolia’s nomads and urban
residents in response to the country’s historical economic transformation from
socialism to capitalism. When socialism ended, the nomads were released from the
controls on their nomadic lifestyle that had protected yet managed them, and
although they faced a variety of new problems, they responded with flexibility to
the national transition to a market economy. Their responses occur in geographical
contexts, where factors such as the distance from a city (e.g., Ulaanbaatar) matter, as
do individual life strategies.
The impact of the change to a market economy has been strongly felt in Ulaan-
baatar, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. The option to own land has
had a particularly profound influence; however, Mongolians who cherish the idea of
communal land have found this change incompatible with their values. Therefore,
problems have emerged for immigrant nomads, particularly in Ulaanbaatar, regard-
ing land ownership. Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts tend to blend urban and nomadic
characteristics. Some people have used their characteristic Mongolian resilience to
adjust to the market economy and use land privatization for their benefit. However,
other people have complex struggles that stem from the incompatibility of their
traditional Mongolian life strategies.
Through my fieldwork, I have recorded people’s responses about the major
reforms that have accompanied a market economy in Mongolia. While these
responses were different for nomadic and urban residents, both groups expressed
characteristic Mongolian resilience, which includes the cultural values of mobility,
commonage, flexibility, and mutualism that have been cultivated by the nomadic
tribes throughout their long history.
References
Baabar. (1999). History of Mongolia. (D. Sukhjargalmaa, S. Burenbayar, Kh. Khulan & N.Yuya,
trans.), Cambridge: The White Horse Press.
Batbayar, T. S. (2002). A contemporary history of Mongolia. (Ashimura, T. & Tanaka, K. trans.),
Tokyo: Akashi shoten. (in Japanese).
Inamura, T. (2001). Mongolia: Social and economic changes in urban, rgional, and nomadic society
under state system reforms – Introduction. Little World Studies, Aichi: Little World Museum of
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Ishii, S. (2009). A study of the dynamics of urban and nomad society in post-socialist Mongolia
(Doctoral Thesis), Nagoya University Graduate School of Humanities. (in Japanese).
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T. Inamura (Eds.), Glass land and the city (pp. 94–128). Nagoya: Fubaisha publishers.
(in Japanese).
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environment of the Ger area in Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia: Japan International Cooperation
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Bunkasha. (in Japanese).
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Shinsha. (in Japanese).
Neupert, R., & Goldstein, S. (1994). Urbanization and population rdistribution in Mongolia.
Honolulu: East-West Center.
Onuki, M. (1985). Contemporary nomad society: From the four seasons of Burud. Tokyo: Aoki
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Chapter 9
Dynamic Resilience of Ayta Community:
Creative Rehabilitation After
Mt. Pinatubo’s Eruption, 1991
Hiromu Shimizu
Abstract The 1991 Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo (1745 m) in western Luzon was the
biggest in size in the twentieth century. Damages caused by the volcanic explosions
and ash falls, as well as by rampaging lahar flows (landslide flood of wet volcanic
debris) during successive rainy seasons, reached an astronomic figure, spreading
over five provinces in central Luzon. Eighty thousand houses were damaged and
eight thousand more were totally destroyed. Far more than 1 million people suffered
from the damage of loss of their properties (Mercado and Pineda, Socioeconomic
impacts of the Mount Pinatubo eruption. In: Newhall C, Punongbayan R (eds) Fire
and mud: eruption and Lahars of Mout Pinatubo Philippines, Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology, Quezon City, 1996). Over one hundred thousand
people were forced to live in evacuation centers or tent cities temporarily, and many
of them eventually moved to settle down in 20 resettlement sites (11 for lowland
Christians and 9 for highland Aytas) provided by the government and some others to
voluntarily arranged sites by NGOs or by themselves. For detailed information on
Aytas lifeways before and after the eruption, please see Shimizu (Pinatubo Aytas:
continuity and change. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City, 1989; Past,
present and future of the Pinatubo Ayta. In: Hiromu S (ed) After the eruption:
Pinatubo Aytas at the crisis of their survival. Foundation for Human Rights in
Asia, Tokyo, 1992; The orphans of Pinatubo: the Ayta struggle for existence.
Solidaridad Publishing House, Manila, 2001).
9.1 Pinatubo Ayta: Asian Type Negrito and Eruption

Survivors
The most seriously damaged victims of the eruption were over 20,000 Ayta people
who lived around the foot of the mountain. The Ayta is an Asian type Negrito with
such physical features as low height (about 150 cm for men and 140 cm for women),
H. Shimizu (*)
Kansai University, Suita, Japan
e-mail: shimizuh@cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp

148 H. Shimizu
dark brown skin, and frizzy hair. They made a living mainly from slash and burn
agriculture, supplemented by hunting of small animals and birds with a bow and
arrow, collecting of wild vegetables and fishing in rivers with a hand-made goggles
and lubber propelled iron spear made from a coiled spring.
In this article, I discuss the hardship of Ayta people and analyze how they could
adjust their life ways to totally new environments after the eruption and exodus to
become a newly born indigenous people. In that process, along with their own effort
and struggle to overcome sufferings and difficulties, strong support from different
actors of outside world, i.e., local and central governments, NGOs, and international
organizations, played important roles. In addition, their traditional survival strategy
of risk diversion in livelihood, and having the knowledge in applying suitable ones,
provided them with resilience and alternative ways to deal with the disaster. In short,
natural disaster was birth pangs for Ayta’s social and human transformation.
The major eruption of Mt. Pinatubo was like “the end of the world” for the Ayta
who lived where the eruption occurred. The eruption forced all Ayta people to
evacuate from their home villages to temporary shelters in school buildings,
churches, public facilities, etc. in nearby local towns and then to “tent cities” and
finally to start a new life in “resettlement areas” built by the government which were
located about 20 km away from their Mt. Pinatubo villages. Through several years of
hardship with many moves to different resettlement areas or another places, the
afflicted Ayta people dramatically strengthened their awareness of being indigenous
people, the Pinatubo Ayta. This was manifested through everyday association,
negotiation, and sometimes conflicts with lowland-Christian neighbors, government
officials, NGO staff, media people, etc. This was eye-openning because it was not
mere recovery of or return to the pre-eruption state of living but a path to regener-
ation as new people living in a new place with different self-consciousness and
lifestyle. It is a story of ethnogenesis enabled by dynamic resilience and
transformability of Ayta consciousness and life ways.
At least, concerning the group which lived on the southwestern side of Mt. Pinatubo
in Zambales province with whom I spent 20 months in the late 1970s for my Ph.D.
research, both young and mature individuals developed a new sense of self
(as Indigenous Ayta with special rights and as a Filipino citizen with equal rights)
through exposure to different kinds of people in outside world of Pinatubo area
combined with educational opportunities for children. Moreover, as individuals and
a community with those two identities, they acquired a right place in the Philippine
society and drastically improved their political and economic position and status.
For example, Dr. Rufino Tima (1932–2009) has extensively studied and stated
the view of Ayta ethnogenesis after eruption with awakening and strengthening of
their consciousness as indigenous people and their appearance of the ethnic group in
the Philippine society. Dr. Tima lived in Kakilingan village on the southeastern foot
of Mt. Pinatubo for over 15 years from 1975 untill the time of eruption as the director
of “Ecumenical Foundation for Minority Development,” an NGO that planned and
implemented development projects for Aytas. After the eruption, he also committed
himself for another dozen years with supporting projects for Ayta victims and
survivors to rebuild their life until he was taken with illness. In the ending scene
of “Future in the Ashes” (directed by Kazuyuki Mitsutake, 45 min, 2000, filmed in
9 Dynamic Resilience of Ayta Community: Creative Rehabilitation After Mt.. . . 149
July and August 1998), an independent movie I cooperated with in production and
supervision, he stated, “They (Ayta) have a culture that is very unique and their own.
It’s an irony that it needed a major disaster to bring out the people into the open. The
Aytas have the saying that in a way the eruption was good, because it exposed their
existence to the world in their many numbers. Therefore they are no longer neglected
again.”
9.2 Affluent Life with Abundant Nature Before

the Eruption
In the Philippines, after the colonial occupation of Spain and the USA for nearly
400 years, there still remains a strong value that those who are tall, fair-skinned and
with a straight nose are beautiful and the power elite. On the other hand, people
living in the lowland next to the mountain foot looked down on the Ayta because of
their physical appearances which are totally the opposite to “kanu,” foreigner or
American. Disliking this condescending attitude, and also because the majority did
not have formal education and were poor at reading, writing, and calculating till the
eruption occurred, the Ayta avoided going down to villages near the mountain foot
where lowland Christians lived or towns along the national road and confined
themselves inside Mt. Pinatubo area with almost self-sufficient and autonomous life.
They obtained such housewares as iron pots and kettles for cooking, hatchets for
slashing or trimming trees and other types of ironware, clothing and cloth (for men’s
loincloth and women’s wrap skirts), salt and cooking oil by exchanging bananas,
beans, root crops, and other forest products with traders who came into a trading spot
at the mountain foot. Much fewer hours of labor were required for shifting cultiva-
tion than sedentary farming, and collecting foods in the forests and catching fish at
the river was somewhat like a picnic. As M. Sahlins said, they had desires that were
small enough to be easily satisfied and enjoyed incomparable abundance and
satisfaction holding little materiality and a modest standard of living, adopting
the “Zen Buddhist strategy.” In a sense, they lived a simple yet “original affluent”
life (Sahlins 1972). When a heavy rain lasted continuously for days and they could
not pick tubers and vegetables from their field, they suffered temporary lack of food
and hunger but never suffered long-lasting starvation or famine.
Simply put, they clear a mountain slope near a settlement for temporary farming
by cutting a bush, a grove of bamboo, or wild banana and trimming only tree
branches with a hatchet between December and February after a wet season
(June–October, 95% of the annual average precipitation of 5300 mg from 1976 to
1979 was recorded during the wet season). After leaving the field for a few months to
dry, they set fire and burnt the field sometime between late March and early April.
After removing burnt residue, they planted tubers (such as sweet potatoes, yams,
taros, and cassavas), various types of legumes, corn, etc. Each couple/family opened
two or three burnt fields every year in some 10 years rotation. They often planted
150 H. Shimizu
tubers in one to get stable cropping and upland rice and corn in another. Although
rice was much prefered as it is tasty and filling, it was not resistant to disease and
pest. Therefore, corn was planted in the same field sparsely at 60–70 cm intervals,
and after about a month, when they grew about 20–30 cm, they planted rice. It was
an effective way to use the field taking advantage of different growing periods of the
crops.
Saws or axes were unused, only hatchets for cutting plants. For large trees, they
only lopped the branches off. Yams, antak (horse bean important for trade), and
other types of beans were planted around a large tree so that vines would grow on
it. Trees would come back to life with rain in the wet season, and branches and leaves
would grow again. For two reasons, awe of spirits (avoidance of unnecessary
harming of places for spirits) and technical restrictions with simple tools, their
style of shifting cultivation caused little disturbance and was in harmony with the
environment.
The following statement well illuminates severe emotional pain of Ayta, who had
to leave their home to evacuate from the eruption. The mother land and natural
blessings of Pinatubo were the basis of life and living spiritually and materially.
Evacuation (from the mountain) was beyond a mere escape to seek safety. It was being
pulled out by the roots and ripped away with pain from the land they loved – the land that
was literally and spiritually the source and food for life. “Home” for the Ayta is not a hut in a
village or a lean-to shed in a burnt field on the mountain slope. Home for them is the entire
land with root in soil, surrounded by a series of gently rolling hills and mountains, moistened
by mountain torrents and streams, and held by the canopy with clouds, rainbows, the sun and
stars. (Foundevilla in LAKAS 1991: 30)
9.3 Ways to Creative Recovery from the Disaster
The most disastrous eruption completely changed their life. Mt. Pinatubo had
another major eruption about 600 years ago, but no memory or stories about it
were passed down. By the 1991 eruption, house roofs collapsed with falling ashes,
sand, and debris, and swidden fields were buried by deposits dozens of centimeters
to nearly a meter deep. The thickness of the deposited ashes and sand varied
depending on the distance from the mountaintop to the village.
Several days before the major eruption of June 15, almost all Ayta people living
on the slopes and at the foot of the mountain left and evacuated to schools, churches,
and public facilities in the neighboring towns and villages. This was made possible,
thanks to the persuasion by officials of the nearby municipalities and arrangements
for shuttle bus services between the foot of the mountain and evacuation centers. The
first sign of the eruption was emission of vapor and smoke in the beginning of April,
and since then, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
(PHIVOLCS) has continued detailed monitoring in cooperation with the US Clark
Air Base at the eastern foot of Mt. Pinatubo. Alert warning level was gradually raised
from 1 to 5 and the timing of the major eruption was predicted almost exactly.
About a week before the major eruption, some 20,000 people in Clark Air Base
including all soldiers, civilian employees, and families except a small number of
guard soldiers evacuated the Base to the Subic Bay Naval Base in Olongapo City,
50 km southwest. This gave the neighboring municipalities a strong impression that
an eruption could not be avoided and it led to a positive response. However, more
than a hundred Aytas who refused to evacuate but instead escaped into two caves on
Mt. Pinatubo, fearing contempt and discrimination from lowland Christians in
towns, were burnt to death with a pyroclastic flow.
Ayta evacuees spent 1–2 weeks at schools, churches, or public facilities before
moving into large tent cities. As the several months they spent there coincided with a
wet season, the ground became muddy with constant rain and sanitary conditions
deteriorated. When they got exhausted and weak with chronic diarrhea, flus and
measles spread out. According to Department of Health, more than 500 lives were
lost. In reality, however, nearly twice as many lives were taken. Some families did
not bring patients to a clinic nor reported death to the administrative office of tent
cities.
Around December, when a dry season started, Ayta evacuees began to move into
nine resettlement sites for “highland people” developed by the government. After
that, many of them moved a few more times to other resettlement sites or other places
that had not been developed by the government to seek better living conditions.
Through such struggles to make better living, Ayta refugees or survivors devel-
oped a new sense of individual self and ethnic community, different from conven-
tional ones, as a member of Philippine society with equal citizen rights as well as
indigenous people with special rights. Specifically, after sharing experience of
hardships caused by Mt. Pinatubo eruption, Ayta people came to realize that they
shared the same sufferings and destiny, had the same physical features, and
maintained ancestral cultural heritage of the same origin. They then developed a
strong sense of being the most authentic indigenous people in the Philippines whose
ancestors were the first comer and inhabitants of the archipelago. Such self-
awareness was further strengthened through activities organized by domestic and
international support NGOs after eruption such as, frequently held various empow-
erment seminars and occasional invitation of leaders to Manila and other cities, even
to overseas for interactions and conferences with support organizations.
Before eruption, those living in the Provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac at the
eastern foot of Mt. Pinatubo and those living in the Province of Zambales at the
western foot spoke different languages, dialects of Kapampangan and Zambal,
respectively. Even those living on the same side of the mountain, different valley
groups had a sense of belonging to different groups and had different dialects
although they were mutually understandable. However, through close interactions
and cooperation such as preparation meetings for joint requests or petitions to local
and central governments, exchange of information, and occasionally visiting each
other, they developed frequent communication, mutual trust, friendship, and com-
mon sense and sensitivity. In the first few years, NGOs often prepared venues and
made various arrangements for transportation, accommodation, etc. for meetings,
seminars, and congress of different Ayta groups.
152 H. Shimizu
The sense of being an indigenous people was first seen among mid-level young
leaders of different areas and then shared with younger leaders and people in the next
generation. Participation in an election in each resettlement site made the Ayta
community a strong constituency for local politicians and significantly increased
the chance for their petitions to be accepted. Children received schooling, mastered
Filipino, the national language, and developed a stronger sense of being a member of
the Philippine society. Adults also naturally acquired Filipino, the national language
commonly spoken in the area, out of necessity in daily life.
Both adults and children easily accepted two senses of self as an indigenous
people and Philippine national without contradiction because they formed a core
group of several hundred families in each of the nine resettlement areas built by the
Philippine government for Ayta people in Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales. As the
Ayta were those who had the proper right to live there, having moved in earlier and
becoming the majority, they were able to have daily interactions with non-Ayta
people, i.e., lowland Christians, who were usually relatives of those married to Ayta
in the beginning, and gradually moved into the area a little by little. Although it was
not the intention of the government, who built nine resettlement sites separately and
exclusively for the Ayta refugees, this separation policy and the gradual mixture that
followed worked favorably for Aytas to associate, negotiate, contest, and make
friends with lowland-Christian neighbors in their home ground.
In addition to double identity as an indigenous people and Philippine citizen,
Aytas also developed a dual lifestyle after the eruption. The afflicted Aytas were
given small barren land (0.2–0.3 ha) with many stones for cultivation near their
resettlement sites. It was impossible for them to rebuild the new life based solely on
farming as they did before eruption. Although NGOs planned and implemented
various livelihood projects such as pig raising, vegetable farming, domestic handi-
craft industries, etc., most of them were discontinued when support stopped because
the quality of products was not competitive enough.
In such situation, in the first 1 or 2 years after the disaster, the afflicted Ayta
people obtained cash and food through an unemployment program (cash/food for
work) by local and central government in addition to emergency provisions. They
were employed as daily workers for road construction and improvement in
resettlement sites, construction of public facilities, and other projects. After such
projects were finished, they earned cash by being hired by lowland Christians living
near resettlement sites as wage farm workers for rice planting, weeding, and
cropping or by being hired in construction or informal sectors.
When such income was not enough, they returned to their home village at the foot
of Mt. Pinatubo, where vegetation was restored a few years after the eruption, and
restarted shifting cultivation as a supplementary means to obtain staple food or cash
crops for sale. They became long-distance commuting farmers or part-time farmers
who walked more than 10 km, sometimes even more than 20 km, from their
resettlement site to the mountain and spent several days at a temporary shed while
working in the field.
9.4 Creation of New Personhood and New Ethnicity
The following is a summary of the rapid changes in lifestyle, sense of self, self-
image, perception of time, space and the world, etc. brought about to the Ayta by the
eruption. Many Ayta people changed from shifting cultivators who were self-
sufficient in a confined/closed living world around Mt. Pinatubo to wageworkers
(some became part-time farmers). Most societies in the world experienced such
changes in the last 100–200 years, because of “modernization” (or colonization)
brought about by the industrial revolution that started in England in the late eigh-
teenth century. Only within a decade or so, the Ayta experienced the same changes
after the eruption.
It is particularly worth noting that, instead of being caught up and washed away
by a rush of changes or losing their own cultural heritage and dignity and, as a result,
being chased and pushed into a corner or down to a bottom of the Philippine society,
they managed to negotiate, navigate, and deal with the changes; became new
personhood with new consciousness of self, time, space, and world; and eventually
created a new ethnicity/community of indigenous people. It was remarkable that the
Ayta, who was considered the most backward and primitive before the eruption,
exhibited flexibility, potentiality, and ability to learn and adjust themselves to this
contemporary world.
They turned to be kinds of “new people” especially because their perceptions of
time (history) and space (geography) significantly expanded. Their consciousness of
time and history expanded broadly both toward the past and the future. Parents
encourage their children to go to school, not only to elementary but also to high
school and vocational school, ideally even to college if lucky enough to get
scholarship, and children themselves are more eager to pursue higher education for
the sake of better jobs and brighter future. Before the eruption, they used to live a life
in a yearly cycle depending on seasonal changes and according to the calendar of
shifting cultivation, which was their major means to make living. But now they live
also with a linear time consciousness in which time goes straight from the past to the
future. At the same time, they also acquired a strong historical understanding of
themselves as a most authentic indigenous people in the Philippines whose ancestors
were the first to arrive in the archipelago in a distant past, time unmemorable. On that
note, they started to call themselves katutubo (indigenous people), and now lowland
Christians also started to call them katutubo. They used to be called by a disparaging
name, kurot (frizzled hair). On the contrary, katutubo has a positive connotation
suggesting the children of the land or the one deeply rooted in the place.
Of course, such creative recovery of the Ayta from the natural disaster of eruption
was made possible primarily by their own flexibility and ability to adapt themselves
to totally new environments. As was emphasized in my old book, their survival life
strategy before the eruption was to diversify and maximize sources and means to
secure foods with constant seasonal movement searching for the most effective and
efficient ways to achieve this end.
154 H. Shimizu
Long before eruption, Aytas maintained diversified way of livelihood, by prac-

ticing hunting birds and small animals with bows and arrows, gathering wild
vegetables, catching fish in the river, and engaging slash and burn agriculture. In
one piece of swidden field, they planted corn and rice with 1-month time difference,
and in another field, they planted root crops such as sweet potato, yam, and cassava
in different parts of the field. This risk diversification of various crop planting was
the basic survival strategy for Aytas to negotiate with possible crop failure of certain
variety by damages of typhoon or drought, caused by insects, birds, or crop diseases.
Risk diversification as well as aggressive utilization and maximization of available
best choice was the key of their resilience before and also after the eruption.
Moreover, the Ayta survivors also received much more attention and support both
materially and morally for a longer time, if compared with other disaster victims
(Christians living in neighboring lowland areas). Domestic and international NGO
workers viewed the Ayta refugees and survivors as “little children” with no means
for livelihood nor sources of income outside of Mt. Pinatubo area who were very
vulnerable and totally dependent on rescue and aid operations by the local and
central governments as well as by NGOs. They suffered the most seriously and
looked “miserable” without relatives, friends, or acquaintances to rely on in and
around evacuation centers and tent cities away from their mother land at the foot of
Mt. Pinatubo. Souvenir photos of donation ceremonies, kickoff events of livelihood
projects, and other occasions together with Aytas wearing G-strings and holding
bows and arrows clearly helped NGOs to persuade and explain their activities to
well-intentioned supporters who made contributions. They were also good opportu-
nities for the central and local governments of the Philippines as well as influential
local politicians to project a good image as a reliable patron responsibly protecting
the helpless Aytas.
Having received such special support, Aytas came to realize that it was the local
and central governments and politicians as well as NGOs from home and abroad
who supported them in a life-or-death situation and that they had received active
support especially from foreign NGOs and international organizations because they
were Aytas with unique cultures and physical features. Their life suddenly changed
from a self-sufficient one confined in the area around Mt. Pinatubo to another in
resettlement sites just in or near the society of lowland Christians (majority
Filipinos) with much more frequent daily contacts, interactions, and negotiations
with government officials, NGO staff, merchants, teachers, media reporters, and
other various kinds of Filipinos. Moreover, they also realized that their new life was
supported by well-intentioned foreign people and overseas support networks. Their
map of geographical and spatial perception expanded accordingly. Not only their
sense of time and history but also their sense of geography and space (world)
expanded at once.
9.5 Ayta Religience Based on Risk Diversification

and Importance of Assistance from Outside
Observing the process of creative rehabilitation of Ayta who had lived on the
southwestern foot of Mt. Pinatubo from the time of eruption in 1991 up to 2018, I
can say that natural disasters destroy the traditional basis of livelihood and bring
suffering and misery to the victims and survivors that can last for many years. As old
infrastructures and social systems become dysfunctional, new infrastructures for
living have to be developed and therefore it could be an opportunity to create a
new society and new people. For this, in combination with efforts of the victims
themselves, detailed and flexible support from local and central governments and
NGOs plays a major role. In case of the Ayta, they were able to obtain special
support from overseas especially because of their physical appearance and unique
culture. It is worth noting that they exhibited excellent flexibility and ability to adapt
themselves to a new living environment as a basic survival strategy. At the same
time, they had “attraction” or ability to draw attention, concern, and assistance from
outside world because of their appearance and behavior as the weak, powerless, and
non-aggressive.
On the other hand, in Japan, three pillars of self-support, mutual support, and
public support for social welfare as well as for disaster recovery are strongly
emphasized recently especially after the great east Japan earthquake in 2011.
Although important, all these supports are from inside the country and such “internal
supports” have limitations today. Natural disasters expected to occur in the near
future (Tokai earthquake, Chunankai earthquake, earthquake directly underneath
Tokyo, eruption of Mt. Fuji, etc.) will be too devastating to be handled by Japanese
government and people alone. It is inevitable that the economic and total power of
Japan will decline as the population is rapidly aging, fewer babies are born, and the
economy becomes stagnant. In such situation, Japan has to earnestly seek ways to
actively accept and use assistance from outside (emergency aid and reconstruction
support from overseas) when considering ways to respond to “unexpected” disasters.
It was the most important thing besides dynamic resilience by flexible survival
strategy through risk diversification that the Ayta taught me vividly while I stood
by them and witnessed their difficult path to creative recovery from the devastating
eruption.
References
LAKAS. (1991). Eruption and Exodus: Mt. Pinatubo and the Aytas in Zambales, Bolotan,
Zambales; Lubos na Alyansa ng mga Katutubong Ayta ng Samabales (LAKAS).
Mercado, R., & Pineda, G. (1996). Socioeconomic impacts of the Mount Pinatubo eruption. In
N. Christopher & R. Punongbayan (Eds.), Fire and mud: Eruption and Lahars of Mout
Pinatubo Philippines. Quezon City: Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Shahlins, M. (1972). Stone age economics. New York: Aldine.
156 H. Shimizu
Shimizu, H. (1989). Pinatubo Aytas: Continuity and change. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila
University Press.
Shimizu, H. (1992). Past, present and future of the Pinatubo Ayta. In S. Hiromu (Ed.), After the
eruption: Pinatubo Aytas at the crisis of their Survival. Tokyo: Foundation for Human Rights in
Asia.
Shimizu, H. (2001). The orphans of Pinatubo: The Ayta struggle for existence. Manila: Solidaridad
Publishing House.
Chapter 10
Resilience of Life (Livelihood) and Natural
Disasters
Yumiko Nara
Abstract Natural disasters impact immense external forces on people’s lives.

Disasters consume one’s life immediately after the occurrence, lingering for a long
time and changing livelihoods over time. This chapter will consider the resilience of
life against natural disasters from the perspective of risk management. It will
examine the significance and practice of the peoples’ resilience against disasters
before and after its occurrence.
10.1 Direction of Disaster Response and Resilience
Resilience is the ability to maintain or recover with stability, having flexible

response and adaptation to conditions of rapid change and adversity in the environ-
ment. The combination of disasters and resilience derives from a change in the
paradigm of disaster countermeasures. Disaster prevention is not uniform; it depends
on the situated time and the shape of society. Even over the past half century of our
country, at least three paradigms have been identified (Hayashi 2013).
The first disaster countermeasures are similar to firefighting. In the event of a
disaster, the idea is to take definite and most supportive measures against the
disaster. This strategy began to show changes in the 1960s with the establishment
of the Basic Measures against Disasters and more so in the 1970s, with Special
Measures Law for Large-Scale Earthquakes. It was a paradigm shift aimed for
disaster prevention as damage restraint. Paralleling with the era of high economic
growth in Japan, disaster prevention focused mainly on approaches through
engineering – construction of high seawalls, strong expressways, and highly
earthquake-resistant buildings.
However, these ideas were forced to be re-examined at the beginning of the
twenty-first century. This was due to the reality of an unexpected magnitude of a
disaster occurring than expected. The recent Great East Japan Earthquake would be
Y. Nara (*)
The Open University of Japan, Chiba City, Chiba, Japan
e-mail: narayumi@ouj.ac.jp

158 Y. Nara
an example. Of course, traditional engineering approaches are vital but, in addition

to this, measures against natural disasters have evolved toward successfully averting
it and if not, it has become crucial to have the intension toward quick recovery as
well as flexible restoration. This is the emergence of a paradigm that aims to improve
resilience.
In January 2005, Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015: Building the resil-
ience of nations and communities against disasters and the Hyogo Declaration were
adopted at the 2nd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WDCRR)
conducted in Hyogo prefecture. Resilience was noted as a key concept within the
framework for action. Here, resilience is recognized as “a crucial knowledge for
recovery that systems, communities and societies exposed to hazards gain by,
resisting, absorbing, accepting, and receiving against disaster’s negative influences
in a timely and effective manner through retaining and repairing basic mechanisms
and functions.”
Resilience has gained acknowledgment in the field of disaster prevention and has
since become the backbone concept of disaster prevention activities for the United
Nation system and regional organizations. In 2015, the 3rd World Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Sendai – the disaster area of the Great East Japan
Earthquake. Here, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030,
Sendai Declaration, and Sendai Disaster Risk Reduction Cooperation Initiative were
elaborated and announced, among which the importance of resilience had been
inherited. In other words there should be a broader, more human-centered preventive
approach to disaster risk. Strengthening disaster response with various stakeholders in
Japan and abroad for reconstruction is needed, such as “Build Back Better.”
10.2 Disaster Response Resilience Model
Once disasters occur, damages are caused toward, such as, social infrastructure, and
this influences the system to greatly reduce its functionality. In time, functionalities
recover. Under these circumstances, to improve resilience, it is necessary to under-
stand and enhance the characteristics of the four Rs – the basic elements of disaster
resilience (Bruneau et al. 2003).
• Robustness: strong and indestructible. Each unit of the social system cannot be
broken even if external force is applied and has the ability not to cause functional
decline or suspension.
• Redundancy: having backup. Even if the elements and units of the social system
stop functioning, having alternatives that can carry out the system.
• Resourcefulness: having high resource mobilization, identifying the issue,
establishing priority, and collecting an abundance of various and appropriate
resources (finance, information, materials, technology, and human resources).
The ability to deploy and arrange the supplies aligning issues and priorities.
• Rapidity: having speed. Quick in response and in good timing, in line with
priorities and ultimately achieving goals.
10 Resilience of Life (Livelihood) and Natural Disasters 159
Let us apply this model to a lifestyle system. First, to successfully continue and
maintain a lifestyle system, an individual needs to live. Therefore, it is most
important to make sure that one’s functionality does not reach the bottom (¼ does
not die). Hence, the decrease in functionality must be minimized so it can be
rejuvenated quickly.
As measures to minimize the decline in function against natural disasters, earth-
quake resistance tactics for buildings are typically applied to improve robustness,
and quick evacuation is usually applied to improve rapidity. In addition, at the stage
of functional recovery from the bottom-up, for example, by providing emergency
drinking water and flashlights, redundancy increases, and it is necessary to develop
resources in advance by having, for instance, earthquake insurance. Resourcefulness
can be sufficient by enabling external resources to be acquired.
Life is thought to be an individual experience, but everyday life and day-to-day
practices are possible because we live in a community. Hence, it can be said that in a
resilient life, while resilience of an individual is important, the resilience of the
community is crucial as well – an individuals’ resilience toward disasters is embod-
ied as self-help, and community resilience leads to mutual aid.
In terms of rapidity, the effectiveness of self-help together with mutual help
(reciprocal help) immediately after the occurrence of a disaster has been observed
at various disaster sites. We expect the public sector to function as a countermeasure
against disasters, but when a disaster hits, it does not go as expected. Mobilization of
public resources is greatly reduced when disasters occur. The larger the scale of the
disaster and the wider the range, the longer it will take for public resources to reach.
In fact, immediately after a disaster occurs, it is nearby neighbors or people around
who become life savers.
In the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, 164,000 people were instantly buried
under collapsed houses. Eighty percent of them managed to escape by themselves,
but the remaining 20%, approximately 35,000 were trapped. It is said that about
7900 people, about 20% of the 35,000 people who have been buried alive, were
rescued by the police, fire departments, and the Self-Defense Force, and about 80%
(about 27,100 people) were rescued by nearby residents. It is also estimated that the
survival rate of the latter was high (Kawata 1997).
In addition, even in the case of the same disaster, there may be differences in the
degree of damage and the speed of restoration depending on the area. It has been
studied that areas that only experienced minor damage or were promptly restored
shared the characteristics of communities routinely interacting with each other and
have had the experience of resolving community issues (Noda 1997).
Apart from the degree of structural measures, the concrete resources and social
resources (social capital) possessed by the community are important factors that
innovate resilience. There is a high possibility that individuals who live in and
engage with local communities contribute to the improvement of resilience.
160 Y. Nara
10.3 Pre-disaster Response and Resilience
Discussing resilience against disasters, emergency response and quick action toward
recovery/reconstruction are thought of, but these are not the only definitions. Think-
ing of and foreseeing these issues in advance in our daily lives are just as crucial.
To incorporate resilience against disasters in our daily lives, it is essential to better
one’s knowledge of resilience. Bringing this to reality, preparation and education on
disasters are very important, and in fact, the effectiveness of disaster education has
been shown in past earthquakes.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake, a large tsunami caused massive damage to the
Tohoku coastal area. Under such circumstances, many of the students in the city of
Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, were relatively safe. This was because the students of
Kamaishi Higashi Junior High School located in Otsuchi Bay, just 500 m from the
sea, quickly evacuated to the high ground – helping the children of the nearby
Unosumai Elementary School and the nursery school at the same time when the
earthquake occurred. As a result, all students, about 570 of them, were saved from
the roaring tsunami.
This was named and remembered as the “Kamaishi Miracle.” But this is not an
accidental phenomenon; it is the outcome of the obedient practices, disaster educa-
tion, and prevention drill conducted across 8 years in Kamaishi City. The students at
Kamaishi Higashi Junior High School have always regarded themselves as the main
body of disaster prevention and have repeatedly practiced emergency drills with the
children of Unosumai Elementary School. The practice was based on the “Evacua-
tion Three Principles”: Do not completely trust the expected: always expect the
unexpected, do the best under the circumstances, and be a leader of the evacuees.
These practices were commenced to foster a proactive stance in preparation for
disasters, and the diligent outcome was shown – in the Great East Japan Earthquake,
the students saved their own lives and the lives of others by following their principles
(Katada 2014).
Disaster prevention education to improve individual’s resilience is currently
being addressed in various ways. Especially in a county with concerns around the
Tokyo Inland Earthquake and the Nankai Trough Earthquake, this education is
taking place beyond Kamaishi City. An example is the approach that Kuroshio
Town is taking in Kochi Prefecture. In this town, a 34.3 m tsunami is predicted to
hit from the Nankai Trough Earthquake. Being a town vulnerable to natural disaster
risk as well as suffering from depopulation, enhancement of disaster prevention
drills is intertwined with education and local activities. It teaches individuals how to
protect their own lives and contribute to their community. These trainings and
educational content can also be referenced from the local government websites.
Improving the resilience of local communities is also essential, and efforts have
been strengthened after the Great East Japan Earthquake. In April 2014, the com-
munity disaster management plan was created with a strong emphasis on mutual
support reinforcing disaster prevention activities. A community disaster manage-
ment plan is a plan concerning voluntary disaster prevention activities in a relevant
district, conducted jointly by residents and businesses of certain districts in munic-

ipalities based on the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act. For the disaster preven-
tion activities, the content, main agent, and its range can freely be determined
according to the characteristics of the district. It can be said that this plan is a
bottom-up structure that strongly supports and reflects the needs of the residents.
Many districts have formulated community disaster management plans nation-
wide and are working on disaster prevention activities in cooperation with munic-
ipalities. For example, the homepage of the Cabinet Office contains information
about the district disaster prevention models (Cabinet Office 2017). In addition, there
are many residents doing voluntary disaster prevention activities in their local
community without depending on the district disaster prevention plan.
10.4 Post-disaster Response (Emergency Response,

Recovery/Reconstruction) and Resilience
10.4.1 Elements of Life Reconstruction
After natural disasters occur, people begin to regain and restructure their ordinary
lives. It must be stated that the outcome of restoration is not expected to be the same
as before the disaster. As stated in the expression “Build Back Better,” restoring or
regaining means fulfilling the functions of a life system and achieving its purpose,
accepting changes in quality and quantity.
Several research have been conducted in Japan since the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake on how life is restored after a disaster. In particular, studies by Tamura
et al. (2001), Tatsuki (2007), and Hayashi (2016) et al. are significant and
interesting – following several years on the victims’ life recovery after the earth-
quake. From this research, several factors were noted to be in relation with life
reconstruction: housing (securing stable housing), social ties (people to people,
acquiring social networks), mind and body (physical and mental health), economic
financial situation (good economic conditions that bring financial support, environ-
ment, and livelihoods), townscape (reconstruction of the entire town), relation to
government (having close connections with the administration as relating to various
supporting networks), and preparedness (for the next disaster) (Hayashi 2016;
Tatsuki 2007; Tamura et al. 2001).
Furthermore, in 2012, the author interviewed victims who experienced a trau-
matic experience with the loss of their homes and their families due to the Sichuan
earthquake (May 2008). Studying and analyzing the transcribed voices collected
over 4 years about the changes in condition of life after the earthquake, the life
reconstruction model shown in Fig. 10.1 was extracted (Nara et al. 2013). The
process of life reconstruction can be viewed as a continuous process of reacquiring
and redistributing life resources, establishing relationships with other people and
nature, and rebuilding the self. There are three elements in the model:
162 Y. Nara
Re-construction of life
Degree of content of a
Vision of the future
current situation
Reacquisition and Relationship with others Reconstruction of the self

redistribution of life resources and nature
Housing Consciousness to natural Recognition of

and human disasters self-change
Work and its
worthwhileness Acceptance of the Re-recognition of life-
government value
Income and expenditure
Relative deprivation Attachment and release
of the past life system
Health (mind and body)
Acceptance of change in Relationship of the self
role expectation and hometown
Social support
Fig. 10.1 Overall graph of life reconstruction
Reconstruction of the self – underlying concepts being “recognition of self-change,”

“re-recognition of life value,” “attachment and release of the past life systems,”
and “relationship of the self and hometown”
Relationship with others and nature – underlying concepts being “consciousness to
natural disasters and human disasters,” “acceptance of the government,” “recog-
nition of relative deprivation (comparing one’s self with other victims’ situa-
tions),” and “acceptance of changes in role expectations (loss of role in life due to
disaster and accepting new roles in life)”
Reacquisition and redistribution of living resources – underlying concept being,
“housing,” “whether work is challenging or worthwhile,” “income and expendi-
ture,” “health (body and mind),” and “social support”
These three, respectively, define satisfaction toward the given situation and
prospective for the future (¼ life reconstruction). In other words, the better the
situation of these three elements are, the more satisfaction gained for the given
situation, ultimately leading to a brighter prospect for the future.
10.4.2 Emergency Response, Recovery and Reconstruction

of Time Procession, and Life Affected by Disaster
This section will divide time procession in relation to disaster into several phases,
including the emergency response period immediately after the disaster occurrence,
and study its impact on livelihoods.
First, the time frame from disaster is divided into the following four phases
(Hayashi 2003):
Phase 0: Disorientation period (immediately after the earthquake occurrence to 10 h)
Phase 1: Formation of impacted society (10 h to 100 h)
Phase 2: Disaster utopia period (100 h to 1000 h)
Phase 3: Recovery and reconstruction period (from 1000 h onward)
To clarify how life changes during the progress of these phases, the author
conducted interviews with victims in the coastal area after the Great East Japan
Earthquake (Nara 2012). The results are shown in Table 10.1.
Table 10.1 is organized based on the viewpoint of life components (life value, life
norms, life interest, life relationship, life activities, and life resources). These ele-
ments have the following contents: (a) life value (criteria of the quality of life for
each individual, “What is most valuable in life?”), (b) life norms (the specific action a
person takes to respect social norms in each circumstances and re-created actions to
suit other people’s situation; in other words, rules each person holds), (c) life interest
(relevance of each person’s life), (d) life relationship (relationships constructed in
various everyday scenes, including relationships built on one’s social role), (e) life
activities (activities that position life resources in life situations), and (f) life
resources (means of life, tools, and information). These are used for economic
resources, physical strength, gaining knowledge on information literacy, information
on resources, human relations, etc.
• Phase 0 (Earthquake Occurrence ~ 10 h)
In this phase, quotes such as “I ran away with what I was wearing at the time,”
“There was water breaking through Taro’s seawall,” and “I climbed desperately to
the mountain behind” are all elements of livelihood with “protecting one’s life” at
its core.
Voices such as “I thought when the earthquake hit, the tsunami was on its way.
The ocean looked strange. I escaped with my wife to the high grounds, calling out to
my neighbors at the same time” or “I was able to escape with the help of my daughter
in law” show that recognizing the foresight of the tsunami, having the physical
strength to escape, and, if not, having people around to help you are aspects that
branched to saving one’s life. In addition, in an imminent situation, division of roles
is executed to help family and neighbors.
• Phase 1 (10–100 h)
164 Y. Nara
Table 10.1 Time procession and life affected by disaster

Phase Life (livelihood)
Emergency Phase 0 (Period of disorienta- All that becomes the component of life is
response period tion: Earthquake occurrence to concentrated in “saving lives”.
10 h) Role implementation in imminent situa-
tions (family, neighbors, patients and
passengers).
Regarding to life resources, the waiting
time for information/knowledge and
interperso
Phase 1 (The establishment of A strong initiative in ‘protecting (saving)
victim society: 10–100 h) lives’.
Gaining and distributing life resources at a
primitive level.
Conflict between various roles arise
concretely.
Phase 2 (Disaster Utopia era: Differences in gaining life
100–1000 h) recourses ! Difference in lifestyle
activities.
Differences arise in life interests (Condi-
tioned by resources).
Norms in disaster areas develop. Within it,
affected victims gain roles.
Recovery and Phase 3 (Recovery and Recon- Rethinking and meaning making of the
reconstruction structive period: 1000 h disaster begin. ! Condition life value.
period onwards) Contextualising life interest and margins
grow deeper between people.
In terms of life resources, attaining eco-
nomical resources become a serious issue.
Relationships
In this phase, there is still a strong notion in protecting and saving lives, seen from
voices such as “my house was swept away by the tsunami but I rescued as many
people as I could, being a member of the fire department” or “my wife was missing
and I was looking for her for a long time.”
Obtaining and the distribution of life resources are at a very primitive level.
Circumstances, such as “the gymnasium which was our shelter was very cold. There
was nothing to eat,” depict there was nothing one could do but wait for life supplies.
Other expressions, such as “the activity of the Self-Defense Force is incredible. They
looked like Gods,” reflect the severity of the situation at the time.
Among these voices, others who stated “everyone evacuated to the meeting place
in the temple. The neighbors took care of the elderly” and “I was relieved to meet the
neighbors at the shelter. We cheered each other up” show the disaster-affected life
shared and lived through the relationship of the local community.
• Phase 2 (100–1000 h)
Entering this phase, individual and regional differences become noticeable in

acquiring life resources, “I feel a burden in the shelter because it’s cramped. This is
why I am staying with someone I know. But I cannot stay here for long. My home
has been washed away and my wife is still not found. I really don’t know what I
should do.” “Rescue workers cannot reach evacuees at home. I don’t have a car
which means I can’t go shopping – I am really struggling with food and clothing.”
On the other hand, there are voices such as “my sibling living in another prefecture
lent me a car. That has been really helpful.”
Other voices express, “I was a fisherman, but the port is now destroyed. I lost my
ship as well. I cannot think about the future at this moment, I am only doing my best
living every day.” “My job was to do with agriculture, but my fields were all washed
away. Now, I have nothing to do every day.” As such statements show, many people
were forced to change their livelihoods and their interests due to the loss of living
resources. In this phase, the narrative seems to be, “everybody helps each other in the
evacuation center. It is run according to the rules, with evenly divided roles such as
cleaning and providing hot water.” New living standards are created, and everyone
takes on a new role in their new livelihoods.
• Phase 3 (1000 h onward)
Entering this phase, out of all life resources, the impact of economic resources
becomes most apparent. While new life interests become more embodied, this is
affected by the difference in possession of resources. Voices express, “I want to
rebuild my agricultural land, but at my age I cannot be in more debt so I gave
up. Now, I’m working in a different job sector that has to do with restoration for a
short period of time. But to be honest, I want to go back to farming.” “Young people
leave town to earn more money. I understand this is inevitable, but it would be nice
to convince them to stay.” “My child, wife, and I have decided to start a new life at a
new place.” “I am so glad I had Earthquake insurance. It really helps when it comes
to rebuilding my home.” “My store was washed away by the tsunami, but the lives of
the shopkeepers continue. My family disagrees, but I fortunately found another lot
and I’m going to start another store again.”
In this phase, reflections and meanings begin to be given to the earthquake, “With
help from others and through connections, I am able to move forward little by little.
The reason I could stay strong was because of the people around me. Meeting new
people can change my life” (man in his 60s – all his farming tools, land, and
machines were taken by the tsunami, and his home was half destroyed). “Things
are so insignificant as long as I am living, and as long as I am connected with others”
(a woman in her 60s who lost her house). “I want to pass on my experiences, what I
have seen, heard, and thought. I guess, I found more importance on leaving them
behind, I feel the duty in passing them on” (a woman in her 60s whose home was
completely destroyed by the tsunami). As these voices show, their experiences have
led to giving new purpose and meaning in their conditions and life value.
Usually in a normal livelihood, life norms, interests, relationships, behaviors, and
resources are defined based on a certain level of independence and planning,
aligning to the life value of the individual. People’s livelihoods are constructed
166 Y. Nara
Fig. 10.2 Components of

life (livelihood) Environment
Life (livelihood)
Subjectivity
Life Value
(Conditions)
regulations)
Life norms
(Rules and
Life interests
Life relationships
Life actions
Ability to Life resources
plan
with these decisions. On the other hand, referencing the voices of the victims, after a
disaster, life is constructed in a situation-adaptive manner in reverse direction – that
is, the direction in which the availability of life resources constructing the value of
life (see Fig. 10.2). Of course, even in normal circumstances, resources may condi-
tion life value, but this direction becomes most noticeable after a disaster.
From this, it can be confirmed that the possession of resources and the ability to
mobilize are important factors for constructing the post-disaster life. In other words,
preparation for resources before any disaster is key in having an abundance to
reconstruct one’s life after any disaster.
10.5 Life Risk Management for Improving Disaster

Resilience
For one to strengthen and better their resilience against natural disasters, the ability
of risk management suiting to each phase and prediction of time lapse after the
disaster are crucial. The phases consist of life risk management to avoid death
(corresponds to phase 0), life risk management to survive (corresponds to phases
1 and 2), and life risk management to restore life quickly (corresponds to phase 3 and
beyond).
Phase 0 of risk management corresponding to protecting lives should be
implemented in the highest priority. The ultimate function required for the contin-
uation of life is for the individual to survive. For disaster prevention measures to be
practiced in daily life, stocking emergency food and drinking water, knowing how to
communicate with family members, and insurance are some examples often encour-
aged. These are all effective measures; however, the effects are shown after phase
1. In terms of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, the magnitude of

external forces and the disaster prevention ability of the society greatly affect the
extent of disaster. Hence, it cannot be denied; in fact, there are limitations to how
much one can prepare for and deal with natural disasters on a daily basis. Never-
theless, self-help efforts to minimize the risk as much as possible during phase 0 are
vital.
Generally, elderly people and people with physical impairment are thought of as
most vulnerable when disasters strike. The ratio of people aged 60 and over among
the fatalities of the Great East Japan Earthquake was 64.4%, which is more than
double that of 30.6% of the north-eastern Japan’s coastal municipalities. The ratio of
people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s is 1.4, 2.3, and 3.3 times the population ratio,
respectively, and the elderly people have higher mortality rates. In addition, the
percentage of deaths of 60 years of age or higher in the Great Hanshin-Awaji showed
a high figure of 58.3% (Cabinet Office “2011 Disaster Prevention White Paper”).
However, the amount of resources one has in hand can make anyone vulnerable
to disasters. For example, in phase 0, a young person with high physicality but is
lacking of disaster information and literacy to judge the disaster appropriately and
link it to action, or if his/her being is not recognized by their community, significant
delays will occur for rescue or evacuation. The same applies to phases 1 and 2. In
Phase 3, the availability of economic resources will greatly affect the disaster
situation.
We are all victims of the future. Life risk management will be required on the
premise that there is a possibility of being vulnerable to disasters in all phases. After
disasters, resources on hand sway the conditions of life. It is necessary to think about
what resources are lacking for oneself and prepare them on a daily basis. To have
enough supplies in advance for not only oneself but also for others is mutual
assistance (reciprocal assistance), and having abundance of resources for all is
crucial.
10.6 Importance of Meaning Making of Disaster
As mentioned earlier, seen from the voices of the victims of the Great East Japan
Earthquake, when reaching phase 3, one can see the reflection and meaning making
of the disaster. Here, victims who gave positive meaning to their post-disaster
experience tend to have a quick and good recovery of their life, even if they
experienced enormous damage.
This pattern was also seen in the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake (Nara et al.
2013). The skill of the individual’s power to gain life resources, ability to obtain new
abilities, and the connection with nearby residents and volunteers are involved in the
steady recovery of life after a major disaster, as well as influencing the meaning
making of the disaster experience. While there are experiences of the great earth-
quake as “everything is destroyed,” there are others such as “I only have myself to
rely on, and therefore I must stay strong,” or “I have become more aware and have a
168 Y. Nara
new realization of life.” These voices show positivity in change. Moreover, thoughts
such as “If you ask me if I feel ikigai (purpose of life) before or post-earthquake, I
would say now, post-earthquake, as I see much meaning to this provided space to
live with others” (a male in his 30s who has lost his son, wife, home, and job, now a
chief of residence in his community) or “the biggest occurrence of this earthquake
for me was being able to find my daughter (who was missing after the disaster). The
mission and new meaning that this earthquake brought for me is to raise my
daughter. My current goal is to get my daughter to school properly, and to give
her knowledge on survival, and to let her live a happy life for the rest of her life”
(a male in his 40s who lost his wife and home in the disaster and is now a water
treatment plant security). Those reflecting positively to the disaster experience and
positioning themselves a new life role in their family and community were taking
action for reconstructing their life and having a bright outlook for the future.
Other research studies have also revealed the ways meaning making of disasters
affect the reconstruction of life (Tamura et al. 2001; Hayashi 2016). After the
occurrence of a disaster, the process of rebuilding consists of connecting with
various people. Within these socializations, people who gained a new outlook for
their town and have made special connections understand their disaster experience
with a positive attitude, such as “there is nothing more to be done” or “I have learned
a lot.” These outlooks blossom into high motivation toward restoration. The voices
of the victims and their perspectives can be viewed as manifestations of individual
resilience. It can also be strongly related to their psychological resilience.
References
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Chapter 11
The Essence of Resilience Against Disaster:
Requirements for Geographic Education
Yasuhiro Suzuki
Abstract The importance of “resilience” has been emphasized in recent interna-

tional discussions on disaster risk reduction. In order to create a resilient society, it is
essential to enhance citizens’ resilience; therefore, it is necessary to improve disaster
risk reduction education (DRRE). This paper discusses the essential elements of
disaster resilience and the requisites for DRRE. For enhancing disaster resilience, we
must strengthen our ability to (1) carefully observe the changing environment
through an understanding of geography; (2) actively participate in society and take
on individual responsibility to reduce disaster risks; and (3) have courage and make
reasonable changes to society. The organization of DRRE is broken down into short-
term and long-term goals and consists of “Practical DRRE” and “Basic DRRE.” The
former DRRE is directly connected to specific, effective damage mitigation, while
the latter raises disaster awareness and supports the motives of the former. Both parts
should be implemented in a balanced manner in the new school curriculum in Japan.
11.1 Introduction
“Resilience” has been often used as a general word in contrast to vulnerability; it

means the “quality of being buoyant.” Recently, the term “disaster resilience” was
defined by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) as “the
ability of countries, communities and households to manage change, by maintaining
or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses – such as earth-
quakes, drought or violent conflict – without compromising their long-term pros-
pects” (DFID 2011). The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk
Reduction (UNISDR) also defined the term in the Hyogo Framework of Action
(2005–2015) as “the capacity of a system, community or society potentially exposed
to hazards to adapt, by resisting or changing in order to reach and maintain an
Y. Suzuki (*)
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
e-mail: ysz@nagoya-u.jp

172 Y. Suzuki
acceptable level of functioning and structure” (UNISDR 2005). Here,

“transforming” or “changing” is emphasized as well as “resisting” or “maintaining.”
The assessment of resilience against disaster is vital to ensure a sustainable future
(Hayashi et al. 2016). In order to make a society resilient, it is essential to enhance
citizens’ resilience; therefore, it is necessary to improve disaster risk reduction
education (DRRE). The author discusses the essence of disaster resilience and the
required contents of DRRE.
11.2 The Essence of Disaster Resilience
In the latter half of the twentieth century, developed countries, including Japan,
actively pursued natural catastrophe countermeasures and were thought to have
overcome such calamities. However, the Kobe earthquake of 1995 and the Great
East Japan Earthquake of 2011 exposed Japan’s shortfalls in preparedness for
low-frequency, large-scale disasters. There is a high need for countermeasures for
frequently occurring, small- to medium-scale crises, but preparations for
low-frequency, large-scale catastrophes are not cost-effective and are influenced
by the desire to avoid undue economic impacts. Furthermore, large, low-frequency
disasters are difficult to predict. As a result, building a social consensus on specific
countermeasures or how society should change is not easy. It is also possible that
people will simply want to close their eyes to the “inconvenient truth.”
Under these circumstances, especially after 2011, the consideration of disaster
resilience has gained prominence. Resilience has attracted attention in the form of
“resilient recovery capability,” which includes not only the expectations for
“strength” based on conventional structural measures but also the desire for a
society’s “flexibility” and “responsiveness” to overcome a calamity. Two important
items for improving disaster resilience are (1) understanding that low-frequency,
large disasters may occur and preparing for them in advance and (2) building a social
consensus on the need for countermeasures that are often considered counteractive to
economic progress (Suzuki et al. 2016).
The Japanese government advocates for the importance of national resilience. I
agree that the essence of resilience should be captured. In 2014, the Japanese Cabinet
established the “Fundamental Plan for National Resilience – Creating a Strong and
Resilient Country,” which outlines the concepts of national resilience as follows
(Cabinet Secretariat of Japan 2014):
Damage due to disasters varies significantly depending on the preparedness of society. In
order to avoid repeating ex post facto measures, i.e., making efforts over years for the
recovery and reconstruction from tremendous damage after being hit by a large-scale
earthquake or other disasters, it is important to make preparations for large-scale disasters
in advance during normal times, squarely facing the possibility of large-scale natural
disasters and various other risks. In light of the lessons we learned from the Great East
Japan Earthquake, we need to prepare comprehensive measures against large-scale disasters,
with the possibility of the worst cases without preconceptions, while incorporating national
land policy and industry policy as well, not only limited within the scope of
11 The Essence of Resilience Against Disaster: Requirements for Geographic. . . 173
narrowly-defined disaster prevention, as a far-sighted national policy with an eye on the

distant future. For that purpose, we are committed to promoting initiatives for building
national resilience with the aim of creating safe and secure national lands, regions, and
economic society that have strength and flexibility, even in the event of any disasters. Basic
principles therefore are as follows: 1) Prevent human loss by any means. 2) Avoid fatal
damage to important functions for maintaining administration as well as social and economic
systems. 3) Mitigate damage to property of the citizenry and public facilities. 4) Achieve
swift recovery and reconstruction.
The important points identified here are “[keeping in mind] the possibility of the
worst cases without preconceptions” and “incorporating national land policy and
industry policy, not limited within the scope of narrowly-defined disaster preven-
tion” (Cabinet Secretariat of Japan 2014). Despite the fact that the Great East Japan
Earthquake was probably a recurrence of a massive earthquake that occurred in the
ninth century, it was not anticipated in terms of preparedness. Consequently, subse-
quent damage from the tsunami and the severe nuclear accident was induced.
Searching for a way to ensure that this situation does not happen again has become
a top priority. Thus, it is critical to calmly scrutinize modern Japanese society and to
imagine the future, as well as to re-examine national land structure and societal
conditions, which were not taken into account in the conventional framework of
“disaster prevention.” In this sense, resilience is being seriously considered (Suzuki
2012).
It is also possible to evaluate the following countermeasure objectives:
“(1) preventing human loss, (2) avoiding fatal damage to important functions for
maintaining administration, social and economic systems, (3) mitigating damage to
property of the citizenry and public facilities, [and] (4) achieving swift recovery and
reconstruction” (Cabinet Secretariat of Japan 2014).
However, I disagree with the implementation of the National Resilience Plan. The
government seems to be placing the most focus on the second objective. Each
ministry is questioned on important countermeasures, and preferential
budget allocation takes place. There is still a lack of discussion on how to achieve
the first aim with the perspective of emphasizing resilience. Structural countermea-
sures are definitely effective at protecting human life, but improvements for com-
prehensive, flexible citizen resilience must not rely too heavily on the “strength” of
structural countermeasures; creating genuine disaster resilience by developing
wisdom is an essential task. I do not believe that enough effort has been made
toward that goal.
11.3 The Importance of Disaster Risk Reduction Education
To boost disaster resilience, we must strengthen our ability to (1) carefully observe
the changing environment with an understanding of the geography of target areas;
(2) actively participate in society and take on individual responsibility to mitigate
calamities; and (3) have courage and make reasonable changes to society.
174 Y. Suzuki
Fundamental resilience should not come from top-down policies, but rather be
gradually acquired by citizens through bottom-up discussions. In that sense, from
now on, we should promote DRRE and resilience education in Japanese schools
(Suzuki 2018a).
In March 2018, the Japanese government decided on the new curriculum for high
schools that will be enforced in 2022. To “create a sustainable society” through the
curriculum, geography will become a compulsory subject and establish education for
disaster risk reduction, as well as for skills related to geographic information systems
(GIS). Disaster risk reduction has been addressed in geography classes before, but
the new curriculum will focus on raising independent thinkers for the future, rather
than providing education that simply centers on knowledge of disasters and preven-
tion activities (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
2018).
The necessity of DRRE has never been more emphasized than it is today.
Questions about how to create a safe, peaceful society have been accumulating for
years. The following bodies all insist on the seriousness of DRRE from their unique
respective standpoints: the Cabinet Office’s Central Disaster Management Council
(CDMC) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT),
which have jurisdiction over disaster prevention; the Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which promotes disaster prevention
research; and the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), which represents scientific
activities in the country. At present, the organization of DRRE in schools is not
advancing. I participated in the SCJ’s 2017 proposal, “Enforcement of Geography
Education for a Sustainable Society.” In that proposal, we stressed the importance of
a rapid solution to the various problems associated with implementing effective
DRRE (Science Council of Japan 2017).
To clarify trends in the organization of DRRE and to ensure that geography forms
a prominent part of it, we must ask “Why has DRRE become so critical now?” and
“What topics must we focus on in DRRE?”
11.4 Background of the Need for Disaster Risk Reduction

Education
The largest impetus for increased awareness of the need for DRRE was the Kobe
Earthquake of 1995. Modern cities were hit by the earthquake, which had a seismic
maximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale, and 6433 lives were lost. The cause of
death for 90% of the casualties was being crushed or struck by buildings or furniture;
most people died instantly. Buildings and furniture that are normally considered safe
became dangerous. Furthermore, the collapse of many city buildings was generally
referred to as “the collapse of safety myths.” Moreover, the earthquake was caused
by the active fault beneath the city, of which most residents were unaware. The
frequency of earthquakes produced by a fault is exceedingly low, but once this
occurs, a devastating calamity follows. This is typical of low-frequency, huge

catastrophes; a difficult problem was posed regarding how to deal with such disasters
(Suzuki 2001).
After this event, the Japanese archipelago entered a period of frequent earth-
quakes, including the 2000 Tottori earthquake (M7.3), the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake
(M6.8), the 2007 Noto earthquake (M6.9), the 2007 Chuetsu offshore earthquake
(M6.8), the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake (M7.2), the 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake (M9.0), the 2014 Nagano Prefecture Kamishiro Fault earthquake
(M6.7), and the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (M7.3), which all occurred consecu-
tively. Aspects of damage from each one differed, which factors into the difficulty of
earthquake disaster prevention. The 2004 Chuetsu and the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi
Nairiku earthquakes incurred large-scale damage to towns in mountainous areas,
prompting recognition of the need for disaster prevention that accounts for regional
characteristics. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake produced a giant tsunami that
struck Japan’s Pacific coast, giving rise to huge tremors from the Tohoku region
through the Kanto region, as well as major damage even in large cities such as
Tokyo. During the 2014 Kamishiro Fault and the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes,
surface faults appeared; because massive damage resulted along the faults, the
danger of active faults was elucidated (Suzuki 2019). Furthermore, during that
time, the 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake (on the northern part of Sakhalin Island), the
1999 Izmit earthquake in northwestern Turkey, the 1999 Jiji earthquake in Taiwan,
the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India, the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, and the 2005
Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan were all large-scale, catastrophic calamities in Asia
that generated a sense of terror and the loss of tens of thousands of lives.
During this period, the Cabinet Office’s CDMC established the Outlines of the
Tokai Earthquake Measures in 2003, the Outlines of the Tonankai and Nankai
Earthquakes Measures in 2003, the Outlines of the Tokyo Inland Earthquake
Measures in 2005, the Measure Outlines for the Trench-type Earthquakes in the
Vicinity of the Japan and Chishima Trenches in 2006, and the Outlines for Earth-
quakes just below the Chubu and Kansai Region in 2009.
However, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake differed from earthquake pre-
diction by the government, resulting in drastic corrections to earthquake counter-
measures. In 2014, the Japanese government combined the abovementioned five
outlines into one, the Outlines of Large-Scale Earthquakes Measures. In 2017, the
government halted the Tokai earthquake countermeasures, which focused on earth-
quake prediction. The target of earthquake disaster prevention has since shifted to
“Nankai Trough earthquakes,” which are larger in scale than Tokai earthquakes.
Moreover, initiatives have changed to disaster prevention policies that take uncer-
tainties in scientific predictions into account.
At the end of the twentieth century, the focus moved toward international climate
changes such as global warming. We became aware of the frequency of disasters
caused by abnormal weather, such as the 2000 Tokai floods, the 2004 Niigata/Fukui/
San’in floods, the 2014 Hiroshima heavy rains, and the 2018 Western Japan heavy
rains, which resulted in extreme floods and sediment disaster. The population
shrinkage caused by Japan’s declining birthrate, aging population, and economic
176 Y. Suzuki
Photo 11.1 Disaster risk reduction workshop in a primary school, where the author asked a student
the importance of preparedness
slowdown gave rise to a feeling of uncertainty in the future caused by social changes,
as well as by the global environment.
Faced with repeated natural catastrophes, Japan’s people have come to feel that
disaster prevention has serious problems: (1) hard levees provide insufficient pro-
tection; (2) residential development in disaster-prone areas is making calamities
worse; (3) the declining birthrate and aging population are increasing the number
of vulnerable people; and (4) local initiatives for disaster mitigation are necessary
because national disaster countermeasures are inadequate.
The rise in awareness of the need to overcome these obstacles has led to the need
for DRRE. Therefore, these issues must be accounted for in future DRRE (Photo
11.1).
11.5 Disaster Risk Reduction Education Goals
Since DRRE is required from various viewpoints, the organization of DRRE should
be broken down into short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals include
urgent damage reduction, while long-term goals imply building a safer, more
peaceful Japanese society (Suzuki 2007).
The greatest lesson from the 1995 Kobe earthquake was the fragility of existing,
non-compliant buildings that were not sufficiently earthquake-proof; this problem
must be quickly remedied. In the Tokai region, the Tohoku region’s Pacific coast,
metropolitan areas, and all zones with a higher probability of earthquakes,
earthquake-proof buildings and furniture fixation should be thorough, which could
greatly reduce the number of casualties. These factors are becoming key matters in
the Outlines of Earthquakes Measures.
Comprehensive evacuation protocols for tsunamis are also vital. These counter-
measures are based on the principle of citizen self-help efforts, and there is a large
expectation that they will move toward DRRE that promotes self-help. From this, the
urgent short-term DRRE goals relate to emergency response that is directly
connected to damage mitigation: (1) increasing common knowledge of hazards;
(2) furthering understanding of the need for earthquake-proofing evaluation and
improvement; (3) providing specific instructions for earthquake-proofing; and
(4) developing emergency countermeasures (including evacuation protocols) and
disaster preparedness in daily life. To grasp personal dangers, it is essential to
increase comprehension of hazard maps; geography education plays an important
part in this.
However, from a long-term perspective, this alone cannot create a safe, peaceful
society. Thus, the long-term goals of DRRE should be to (1) understand that “low-
frequency, huge disasters” can occur in one’s hometown, regardless of urgency;
(2) understand that “safety” and “convenience” can sometimes be in opposition to
one another and that focusing purely on convenience can increase vulnerability; and
(3) enhance the ability to discuss the best methods to implement proper levels for
disaster prevention. It is also critical that people be able to (4) fathom that reasonable
adjustments to social systems and creating a sustainable society can provide disaster
prevention; (5) judge the division between their roles and the balance of “self-help/
mutual assistance/public aid” within disaster prevention, and finally (6) discuss how
disaster prevention can be matched with Japan’s natural features.
11.6 Contents of Disaster Risk Reduction Education
Considering the above short-term and long-term goals, DRRE needs to cover a wide
variety of topics. The organization of DRRE curriculum must be separated into
“Practical DRRE” and “Basic DRRE.” The former is directly connected to specific,
effective damage mitigation whose progress can be quantified. The latter can raise
disaster risk reduction awareness, which supports the motives of the former. Both
parts should be implemented in a balanced manner.
For Practical DRRE, after sufficiently learning about the necessity of each item in
the aforementioned short-term goals, “self-help/mutual assistance” must be studied
practically to cultivate behavioral power. The construction of regional hazard maps
and concrete examples of various types of “self-help” derived from student devel-
opment should be created. Using methods such as disaster imagination games (DIG),
students can imagine themselves in a location as given in an area base map, consider
that a disaster is occurring, and create a disaster plan on the base map (Fig. 11.1).
178 Y. Suzuki
Fig. 11.1 Disaster imagination game (Brochure “Earthquake Awareness” by Headquarters for
Earthquake Research Promotion of Japan)
Through this methodology, the role and state of “mutual assistance” can be learned.
Furthermore, learning about specific interactions with disaster prevention personnel
and organizations, as well as their limitations, can lead to an understanding of the
duties and reality of “public aid.”
For Basic DRRE, students learn about (1) the mechanisms of natural phenomena
(such as earthquakes, heavy rains, floods, and mass movements); (2) the process by
which natural phenomena cause damage; and (3) the hidden vulnerabilities in
Japan’s natural and social environments. In other words, students will gain an
understanding of the damage incurred via large and small vulnerabilities in their
areas when natural phenomena occur in these zones and will come to properly grasp
the distinction between hazards and vulnerabilities. These concepts will serve as the
foundation for analytically constructed countermeasures.
From the viewpoints of both hazards and vulnerabilities, understanding the
characteristics of Japan’s natural features is important. It is nonsensical to make
citizens believe that they have no choice but to accept damage simply because
Japan’s natural features are prone to catastrophes. It is essential to see that vulner-
abilities are found not only in natural features but also in national changes such as
depopulation and overcrowding or even in an information-oriented and
internationalized society. From this comprehensive angle, Basic DRRE aims to
geographically analyze the locations of hazards and vulnerabilities and help people
develop the ability to discuss how to reduce damage (Suzuki 2015).
Learning about developmental issues is crucial through questions such as:
• “How vulnerable is today’s society to disasters?”
• “Given the conditions of today’s society, if a Nankai Trough earthquake

occurred, what kind of devastation would we face?”
• “How have historical Japanese disaster prevention abilities and awareness
changed?”
DRRE aimed at raising awareness of these issues should be conducted in both
university and social education. Several Japanese universities have already begun to
offer such classes (e.g. The Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya
University).
11.7 Attempts to Systematize Disaster Risk Reduction

Education
By taking the above-referenced DRRE goals of “short-term and long-term tasks” and
“practical and basic subjects” and setting them on a horizontal axis (X-axis) and
vertical axis (Y-axis), respectively, the assembled content of DRRE from one
experiment is shown in Fig. 11.2. To reflect school curricula, child and student
growth, as well as the development of educational subjects, should be investigated
on a grade axis (Z-axis). Long-term issues in practical subjects comprise an
advanced topic, and a large portion of it may be entrusted to university education,
but basic subjects should not necessarily be taught before practical ones. It is
fundamental to use the Z-axis to create a spiral-like, three-dimensional curriculum.
Applying currently taught earth science and physical geography simply to DRRE
is not appropriate. We must look at what topics should be taught during DRRE and
redesign the curriculum.
Fig. 11.2 Framework of disaster risk reduction education

180 Y. Suzuki
For example, the study of earthquakes during DRRE should occur in the follow-
ing order: (1) Instead of the causes of earthquakes (earthquake focal mechanisms and
magnitude), the results (tremor intensity and the distribution of damage) should be
stressed. (2) The relationship between regional characteristics and why these out-
comes occurred should be considered. (3) We should confirm whether we are
repeating things that were done in the past. (4) The causes of severe damage should
be determined. (5) We must think about what to do to mitigate damage. (6) To
consider what kinds of earthquakes can occur in our hometowns, we should learn
about the mechanisms of earthquakes, plate tectonics, and active faults (Suzuki
2018b).
Naturally, learning about the relationship between disasters and topography, or
between disasters and weather (climate), is also important. Thus, education should
center on the local environment, then expand the focus to regional- and global-scale
natural mechanisms. Thus far, physical geography classes have taught phenomena
ranging from massive, global-scale incidents to small, regional occurrences (in that
order), but the reverse order better suits DRRE. In past physical geography classes,
topography, weather (climate), and vegetation were taught separately, but it is
critical to develop an understanding of how those subjects are integrated into the
regional natural environment (Iwata 2018).
11.8 “Disaster Risk Reduction Education” in the SCJ’s

2007 Proposal
In May 2007, the Science Counsil of Japan (SCJ) proposed a recommendation called
“Policies for the Creation of a Safe and Secure Society in the light of Increasing
Natural Disasters around the World.” Awareness of these issues fundamentally
necessitates a review of Japan’s land and social structures as they relate to global
environmental changes (such as global warming) and to large-scale natural disasters.
The main recommendations are as follows (in addition to the following items, there
are 16 items in total; these include international support, the promotion of research,
and proposals for academia) (Science Council of Japan 2007).
1. Paradigm Shift for Creation of a Safe and Secure Society
Against a background in which the natural environment is changing, and land
utilization and social systems are becoming vulnerable, the government should
make a paradigm shift in policies for natural disaster mitigation, away from a
short-term perspective focusing on economic growth and toward the long-term
creation of a safe and secure society.
2. Development of Infrastructure
Tax revenues should be properly allocated for infrastructure development focus-
ing on natural disaster mitigation. In determining an appropriate level of invest-
ments in infrastructure development, the impacts of future natural disasters
should be assessed and evaluated by taking into consideration not only the loss
of lives and properties but also decline in the nation’s power, degradation of
landscape, and psychological damage to the people.
3. Rearrangement of National Land Utilization
National land utilization should be more balanced for natural disaster mitigation.
To achieve that, the following measures should be realized: decentralizing the
population and assets from the mega cities; movement of residence of people
from disaster-vulnerable zones to resilient areas; establishing backup systems for
maintaining the function of the capital, Tokyo; and developing transportation
systems for recovery and reconstruction activities.
4. Application of “Hardware” and “Software” Countermeasures
For successful mitigation of large-scale natural disasters, in addition to “hard-
ware” countermeasures like reinforcement of buildings, houses, levees, and
embankments, “software” countermeasures should be substantially developed
such as disaster education, dissemination of disaster-related knowledge and
experience, development of comprehensive systems for emergency information,
evacuation and rescue, and medical treatment.
5. Assessment of Vulnerability and Potential Risks of Depopulated Areas
Isolated islands, coastal zones, and mountainous areas have become vulnerable to
natural disasters due to decreasing population and aged nuclear families. The
vulnerability of those areas should be assessed for emergency relief and rescue
operations.
6. Development of Public Awareness of Disaster Risks and Preparedness
Hazard maps should be prepared for public reference. Through this effort, public
awareness and concern regarding natural disaster mitigation can be enhanced.
The government should also educate the public to acquire proper disaster aware-
ness by showing the nation’s vulnerability to natural disasters following changes
to social environment such as the aging society and low birthrate, the increase of
nuclear families highly computerized daily life, and internationalization of soci-
ety. In collaboration with the public and municipalities, the government should
establish a “disaster-aware society” which will be able to respond resiliently to
the attacks of natural disasters.
7. Education on Natural Disaster Mitigation
Education should be strongly promoted in teaching geography, geology, and
other subjects related to natural disasters in schools so that younger generations
can acquire fundamental knowledge of natural phenomena and the mechanisms
of disaster occurrence and obtain the proper understanding and judgment to
prepare for disasters.
8. Sustainable Systems and Frameworks for Natural Disaster Mitigation
Sustainable systems and frameworks should be built for the realization of appro-
priate disaster mitigation measures. That can be done by continually assessing the
vulnerabilities of land utilization and social systems and developing infrastructure
for disaster mitigation.
Additionally, there are the following representations of DRRE (SCJ 2007):
182 Y. Suzuki
In order to create a safe and secure society, it is necessary that people are always aware of the
risks of natural disasters. For that purpose, education on natural disasters should be contin-
uously promoted in schools and communities so as to enable people to acquire proper
knowledge and understandings of disaster risks and preparation. In primary, secondary
and high schools, the mechanism of the occurrence of natural disasters and their impacts
on the society should be taught in geology, geography and social studies. Students will learn
the geographical characteristics of disaster-prone areas and acquire the intuitive ability to
recognize unusual climatic/weather phenomena and a keen sense for natural disaster. Higher
education institutions such as universities, graduate schools and technical schools should
establish a professional training program, in which students will be educated to be disaster
experts. That education can also train professional engineers and international experts to
enable them to work for not only regional but also for global communities.
As stated above, DRRE plays a key role in the SCJ’s recommendation. DRRE is
not expected to simply promote understanding of the various types of disasters that
can occur, but also to foster an outlook for Japanese society. This must be properly
accounted for in the organization of DRRE.
11.9 Conclusion: Sound Arguments That Cannot Be Made

After a Disaster
In closing, I would like to present a newspaper article. I submitted the following

paragraphs to a particular newspaper after the tsunami caused by the 2004 Sumatra
(Indian Ocean) earthquake. The article was to be published in a nationally circulating
paper on January 4, 2005, and was to be titled “What Japan should contribute to
disaster risk reduction education.” Unfortunately, a claim was made against it during
the editor’s review, and it was not published. I wish to close this paper by consid-
ering why it was not published. The planned article was as follows:
The tragedy of the tsunami caused by the 2004 Sumatra earthquake reminds me of the pain
caused by the 1995 Kobe earthquake. For the general public, it was “a disaster that came out
of nowhere,” and for experts, it was “a disaster that was bound to happen.”Absurdity has
repeated itself.
Part of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt lies off of Sumatra; earthquakes frequently
occur in this area. When large earthquakes take place here, large tsunamis can also emerge.
Even without historical records detailing such catastrophes, experts never believed that a
harmful tsunami could not happen. However, this information was not relayed to the general
public. Ten years before the calamity, an earthquake was generated by an active fault that
experts had focused on as a “fault of concern,” and caused devastating damage to Kobe and
Awaji Island, both of which lie just above the fault. It took all of Japan by surprise. The same
situation was repeated during this disaster.
The same is true for the Chuetsu earthquake in Niigata Prefecture in October 2004. In
2001, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan published an active fault map for the
Chuetsu area, which identified the existence of a 50 km long, large-scale active fault. Even
though this region was identified as a “seismic gap” in which a large earthquake would likely
strike, the danger did not become common knowledge among residents. Since it “came out
of nowhere,” the disaster caused a great deal of surprise, sadness, and unease among the
general public, but shouldn’t people have raised their voices in anger over the fact that they
“were not informed?”
Tsunamis rarely occur in the Atlantic Ocean, but can happen anywhere within the Pacific
and Indian Oceans. Tsunamis can also take place in the Aegean Sea, and such a disaster once
destroyed a Mediterranean civilization. Some areas are inherently prone to damage from
volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, and floods; people have adapted to such dangers. Travel
agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have a duty to provide travelers with this basic
geographic and disaster risk reduction information.
During the Sumatra earthquake, tourists, unaware of the dangers, recorded videos of the
severe undertow, a sign of an oncoming tsunami. The tourists did not evacuate. If there are
many Japanese citizens who would also not recognize this sort of serious, abnormal
phenomenon, the future of Japan – in which Tokai and Tonankai/Nankai earthquakes are
likely to strike – is in danger. MEXT, which does not conduct systematic DRRE in schools,
must take this situation seriously.
As the tsunami warning system is inadequate, many people feel that Japan’s mission
should be to contribute to international efforts to improve such systems, but because many
Japanese residents would not evacuate even if tsunami warnings or evacuation orders were
issued, the development of a warning system would not be effective on its own.
All citizens must learn about the dangers of disasters, develop a sense of environmental
change, learn not to rely too heavily on science and technology, and maintain humility in the
face of nature’s power. Warning systems and earthquake prediction information are, of
course, indispensable, but aren’t those who ask for such systems also displaying a desire to
“rely on others?”
Japan, which has experienced countless catastrophes and is particularly aware of the
various “weaknesses” to which humanity is prone, must contribute to spreading DRRE to
developing countries. The lessons learned from disasters are at the heart of DRRE. The
creation of disaster preparation guidebooks for tourists is an urgent need, because such
disasters are likely to occur somewhere in the near future. Such guidebooks could indirectly
increase the speed by which knowledge travels overseas. If the majority of Japanese tourists
could promptly sense a tsunami, yell, “It’s a tsunami!” and begin evacuating, many locals
could be saved.
The newspaper reporter wanted to publish the aforementioned article. However,

the editor rejected it for the following reason: “Out of consideration for the feelings
of the disaster victims, we don’t want to give the impression that tourists who saw
the tsunami and couldn’t evacuate are at fault.” Regardless of whether that judgment
is right or wrong, from this example, I realized that “making the difficult, strict
arguments that cannot be said after a disaster and making them common knowledge
before a disaster occurs” is a significant role that should be played by DRRE. The
systematization of DRRE not only should focus on acquiring information but also
must reflect reality and clearly incorporate “sound arguments.” Furthermore,
teachers should take care not to let disaster prevention discussions become formulaic
and superficial.
References
Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. (2014). Fundamental plan for national resilience – Creating a strong
and resilient country. https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/en/fundamental_
plan.html
DFID. (2011). Defining disaster resilience: A DFID approach paper. https://assets.publishing.
service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/186874/defining-
disaster-resilience-approach-paper.pdf
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Hayashi, Y., Suzuki, Y., Sato, S., & Tsukahara, K. (eds.). (2016). Disaster resilient cities: Concepts
and practical examples. Oxford: Elsevier.
Iwata, S. (2018). Integrated physical geography. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. (in Japanese).
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. (2018). Curriculum guidelines for
high school from FY2022. http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/
__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/07/11/1384661_6_1_2.pdf
Science Council of Japan. (2007). Proposals to the Japanese government on policies for the
creation of a safe and secure society in the light of increasing natural disasters around the
world. http://www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/pdf/kohyo-20-t38-4e.pdf
Science Council of Japan. (2017). Recommendation “Enhancement of geography education for
sustainable society” (in Japanese). http://www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/pdf/kohyo-23-t247-6.pdf
Suzuki, Y. (2001). Prevention against earthquakes by active faults. Tokyo: Kokon-shoin.
(in Japanese).
Suzuki, Y. (2007). What is required for disaster prevention education? Chiri (Geography), 52–8,
14–22. Tokyo: Kokon-Shoin. (in Japanese).
Suzuki, Y. (2012). Social demand level of hazard estimation and the responsibility. Gakujutsu-no
Doko, 17(8), 20–24. (in Japanese).
Suzuki, Y. (Ed.). (2015). How to utilize hazard maps. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. (in Japanese).
Suzuki, Y. (2018a). Physical geography comprehensively considering sustainable society. Kagaku,
88, 139–142. (in Japanese).
Suzuki, Y. (2018b). How we educate natural hazard and disaster prevention at school. History and
Geography, 718, 1–10. Yamakawa Shuppan. (in Japanese).
Suzuki, Y. (2019). Active fault and earthquake disasters. In Y. Himiyama, K. Satake, & T. Oki
(Eds.), Human geosciences (pp. 99–117). Singapore: Springer.
Suzuki, Y., Hayashi, Y., & Tsukahara, K. (2016). Introduction – Why is resilience lost? In
Y. Hayashi, Y. Suzuki, S. Sato, & K. Tsukahara (Eds.), Disaster resilient cities: concepts and
practical examples (pp. 3–10). Oxford: Elsevier.
The Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University. http://www.gensai.nagoya-u.ac.jp/
en/
UNISDR. (2005). Hyogo framework for action 2005–2015: Building the resilience of nations and
communities to disasters. World conference on disaster reduction, 18–22 January 2005, Kobe,
Hyogo, Japan. https://www.unisdr.org/2005/wcdr/intergover/official-doc/L-docs/Hyogo-frame
work-for-action-english.pdf
Chapter 12
Common Features of Business Resilience
in Japanese Companies
Kazuo Ueda
Abstract This chapter explores and focuses on aspects to consider when companies
face risk and crisis (i.e., natural disaster and many kinds of business risk), particu-
larly how they manage risk, how they grasp the situation, and how they overcome
it. Upon analyzing such companies, this research aims to understand the thinking
and methods behind these concepts to make useful guidelines regarding employee
satisfaction, spiritual growth, corporate life, and corporate management that ulti-
mately fosters business resilience.
12.1 Preface
Any individual, organization, or company will undoubtedly face several difficult

moments throughout their long lives and during the company’s existence. The
number of small and medium-sized companies that “went out of business” by filing
bankruptcy and/or not having successors was 26,699 companies in 2015. This figure
means that in 2015, 81 companies “went out of business” a day. In 2016, the total
number of companies that “went out of business” rose to 38,029 cases. This figure
equates to approximately 104 “going out of business” a day in 2016 (Tokyo Shoko
Research 2018). At every occurrence, managers, employees, and interested parties
endure suffering.
When a company or an individual is faced with adversity or crises, there is
generally a pattern two in which managers respond. One is to be discouraged and
steer the company toward liquidation. The other is to be motivated to overcome the
adversity or crises by courageously focusing directly on the risk without losing sight
of their hopes and dreams. Depending on which response is given, the level of
happiness later in life and the evaluation from stockholders on the companies’
behavior substantially differs.
K. Ueda (*)
Senshu University, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: fwif9828@nifty.com

186 K. Ueda
Looking at the cases when individuals and management recovered from adversity
and achieved sustainable growth, we can see common elements of resilience. I
believe that the ability and skills needed in order to be resilient to adversity can be
fostered on an individual level (from childhood) and on a corporate level (during
peacetime).
In this paper, I will focus on the following sub-topics to discuss issues regarding
business resilience from the perspective of employees and CEOs.
1. Definition of resilience and why we need the concept of resilience in business
level now.
2. The necessity of having a “resilience mindset” and the essence of company
management.
3. Theories related to business resilience.
4. Fundamental elements of business resilience through Japanese case studies.
5. The management process for business resilience.
12.2 Definition of Resilience and Why We Need the Concept

of Resilience in Business Level Now
12.2.1 Definition of Resilience
The first appearance of the word resilience seems to be in the UK during the 1600s
and is used to mean “bounce back” (according to the “Oxford English Dictionary”
(Kato and Yagi 2009)). In the 1800s, it came to mean “After compressed, the ability
to return to place, flexibility.” One of the factors that came to be considered
necessary for having a “resilience mindset” is “flexible thinking”, but this meaning
is already indicated in the dictionary at the time. In the recent Oxford New English-
Japanese dictionary, the definition is “ability to withstand difficult conditions or to
recover quickly with respect to humans and animals.” According to the definition in
the American Psychological Association, resilience is described as “adaptive mental
power and psychological process when facing adversity, trouble, and strong stress”
(Kuze 2014).
As can be seen from the above explanation, resilience is generally a force to
overcome “adversity” in observing, strategizing, skills, growing sustainably, etc. To
avoid any misunderstandings here, I will not emphasize that resilience is simply a
mental strength that can endure adversity alone, for even if I encounter adversity, I
will continue to persevere for the sake of the world and mankind while also
contributing to the necessary economic and psychological recovery needed to
achieve sustainable growth potential.
12 Common Features of Business Resilience in Japanese Companies 187
12.2.2 Why Is Having a Resilience Mindset Necessary Now?
First, from the viewpoint of management risk, there are three following main
reasons:
1. A large number of bankruptcies/businesses going out of business
The problem of bankruptcy/going out of business (2016) occurring at a rate of 4.3
companies per hour is a social risk and loss. It is necessary to prevent this and to
foster resilience.
2. The stress management of employees
There are approximately 4.7 cases per day of worker’s requesting compensation
due to mental illness (2017, the highest ever; see Fig. 12.1). This fact reveals the
vulnerability of companies and their employees, especially since “excessive
stress lowers business productivity and can lead to tampering or even fraud.”
Fostering resilience capabilities is vital for companies and employees.
3. The large number of risks acquired from natural disasters and the magnitude of
losses that can occur in this country
Japan has the highest natural disaster risk index in the world (see Fig. 12.2).
However, instead of thinking only from the two factors of risk occurrence
frequency intensity (i.e., the amount of loss due to a natural disaster), we can
further explain the concept of vulnerability and, in turn, resilience (which is the
opposite concept). It is necessary to introduce and study these concepts. For that
reason, introducing the concept of resilience is really introducing how to over-
come vulnerability by fostering risk management skills and resilience capabilities
during calm periods or in peacetime. Accordingly, it’s necessary to foster resto-
ration capabilities that ultimately lead to the reduction of economic and
psychological loss.
2000
1732
1515 1586
1409 1456
1500
1000
500
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
number
Fig. 12.1 Number of claims of occupational accidents by mental illness. (Source: White paper by
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare 2018)
188 K. Ueda
World major cities Risk index(mean value 2012-2016)

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Japan China Korea Italy U.S.A Russia U.K Canada Germany France Sweden
risk index exposure vulnerability lack of coping capabilities lack of adaptive capabilities
Fig. 12.2 Frequency and loss by hazard risk in Japan is ranked first in the world major cities.
(Source: Author made by referring to World Risk Report (2017) pp. 40–42)
Furthermore, fostering resilience capabilities not only helps respond to natural

disaster risk but also strengthens one’s ability to cope with various adversities in life,
as can be seen from the business/resilience management processes highlighted in this
paper. Final loss not only economic but also psychological loss will be indicated as
below.
Final loss ¼ risk occurrence frequency intensity

vulnerability ðor the opposite concept of resilienceÞ
coping and adaptive capabilities
12.3 Theories That Generate Business Resilience

and “Happiness at Work”
In the face of various crises, the power of a company to overcome them, in particular
top of the company and there, comes from the mutual understanding of “What is a
company, and what is the company’s vision and missions?” From the standpoint of
sharing, the top of the company is especially focused on “how can employees work
happily” on a daily basis.
P. F. Drucker states that “a company is an organization that makes people happy
through its core business (providing products and services)” (Nihon Keizai
Shimbun, 2007, July, 17th). In order for companies to recover from various risks
and crises, mutual understanding and sharing of management views in a company
and its management, top management, and employees cannot be realized just by
through words (i.e., “What is a company, what is the company’s vision and
missions?”). As can be seen from the case studied in this paper, the power of various
other companies (technical power, sales force, comprehensive strength power such
as employees’ mindset, human relations, etc.) is also important. However, it is
corporate views and management views that become the source from which the
power of these factors truly develops.
In the risk of life, it is said that the “happiness at work” is a major risk that affects
happiness in life. Accordingly, in this section, I will explain theories and mindsets
related to business resilience, specifically focusing on how one can work passion-
ately, in other words, how “happiness at work” can be achieved.
12.3.1 “Flow” in Business
P. F. Drucker says, “Working means to carry out responsible work,” which encom-
passes one to (1) provide truly necessary work, (2) give feedback information on
outcomes, (3) provide a continuous learning environment, resulting in work that is
joyful. He points out the meaning behind what leads to self-realization (i.e., thrill and
excitement) (A. Ueda 2011). Drucker’s view is similar to some of the “flow”
conditions others consider.
To clearly define the definition of “flow” by M. Csikszentmihalyi (Former Pro-
fessor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and the first researcher of “Flow”),
“Flow is optimal productivity for humans; a state of being emotionally satisfied and
overall happy.” Companies aiming for a flowing state are strong against manage-
ment risks, and even if they fall into adversity, their resilience will be strong (Tsuji
2008). Csikszentmihalyi applies the “flow” experience to the business field as well
and summarizes the following as a condition for achieving the “flow” state
(Csikszentmihalyi 2008).
1. To clarify organizational goals.
It is necessary to clarify organizational goals by sharing the corporate vision,
philosophy, and mission among employees and management in an effort to instill
empathy. These things also create a sense of unity in the company and motivate all
involved to achieve goals.
2. Giving freedom and responsibility to employees (centered on trust and
independence).
Employees need the skills necessary not only to achieve the goals but, further-
more, create the “flow” necessary to delegate authority to employees. In terms of
how to work, that could mean controlling employees in a restraining manner. When
there is a range of choices, managers can provide opportunities for employees to find
the best solutions. Doing so creates credit and new ideas. It is also a factor that leads
to “flow.”
190 K. Ueda
3. The balance between the challenge (goal) and one’s skill is comparatively and
relatively high level for someone.
Skills refer not only to technical skills but include in its definition one’s ability in
regard to values, feelings, humor, compassion, etc. For example, in terms of recruit-
ment in human resources, it is also important to ask “whether job seekers are suitable
for the organization’s goals and values.” Sometimes there are situations where
challenging goals and one’s skills cannot be balanced. Determining whether such
a situation is temporary or ongoing based on daily communication and thus making
appropriate changes will in turn create “flow.”
4. The existence of objective and fair evaluations (i.e., clear feedback).
Learning and growth opportunities are created when employees quickly receive
specific feedback regarding the results of their work. However, if a boss gives
detailed feedback that leads to overmanagement, the employee’s motivation and
motivation to learn are hindered, which can be a factor that leads to ethical risks and
thus becomes a reason or justification for employees’ decisions due to pressure.
Feedback also has feedback from the work itself. By showing the measure of
work-specific outcomes, if you know the progress of employees’ work in the
organization as a whole, it often becomes appealing feedback for the whole
organization.
In addition, feedback from friends is also important, and when employees
demonstrate their abilities and uniqueness, it is also important to have a “face-visible
companion” that understands them.
5. The pride and satisfaction that come from contributing to the creation of public
interest and social value.
Employees can reduce any psychological strain over their work when they’re
convinced that the products and services they create contribute to the creation of
public interest and social value. Providing products and services (social business)
that contribute to solving social problems has inherent advantages in this respect.
6. Preparing oneself for receiving not only extrinsic rewards, such as money, but
also intrinsic rewards such as education, training, and career planning.
In recent years, several companies have reconsidered the performance-based
approach that typically results in extrinsic rewards. It is believed that by focusing
on adjusting intrinsic rewards, there will be increases in employee satisfaction (ES),
which in turn leads to increases in customer satisfaction (CS).
12.4 The Root Cause of Business Resilience Through Case

Studies
12.4.1 Approach Method for Issues Related to Crisis

and Resilience
There are various approaches to research when it comes to problem solving, for
example, historical approaches, statistical approaches, theoretical approaches, and
case-based approaches.
In research dealing with resilience problems, an important question is “What
ideas or methods did the parties involved use in order to a problem?” It is difficult to
predict such things as bankruptcy or other difficult/unexpected crises, but in doing
so, case studies and oral history are useful as an approach to make future decision
making more effective based on the context and stakeholders. Accordingly, resil-
ience issues shall be examined here by case study analysis.
12.4.2 The Root Cause of Resilience as Seen Through Case

Studies
The author has already focused on case studies, such as the following, as the root
cause of the resilience of a company plagued by crises, especially in regard to these
three factors: (1) ability to look at risk directly, (2) sustainability of a corporate
vision, and (3) flexible adaptability. The case studies of two companies shall be
examined below. They have attempted to be organized based on factors relating to
the resilience of the companies (K. Ueda 2014).
Ikeuchi Towel
Ikeuchi Towel, founded in 1953, was a business (OEM project) that was passed
down to the founder’s son upon his death in 1983. The company focuses on
subcontract manufacturing of other brands, but due to its wholesaler’s bankruptcy,
Ikeuchi Towel also went bankrupt in 2003 with a debt of about 1 billion yen. From
there, Mr. Ikeuchi, the second CEO, responded in the following manner and was able
to restore the company with the goal of achieving 1 billion in sales in 2013 (i.e.,
10 years after filing bankruptcy, Fig. 12.3).
The author of this paper interviewed Mr. Ikeuchi, the CEO of the company in
February 2012 and 2017, about the company’s management and how they restored
power, etc., which has allowed the company to progress from bankruptcy to resto-
ration. The author shared with Mr. Ikeuchi the following three factors, which are the
fundamental elements of resilience within a company and were ascertained by
staying several pieces of literature.
192 K. Ueda
Fig. 12.3 Ikeuchi Towel sales

Note: Filed for bankruptcy in the fiscal year ending in December 2003. Fiscal year ending in
February 2006 is not included in the graph to account for change in financial statement period from
ending in December to ending in February
Author’s note: Graph lines show sales for Ikeuchi brand items, and bars give sales for Ikeuchi
Towel
Source: Nikkei Business, May 3, 2010,p. 53
1. Looking directly at risk

2. Sustainability and strategy of the corporate vision/philosophy
3. Flexible thinking
At that time, Mr. Ikeuchi gave us the following answers (in brief).
I think that these three factors are precisely what lead to the regeneration of Ikeuchi. For
example, the idea of evaluating already good products to further improve them was the right
thing to do. When small companies like us like to sell things, the survival of our suppliers is
questioned. Knowing if it’s possible to enforce strict policies or not can be a turning point
based on whether we obtain customer support.
I believe that Mr. Ikeuchi’s words point to the penetration, sustainability, and
strategy of the corporate vision/philosophy (shown as (2) above). Regarding the
linkage between vision and strategy based on looking directly at risk and flexible
thinking (as described above), other sufficient responses have been provided. The
following shows the correspondence between these three factors and Ikeuchi Towel.
1. Looking directly at risk: Switch from being an OEM company to a business
model to sell its own brand.
2. Sustainable corporate vision: “I want to deliver safe towels to babies that mothers
value above all else” and “Environmentally friendly own brand towel.”
3. Flexible thinking strategy:

High-price pricing strategy by controlling their own brand.
Manual implementation.
Systematization of the production process by computer.
Advance into international market with small quantity single production.
Focus on net sales.
Eagle Bus
1. The bus industry’s general situation and philosophy of Eagle Bus
Founded in 1980, Eagle Bus is a company based mainly out of Kawagoe in
Saitama Prefecture that has operated shuttle and tourist buses for more than 20 years.
Until now, they serviced the majority of Seibu through the “Hidaka-Hanno Bus
Route” but had to withdraw in 2006 due to their deficit. The environment surround-
ing the bus industry in Japan is severe and was alleged to be running an 80% deficit.
The number of passengers reached its peak and started to decline in 1968, and when
looking at the recent decade, passengers in urban areas have fallen by 10%, with
passengers in rural areas dropping as much as 20%.
However, the owner of the company, Mr. Tanishima (CEO of Eagle Bus),
claimed that, “It [is] not just about profit; the transportation network to support the
region is no longer there and employment disappears. The deficit is a problem, but I
cannot help but think about the people and the region. What’s important is not only
economic thinking that eliminates waste or just economic benefits, but the demand,
the region, and importance of compromising with people. I won’t be happy until our
business supports and stimulates the region” (East Japan Railway “Tran Veil”
September 2013).
Locals also had requests, which lead Mr. Tanishima to have one of his company’s
management philosophies be “contribution to society through work.” Even though it
was the request of locals, in order to implement these philosophies and ways of
thinking, Eagle assumed this route of operation in 2006.
2. Looking directly at the risk management of the route bus
In terms of what Mr. Tanishima said, when thinking that they’ll be alright because
they have know-how about shuttle and tourist buses, their route bus operations ran a
deficit in the first year, which would be a total deficit of at most ¥70 million within
the year, so other operations got swept away. Risk has that characteristic lurking
from the beginning, but especially in the case of the bus company’s management,
that tendency is high. In addition to visualizing the invisible risk within Eagle Bus’s
management, the engineering approach to the pillars of RM (mainly the use of IT)
and market research and strategy are interconnected as below.
3. Marketing research based on flexible thinking
The following summary states more specifically of risk management and mar-
keting research conducted by Eagle Bus.
194 K. Ueda
a. Put a sensor on the back of the bus for getting on and off (the sensor was going to
be made in Japan, but since it did not make sense in terms of cost, a sensor from
Germany was used).
b. Sending data to a server that counts the number of passengers getting on and off at
each station, the positional data at each station, and time.
c. The data stored on the long-time server is averaged and shown by a graph.
d. In addition, conduct a survey on the needs of passengers. Also, carry out a survey
for each reform of the bus schedule, as well as a survey to know the behavior of
residents once every 3 years.
According to Mr. Tanishima, understanding the needs of the customer through
this data is a natural thing to do in general industry, but he said that the bus industry
couldn’t do such things. So, it will be possible to collect data and know the number
of people at each stop to support flexible marketing. For example, they found out that
the number of passengers at stations that do not have homes is increasing. Actually,
there is a hospital in the vicinity, and visitors walk up to 500 m to get there. So, they
were thinking of putting a bus stop right in front of there. It succeeded in that it
increased the number of visitors passing by it.
For the Eagle Bus’s management to bounce back from adversity, there was a
flexible way of thinking, which corresponds to the “Hard” (as above a., b., and c.)
and “Soft” (as d.). Such correspondence can be made possible, and it can be said that
there is a driving force behind the company’s resilience, along with contributions to
the company through work (such as the corporate philosophy). Also, there is a direct
look at risk and a flexibility for marketing and market research.
This system for Eagle Bus was built up over 3 years, and thanks to a series of
reforms, the deficit of 70 million yen per year was temporarily reduced to 25 million
yen. Three years later, the number of passengers increased by 14%, and the deficit
fell nearly 80%. The number of passengers is growing at an ever-increasing rate, and
the number of routes has also expanded to six routes.
Know-how provided from Eagle Bus has been explored, so recently, business
inquiries have been coming in from not only domestic but Laos in Southeast Asia.
According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Tokachi Bus in Hokkaido will expand their
bus service to the center of Obihiro (Obihiro City) and implement a survey of bus
passengers by utilizing IT. Using the infrared sensor and global positioning system
(GPS), such things as the number of passengers at a bus stop will be determined.
There are plans to review the bus scheduled that will actually be used sometime next
fall. This will be beneficial to increasing convenience for passengers and increase
profitability. The introduction of this system for Eagle Bus (Kawagoe, Saitama
Prefecture) was developed in collaboration with Saitama University. There is a
combination of GPS and infrared sensor attached to the entrance of the bus that
can determine the time and how many passengers are getting on and off at any stop.
Tokachi Bus is expected to gain revenue in its bus operations for the year ended
March 31, 2012, which will turn positive for the first time in 39 years. Two to three
percent per year has been reduced to the previous year, but down-to-earth business
activities such as visiting individual residents along the main route have been
successful. From now on, it should lead to efficient operations that utilize IT and
improves profitability.
From the case analyses of the two companies, specifically their root causes of
restoration at each company, it is clear that the three factors shown above (i.e.,
(1) look directly at risk, (2) how to sustain the corporate philosophy even under
adversity, (3) flexible thinking and the linkage between strategies) were the source of
each company’s resilience.
12.5 Resilience Thinking Management Process
This means reviewing business, resilience, and management processes that are
effective in evaluating whether resilience is available to your company. Consider
not only the viewpoint of restoring power but also the management process that also
takes into consideration soft aspects such as how to further maintain the happiness of
employees and stakeholders.
1. Business Resilience Management Process and Check Point
Figure 12.4 shows the management process (Business Resilience Management
Process (BRMP)) that improves the resilience capabilities of companies based on the
resilience capabilities of managers and employees.
Phase 1: Resilience soil analysis
1. A spirited/heated approach to the restoration of management
2. Realistic optimism of managers (i.e., “a way of thinking to keep positive
expectations for the future”)
While being under adversity, companies must “think about why such things
happened, think about the future prediction of how long and how much
influence it will affect, and explain these things to all employees” (Kuze 2015).
3. Feelings toward the managers’ employees
Whether management is merely a member of the sales improvement task force
(i.e., one person) or depending on whether to respond by supporting the
growth of employees, the climate, and atmosphere in the company changes.
The peacetime involvement between management and employees gains trust
from employees, but at the time of the crisis, the sense of security for
employees changes.
4. A spiritual and ethical sense of management
The managements’ spirituality and ethics are especially the starting point of
any corporate management. For example, attitudes toward colleagues, orien-
tation of social responsibility, a strong service spirit to customers, high
awareness of the environment, and deep involvement in community contribu-
tion activities (Nakamaki and Hioki 2009).
196 K. Ueda
1) Our products and 1) Leadership of 1) Reconfirmation and

services are useful to management and penetration of the
1) A spirited/heated
the world reframing corporate vision and
approach to the restoration
2) Cooperation 2) Social support share a company's
of management
between the corporate capabilities and strengths
2) Realistic optimism of
vision, the actual networking power 2) Provide growth
managers
product/service, and 3) Granting freedom opportunities for
3) Feelings towards the
one’s personal vision and responsibility to employees
managers’ employees
3) Recruitment of employees and work- 3) Fellowship with local
4) A spiritual and ethical
personnel that match life balance people
sense of management
the corporate vision 4) Assuming risk 4) Share risk information
5) More altruist than self-
4) Understand and through alternative with other companies in
interested
share company channel/network and the same industry
6) Reconsider the
strengths flexible thinking 5) Information sharing of
corporate vision and
5) Company resource 5) Effective mix of local social risks and
corporate mission
and tolerance assumed risk management contributions by the
risk measures company
Fig. 12.4 Resilience thinking management process
5. More altruist than self-interested

The attitude of respecting altruism and management policy becomes the
driving force to obtain support after the occurrence of any crisis, which
leads to resilience. The satisfaction of employees and their families, customer
service, concern for local residents, etc. will be an indication of altruism.
Companies gain profits as a result of altruism and return it to interested parties.
Altruism and profit do not contradict.
6. Reconsider the corporate vision and corporate mission
It seems that management has so far managed to forget their corporate vision
and mission at the time of its establishment. In adversity, it is important to go
back to the origin and reconfirm the corporate vision.
Phase 2: Evaluation of resilience ability

1. Our products and services are useful to the world.
Looking at the essence of “what a company is,” it is important to review
existing products, product development, and other aspects from the viewpoint
of whether products and services are useful for solving social problems.
2. Cooperation between the corporate vision, the actual product/service, and
one’s personal vision.
The sustainability and resilience capability of a company whose corporate
vision is consistent with the actual product and personal vision is very strong.
The harmony between them creates a feeling of happiness for employees, and,
in turn, a “flow” state is also likely to occur.
3. Recruitment of personnel that match the corporate vision.
When recruiting talent, companies should try to recruit talented persons who
are consistent with their corporate vision. By doing so, one can expect a
performance improvement on the job side as well as a sense of individual
happiness, which also leads to improved resilience in times of adversity.
4. Understand and share company strengths.
Management and employees are often let go without anyone noticing their
strengths. Instead of recognizing only our own weaknesses, companies should
consider measures to further expand and strengthen our strengths. Do not
forget to share the strengths of the company with employees, as well as
employees, and always refine one’s strengths so that “self-efficacy” at the
time of adversity will be useful for resilience.
5. Company resource and tolerance assumed risk.
It is necessary to consider in advance what kind of resources (i.e., people,
things, information, tangible/intangible assets, ideas, systems, credit, reputa-
tion, etc.) are available when such risk occurs. “Pro-active” thinking (i.e., the
thought of “assuming risks and staying ahead”) is important. As a result,
companies will not have to panic, and they’ll be able to reduce costs.
Even if there are manuals assuming risk within a company, the company’s
response when an unexpected risk arises tends to be mechanical/automatic,
and so an effective response cannot be expected. In order to correct simple
mechanical correspondence and resilient correspondence, it is necessary to
have “a wide range of diverse response repertoire on risk correspondence (and
thus flexible thinking),” “reassemble existing methods effectively,” “ability to
share information,” and a “sufficient ability to control emotions even under
harsh chaos” (Weick and Sutcliffe 2007).
Phase 3: The meaning behind the execution of resilience
1. Leadership of management and reframing
It goes without saying that the behavioral power of the managers themselves is
questioned when faced with adversity, but appealing to the internal mindset of
employee to aim for restoration and growth is a type of “reframing.”
“Reframing” is a term used in the psychology clinical field. Bandler and
198 K. Ueda
Grinder (R. Bandler, J. Grinder) say that “Reframing is a very important

element in creation and is the ability to replace common matters with a
beneficial or pleasant framework.” Simply put, by changing the point of
view, companies can find what’s missing and encourage such discoveries.
Needless to say, this role must be exercised by the management (Bandler and
Grinder 1981).
2. Social support capabilities and networking power
It is important to build “connections” with stakeholders by sharing information
from a common network. Other stakeholders may include other companies in
the same industry. Although this author has not considered it as a case in this
paper, a sake brewery that suffered a catastrophic loss in the Great East Japan
Earthquake of 2011 was able to be restored by borrowing the brewing facilities
of other companies in the same industry. Such support would also result from
“mutual confidence not simply as a competitor, but a competitive rival.” This
point also relates to “Design of alternative channel/network assuming risk” in
(4) below.
3. Granting freedom and responsibility to employees
The work-life balance pointed out previously in this paper is one way to
achieve this. An increase in agency will improve the relationship of trust
between employees and the company.
4. Assuming risk through alternative channel/network and flexible thinking
5. As risks of natural disasters occur, procurement risk of raw materials and parts
becomes obvious, and the continuation of projects stops. From the viewpoint
of supply chain and risk management, companies should consider tolerance to
business interruption risks that the management is most concerned about.
Standardization of parts, visualization of operating conditions, multiple lines
of suppliers, distribution of production sites, etc. are concrete countermeasures
to gain resilience through flexible thinking.
Natural disaster risk is a social risk that can strike a region or country. With
regard to this type of risk, it is also important to flexibly adapt cooperative
measures across the industry. It is very important to also prioritize regional
interests beyond their own interests, to partner with others, and to help each
other. To that end, it is important to recognize each other’s existence and to
have a relationship as a competitor, or as a good partner, in an effort to create
resilience.
6. Effective mix of risk management measures
It is important to concurrently implement and appropriately combine several
evaluation items examined in the second stage of BRMP (i.e., “evaluation of
resilience ability”). From a risk management perspective, risk and finance
(corresponding to plan funding such as insurance) must also be added to risk
and control measures based on software and controls already considered. In
risk and finance, not only financial institutions but also stakeholders and
private funds support can be expected if trade relationships have already
been established.
Phase 4: Information sharing for resilience

As you can see from what this paper has studied so far, various factors are needed
to improve resilience. It is important to grasp it from the perspective of information
sharing. Since we make decisions based on information, information sharing in
terms of what we will see next between employees during peacetime, between
management and employees, between companies and stakeholders, and between
the company and the community becomes important.
1. Reconfirmation and penetration of the corporate vision reconfirm and share a
company’s strengths.
2. Provide growth opportunities for employees.
3. Fellowship with local people.
4. Share risk information with other companies in the same industry.
5. Information sharing of local social risks and contributions by the company, etc.
12.6 Conclusion
Upon analyzing Japanese companies that face business crisis and specifically their
root causes of restoration at each company, it is clear that the three factors shown
below, ① look directly at risk, ②how to sustain the corporate philosophy even
under adversity, and ③ flexible thinking and the linkage between strategies, were the
source of each company’s resilience.
As I explored in this paper, I believe that the ability and skills about these three
factors that needed in order to be resilient to adversity can be fostered on a corporate
level during peacetime. To foster business resilience regarding employee satisfac-
tion, specifically focusing on how one can work passionately, in other words, how
“happiness at work” can be achieved, I explored Business Resilience Management
Process (BRMP) as a useful guideline. In this BRMP, there are 4 stages for Business
Resilience Management and about 21 check points for “flow.” Flowing state is
strong against management risks, and even if they fall into adversity, their resilience
will be strong.
I think that the guidelines I have argued in this paper will not only contribute to
building resilience of the company but can also be adapted at the individual level. If
this paper contributes to the growth of many individuals and businesses, then that is a
great pleasure to me.
References
Bandler, R., & Grinder, J. (1981). Reframing: Neuro-linguistic programming and the transforma-
tion of meaning. Moab Utah: Real People Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2003), Good business. Omori Hiromu: Hodder & Stoughton (Translator of
Good Business) (2008). Flow Taikennto Good Business, Sekai Shisousha. (in Japanese).
200 K. Ueda
East Japan Railway. (2013). Train Vail, September.

Kato, S., & Yagi, G. (2009). Rejiriansu-Gendai Seishinigaku no Atarashii Paradaimu, Kanehara
Syuttupan.
Kuze, K. (2014). Rejiriensu no Kitaekata, Jitugyounonihonnsha, p. 16. (in Japanese).
Kuze, K. (2015). Ridar no tameno Resilience Nyuumon, PHP Business Shinsyo. (in Japanese).
Nakamaki, H., & Hioki, K. (2009). Kaishanonakano Syukyou, Touhou Syuttupan. (in Japanese).
Nihon Keizai Shimbun. (2007). July, 17th.
Tsuji, S. (2008). Furoo Kanpani, Bijinesusha. (in Japanese).
Ueda, A. (2011). Dorattka, Manejimento, NHK Syuttpan.
Ueda, K. (2014). Jireide Manabu Risk Management Nyumon, Doubunkan. (in Japanese).
United Nations University. (2017). World risk report.
Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2007). Managing the unexpected-resilient performance in an age
of uncertainty (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Wiley.
Chapter 13
Resilience of Earth System
Ken-ichi Abe
Abstract This chapter explores how we as humanity can improve the resilience of
the Earth system. To meet this need, we must realize that humanity has entered a new
geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which the sum of individual everyday lives
has caused irreversible changes on Earth. Indeed, the Earth system has transgressed
some of the scientifically-established planetary boundary thresholds, including cli-
mate change.
Meanwhile, our everyday lives have become more fragile due to unforeseeable
risks. Probable underlying causes for this include the development of a complex and
sophisticated society that has distorted regional interdependence.
In such an era, a link between global thinking and local action is necessary.
Though not easy, it is not an impossible task. The key is to establish bundles of
small, yet numerous, region-to-region and society-to-society relationships.
13.1 Global Environmental Issues as a Mild Shock
Undesirable situations increasingly occur despite every possible effort to avoid

them. Unforeseeable incidents can frequently happen. In this era, the concept of
resilience has become the focus of attention in many problem-solving scenarios,
including the environmental issues described in this chapter. Resilience refers to the
ability to recover a previously stable state from an undesirable situation, rather than
the avoidance of such situations altogether.
Resilience is, in a sense, a convenient concept applied to various issues. Although
the basic idea is in common use, different emphases and technical terms are
employed. The following explanations will help the reader understand the term
“resilience,” as used in this chapter.
K.-i. Abe (*)

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan
e-mail: abek@chikyu.ac.jp

202 K.-i. Abe
The occurrence of an undesirable situation is described as a “shock” which can

be abrupt or mild. The phrase “mild shock” is self-contradictory. However, this is
because the term “resilience” originally came into use only with abrupt changes
in mind.
Typical examples of abrupt shocks include natural disasters, such as volcanic
explosions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Though a typhoon can be forecast to some
extent once it develops, it is impossible to prevent or avoid. In many cases, abrupt
shocks are attributable to a direct cause of the undesirable situation. Therefore,
resilience in relation to abrupt shocks is sometimes referred to as “specified
resilience.”
Conversely, mild shock refers to undesirable situations that occur gradually,
without being immediately recognized. Mild shocks include global warming and
the loss of biodiversity. Though the change is slow, it can become irreparable at a
critical point of time. This irreparable condition is known as crossing a threshold,
which characterizes mild shocks.
Another characteristic of mild shocks is that multiple causes drive them. Again,
global environmental problems, described in detail later, exemplify this fact. Resil-
ience to mild shocks is referred to as “general resilience,” in contrast with specified
resilience. This chapter deals with Earth’s resilience and, principally, with general
resilience.
It is important to remember that it is not always necessary to recover to a prior
condition, although the basic meaning of resilience refers to this sort of recovery.
Escaping an undesirable situation at the earliest may lead to a better condition than
the previous one. In other words, as a consequence of a shock, a situation may
improve. The idea of transformability describes these situations.
Transformability is the ability to progress in response to a shock. Building higher
resilience may lead to an increased possibility of a better future. Conversely, if a
condition results in fewer future options, it is not true resilience. Transformability is
similar in nature to the concept of “build back better,” as advocated following a
disaster. Further it also possesses commonalities with “futurability”.
This section stresses that contemplating Earth’s resilience for its residents means
to think about the future actions of humanity. Global environmental problems are not
an issue attributable to Earth. They are caused by each one of us through our
aggregated everyday lives, which are based on our values. This is not an Earth
issue, but an issue of humanity. Though it may be repetitive, it needs to be pointed
out that thinking about the resilience of the Earth means to consider what should be
done to change the world for the better.
13 Resilience of Earth System 203
13.2 Anthropocene: An Epoch in Which Humanity

Changes Earth
Since its creation, the Earth environment has fluctuated continuously. However, the
planet has maintained an exceptionally stable environment since approximately
10,000 years ago (Fig. 13.1). Geologists call this period of stability the Holocene.
In this epoch, many civilizations emerged, grew, and prospered, supported by
agricultural food production.
The stable Holocene assumed to have continued for several thousands of years
came to an end earlier than scientists expected because human activities began to
affect the global environment, as exemplified by global warming. Consequently, the
term Anthropocene replaced the term Holocene. In the Anthropocene, humanity has
created a global environment detrimental to its life.
Some argue that the Industrial Revolution marks the beginning of the
Anthropocene. Nonetheless, the exact inception does not have much significance.
What is important is that, in recent years, the magnitude of various human activities
has increased exponentially. Figure 13.2 presents several graphs plotted on the same
x-axis that represent the passage of time at 50-year intervals between 1750, or
around the times of the Industrial Revolution, and 2000. The number of
manufactured goods, events, and human populations are plotted on the y-axis.
These various indicators represent rapid increases in diverse aspects of human
activity.
The Anthropocene is an era in which the aggregate effects of human activities
alter the global environment. The cause is internal rather than external, comprising
the entirety of activities pursued by each one of us. The impact of such activities is
manifested in various aspects of the Earth system, one of them being climate change.
Fig. 13.1 Concentration of stable oxygen isotopes from 100,000 years ago to the present: it is
considered an indicator of climate change. (See Rockstrom et al. 2009)
204 K.-i. Abe
Population Total Real GDP Foreign Direct Investment
1998 US Dollars (billion)

1990 Intl. Dollars (1012)
7 45 700
People (billion)
6 600
5 30 500
4 400
3 300
15
2 200
1 100
0 0 0
Year Year Year
Damming of Rivers Water Use Fertilizer Consumption

28 600 350
Tonnes of Nutrients
Dams (thousand)
24 Km-3 yr-1 300

20 250
(million)
400
16 200
12 150
8 200
100
4 50
0 0 0
Year Year Year
Urban Population Paper Consumption McDonald’s Restaurants

10 250
Number (thousands)
35
Tons (million)
People (billion)
8 200 30
25
6 150 20
4 100 15
10
2 50
5
0 0 0
Year Year Year

Arrival (million people)
Transport, Motor Vehicles Communication, Telephones International Tourism

800 800 800
Number (million)
Number (million)
600 600 600
400 400 400
200 200 200
0 0 0
Year Year Year
Fig. 13.2 Human activities increased at an accelerated rate in the last 250 years, a phenomenon
known as the “Great Acceleration”. (See Steffen et al. 2011)
13.3 Earth System Limits
The global environment is degrading due to cumulative human activities. One

question arises as to what part of the Earth system, and to what extent, global
environmental degradation-a mild shock-has progressed.
In 2009, Dr. Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Centre published a paper
that attracted considerable attention. It showed that increasing human activities could
cause irreversible and catastrophic abrupt change to the global environment, beyond
the safe limits of resiliency. The paper aimed to identify planetary boundaries, or
Earth system limits, in the Anthropocene epoch. In alignment with this objective, the
paper defined limits that must not be crossed for nine major processes (subsystems)
Fig. 13.3 Planetary boundaries. The inner green shading represents the proposed safe-operating
space for nine planetary systems. The red wedges represent the estimate of the current position for
each variable. (Rockstrom et al. 2009)
of the Earth planetary system and indicated the current stage of each of these
processes. Figure 13.3 shows the results. Skipping the details, the paper deemed that
Earth has gone beyond the safe operating space for the boundaries of climate change,
biodiversity, and the nitrogen cycle, entering an irreversible stage for these systems.
The concept of “planetary boundaries” is not the first to propose limits to the Earth
system. In the 1970s, views such as Spaceship Earth and The Limits to Growth were
presented. People shared an image that excessive development and economic growth
would result in the consumption and degradation of an irreplaceable Earth. However,
these concepts remained image-oriented and were not scientific. Moreover, it was
assumed that these concerns would be resolved by cumulative scientific knowledge
and the growth of science and technology. In reality, rather than providing a solution,
the growth of scientific knowledge and technology has served to state that the Earth
system has crossed these thresholds in significant ways (Meadows et al. 2005).
The concept of planetary boundaries is based on three academic challenges. The
first challenge is to clarify to what extent, or threshold, the Earth system tolerates
human activities. The second is to elucidate the Earth system – the challenge of how
humanity can comprehend this complex system. The third is to explore the resilience
206 K.-i. Abe
framework in connection with complex systems and the autogenous control of living
organisms.
These academic challenges have not been adequqtely addressed and need to be
explored in the future. These concepts should be further developed by incorporating
new findings and ideas, as the latest edition on planetary boundaries was published
in 2015.
The concept of planetary boundaries aims to establish thresholds as accurately as
possible for nine processes and indicate the current state of Earth regarding these
processes. They are not intended to show how to avoid crossing thresholds in the
future or, if crossed, what action to take. The planetary boundaries aim to accurately
know the state of the Earth’s environment. For humanity to take its next step, it needs
to know whether it is still in a safe operating space or whether it is beyond it, in a
stage where rapid and catastrophic changes can occur. The following step is to
investigate the resilience of the Earth system.
13.4 A Weakening Society
The above sections have examined the Earth system from a broad perspective. Planet
Earth exists at a much larger scale than human beings. However, the activities
pursued by each of us have caused irreversible changes to this enormous system.
None of the nine processes referred to by the planetary boundaries concept, includ-
ing not only climate change but also ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone deple-
tion, and loss of biodiversity, are attributable to any specific cause. They have been
effected by our ordinary everyday lives, as shown in Fig. 13.2. It is important to link
the actions of each of us to global-scale phenomena.
To this end, we can view Earth from the perspective of our everyday lives, as
described below. In doing this, it is necessary to connect the minimal with the
maximal, through which it emerges that modern society has become fragile.
Two driving factors are involved in the fragility of modern society: its efficiency-
oriented sophistication and a deepening global interdependence.
First, we examine one driving factor: the sophistication of society. Society has
risen to an elaborate level, far too high for us to understand how our lives are
supported, despite the belief that we live ordinary lives.
Consider convenience stores as an example, which have become a necessity in
our lives. Although each store is small, it offers essential goods – primarily food and
drinks plus miscellaneous goods and drugs – whenever a person wants them.
On-demand availability of necessities is maintained by merchandise management
systems known as POS and an intricate logistics system. Using past data that reveal
relationships between weather, seasons, audience, and the spectrum and quantities of
sold items, convenience stores determine the necessary goods in advance and
arrange deliveries in appropriate quantities. These sophisticated systems are vulner-
able to abrupt events or shocks.
When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, logistics systems shut down all
at once. Convenience stores became helpless when items left the shelves. They did
not have merchandise in stock, as they were running an efficient merchandise
replenishment system. Affected people managed these difficulties first with goods
available at older local retail shops and subsequently with outdoor bazaars, which
offered goods transported from hinterland areas.
It is highly probable that behind the trends towards a more sophisticated and
complex society, economic efficiency is given precedence. As a result of the
importance attached to efficiency, residential and production sites have been thrown
into unforeseen situations, which come to public attention after an incident occurs –
the mad cow disease being an example.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a disease of cattle caused by a
pathogenic agent known as the BSE prion, which causes spongiform degeneration
of the brain. Infected cattle exhibit abnormal behaviors and ataxia, leading to death.
The disease may be transmitted to humans by eating infected beef. There was
a tremendous furor when this fact was revealed.
While the fact that a cattle disease could infect humans went against common
medical knowledge at the time, we, the general public, were astonished by the
additional fact that BSE-infected cattle had been fed with meat and bone meals
(MBM). Although we did not believe that all cattle raised for meat were peacefully
eating green grass in an open pasture, we barely knew that farmers were feeding
powdered cattle bones and brains to plant-eating cattle.
Another unforeseen threat and shock is avian influenza. The slaughter of infected
poultry revealed another process unexpected by the general public – that present-day
poultry farming is quite intensive. Even family operated poultry farms raise tens of
thousands of chickens annually. In Japan, for example, chicken farmers were raising,
on average, 50,000 birds per farm in 2012, as if they were running egg production
factories.
Extremely high productivity characterizes egg production. Chickens are placed in
small cages and fed on automatically dispensed food and water, rather than running
around in a garden, pecking food. Beaks for pecking food, deemed needless, were
cut back. When they are very young, male chickens are discarded, as because they
are useless. Various methods devised to improve egg-laying efficiency deprive
chickens of their natural character as living organisms.
The outbreak of avian influenza may not be related to the poultry farming
system described above. The virus has existed since ancient times although it
might have undergone some changes. Nevertheless, the highly efficient chicken
production system certainly is extremely vulnerable to infections such as bird flu.
We move farther from understanding society as it advances. Many systems turn to
black boxes, irrespective of whether they are closely involved in our everyday lives.
When, by chance, someone looks into one of these black boxes, they become aware
of their ignorance.
Next, I describe the fragility of global interdependence. Every aspect of society is
growing on a global scale, primarily in the economic and information sectors. This is
known as globalization.
208 K.-i. Abe
From the perspective of everyday life, we depend on people in many parts of the
world for our clothing, food, and housing. Consequently, we live our lives without
recognizing where and by whom the things we use were made.
This becomes clear by opening a wardrobe and checking where our clothes for
everyday use are made. Many clothes might be manufactured abroad, and made-in-
Japan items might be few. Factories move to low-cost labor areas to reduce produc-
tion cost as much as possible.
The same trend applies to food. Even with transport costs, imported foreign
agricultural products are cheaper than domestic ones. As is well known, Japan’
food self-sufficiency has decreased to below 40%. More than half of what Japanese
people eat is produced in countries overseas.
You may think that the availability of low-cost merchandise is not so deplorable.
However, overdependence on overseas producers relies on the consumption of extra
energy for transport. Moreover, the use of remote places of production makes the
consumer unaware of the environmental burden imposed on other areas due to the
consumer’s affluent life. Few can intuitively link improved quality of life with the
loss of tropical forests.
Globalization makes the overall system fragile. Again, having places of produc-
tion distant from those of consumption is problematic. The container transport
system enables carriers to transport an extensive amount of goods. However,
transport routes are subject to higher risk with increasing transport distance. Another
challenge is the difficulty in ensuring stable supplies. Unfortunately the world is not
peaceful. When conflict or political upheaval occurs, supply might be terminated
unexpectedly. Furthermore, shocks might occur beyond human understanding.
Additionally, remote places of production can be significantly affected by natural
disasters. Consider industrial products as an example. In recent years, production of
parts has often been conducted in distributed areas. Dependence on various areas of
the world for necessary commodity parts leads to a high risk of failure in producing
finished products.
This is not merely a matter of physical distance. Again, consider food as an
example. As it enters the body, food must be strictly checked in the production,
processing, and distribution processes to ensure safety. However, if the process
chain is long, or an increasing number of people are involved in the chain, inadver-
tent human errors can occur, or corners may be cut. Although it should not happen,
producers could, for example, use an excessive amount of agricultural chemicals,
excusing it by the fact that the consumers are not people they know personally.
Local production for local consumption is a movement intended to minimize the
physical distance between the places of production and consumption for a safe and
secure food supply. Shorter distances between places of production and consump-
tion eliminate the need for preservatives and enable the consumer to obtain fresh-
quality food at a low cost.
13.5 Economic Efficiency: Steady-State Economy
Modern society has become extremely vulnerable to shocks and impacts, notwith-
standing its material affluence and convenience. This reality is also apparent in many
other instances not yet described. In this context, it should be stressed that improve-
ment in economic efficiency lies behind the trends toward complex and sophisticated
societies and the global interdependence of regions. Furthermore, this outcome
results from the mentality of wanting convenient, quality items at the lowest cost.
Producing and supplying convenient and reliable items is never a bad idea.
Throughout history, humanity has sought a better life. Nevertheless, such goods
and services are produced and supplied at a cost, and the cost includes nature and the
environment. However the problem is that the cost of nature and the environment has
not been considered. The result is a set of global environmental issues. The reader
should recall that the aggregation of our everyday lives has degraded the Earth
system irreversibly (Fig. 10.2). We need to change our sense of values, explore new
ways of pursuing economy and growth, and transform society. In short, it is key that
we inquire into what is truly important. In many cases, this effort will not mutually
exclude improving the resiliency of society and the Earth system.
This section presents an example of social reforms and a new form of the economy.
Herman Daly, an ex-chief economist at the World Bank, proposed the concept of
steady-state economy, for which the following three rules were suggested:
1. Extract renewable resources, such as fish and timber, at a rate no faster than they
can be regenerated.
2. Consume nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels and minerals, at a rate no
faster than they can be replaced by the discovery of renewable substitutes.
3. Deposit wastes in the environment at a rate no faster than they can be safely
assimilated.
These are quite inarguable. On most occasions, important concepts are indeed
simple. By adhering to these three rules, which are quite normal if reexamined, it is
not difficult to ensure the resilience of the Earth system. For comparison, Kenneth
Boulding, an economist himself, expressed this in simpler terms: anyone who
believes that exponential growth can go on forever in this finite world is either a
madman or an economist.
13.6 Relation-Value
It is also true that inarguable rules may not be simple to apply.

Improving the resilience of the Earth system translates to improving the resilience
of our modern society, which has become fragile. Modern society must realize that
unforeseeable shocks can occur. First, it is essential to improve overall, or general,
resilience, rather than resilience in relation to specific shocks. That said, a question
210 K.-i. Abe
arises as to what specific measures should be taken. The concept of resilience is

superior to the sloganized concept of sustainability in providing realistic measures
and concrete ways of thinking, tools, and approaches.
That said, what are the realistic measures and more concrete ways of thinking and
approaches for an improved Earth resilience?
I believe that one solution is to achieve strong and healthy region-to-region
connections.
We have entered an era in which humanity is causing irreversible impacts on the
Earth’s physical and chemical processes. In such an era, the resilience of the Earth
system demands us to contemplate the future of the world in which we live.
The world is not uniform. It consists of various regions that differ in nature,
environment, economy, history, culture, ethnic composition, and politics. People in
diverse regions may also have varying values. Some scholars call these regions
“world units” (Takaya 2010). To ensure the resilience of the Earth system, world
units must be properly connected.
This connection does not mean the deepening regional interdependence described
earlier. That interdependence is, in reality, a distorted unilateral relationship based
on relative strengths. Such relationships are restrictive, partial, and not healthy or
strong. For example, upon finding a region where labor is cheaper, businesses do not
hesitate to move there. These ties, which are made without consideration for the
partner region’s future, such as the impact of imposed environmental burdens, will
never last long. When based solely on economic profit, interregional relationships
are superficial.
The development of strong and agile relationships between regions on a global
scale is needed. This could manifest as a bundle of diverse and numerous relation-
ships, although each relationship may be slight rather than a large unified
relationship.
Resilience is often compared to the autogenous control of living organisms. A
living body consists of various organs that combine seamlessly to function as a
whole. Individual organs should not be treated separately; otherwise, the essence of
the living organism is overlooked. With a complex system, such as a living body,
strengthening the resilience of a part or a hierarchical section of the system is useless.
Unless the whole system is taken into account, strengthening the resilience of one
subsystem will likely result in the development of fragility somewhere else. Conse-
quently, the whole system might fail.
A living body functions stably only when dynamic connections are present
between organs. Likewise, the resilience of the Earth system and its subsystems,
or world units, improves when they are connected by a healthy bundle of diverse
relationships, rather than a single relationship.
Connections produce richness. Disconnections lead to instability. Correct con-
nections have value. Many people are aware of this value, although it has no name in
the present. This chapter proposes to name it the “relation-value (Abe 2009).” Once
connected, the relationship is not readily visible. Connections work in that way. The
preciousness of a connection is felt when it is served. As such, the above-proposed
value deserves a name.
Through their activities, every individual contributes to the irreversible changes

to the large Earth system. Owing to this, it should be possible to make the world
more resilient through activities undertaken by individuals. Connecting activities
that create “relation-value” are not necessarily fixed nor organized in advance, but
could be quite personal or opportunistic in the sense that people will follow their
sense of how to act responsibly in the world. For a long time, however, the real
connections between people in different places have been obscure. This obscurity
has allowed foe many unsustainable production and consumption practices. For
example, until recently consumers of coffee have had little information of where,
how, and by whom the coffee they drink every morning has been produced. Coffee
was just another international commodity. Now, however, there are increasing
opportunities for people in very different places and life circumstances to get to
know each other and so, in this broad and important way, to act together. Such
connections, in other words, help people to understand how the qualities they seek –
secure livelihoods, healthy environments, quality products – can create “relation-
value”, and in this individual way, even cup-by-cup, also increase the resilience of
the Earth system on which we all rely.
References
Abe, K. (2009). From local production for local consumption to producer-consumer acquaintance –
Relation-value of connections. In Kubota, J. (Ed.), Transnational transport of commodities and
global environmental problems (pp. 180–211) (in Japanese).
Meadows, H. D., Meadows, L. D., & Randers, J. (2005). Limits to growth – Options for humanity.
London: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Rockström, J., et al. (2009). Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity.
Ecology and Society, 14(2), 32.
Steffen, W., et al. (2011). The Anthropocene: From global change to planetary stewardship. Ambio,
40(7), 739–761.
Takaya, Y. (2010). World units theory. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press. (in Japanese).
Chapter 14
Human History and Aspects of Resilience
Tetsuya Inamura
Abstract Thus far, the authors have discussed the different aspects of resilience
from the viewpoints of their specialty, and each examined an extremely interesting
and important theme. The critical task remains to correlate and summarize these
arguments, and thus, this chapter will review the themes from the viewpoint of
resilience in the human timeline and then will attempt to conclude them collectively.
14.1 Aspects of Resilience from the Viewpoint of Human

History
In Chap. 1, the author emphasized the ability of empathy as an integral component of

human resilience through the comparison of H. sapiens with hominoids. This ability
was developed with the distribution of food and the nurturing of infants; it was
inevitable, because human females had to have many premature babies, due to the
two facts: one is that their birth canal reduced after human beings stood erect, and
another is that humans were victims of predators. Individually, humans were weak;
however, building and living in groups developed their empathetic abilities in order
to live together sustainably and successfully. Being much different to anthropoids,
human beings developed a group more powerful than the family unit: the “commu-
nity,” which became the foundation of their resilience and with which humans could
not only confront enemies and difficulties but also invest for the future.
Chapter 2 analyzed the difference of personality between human beings and
anthropoids by studying their genes. The research revealed that human beings are
more curious, more nervous, and less violent, in comparison with anthropoids. These
characteristics of human beings can be interpreted as the expression of the ability of
empathy.
In Chap. 3, the author sets out two ways of defining resilience in order to
understand psychological resilience: “resiliency” as an individual’s ability and
T. Inamura (*)
The Open University of Japan, Chiba City, Chiba, Japan
e-mail: inamura@ouj.ac.jp

214 T. Inamura
“resilience” as an interactive process with the environment. The author then

discussed the importance of the diversity of individuals’ resiliency within groups
and stated that, when viewing a person as a group rather than as an individual, not
only the diversity in the positive aspects of each individual but also the existence of
weak aspects can expand the resilience as a whole. The author concluded that,
through the interaction of the diversity in individual resiliency, the overall resilience
of a group can be increased.
In Chap. 4, the author, discussing human evolution and humanity’s dispersion
throughout the world, placed significance on two aspects of our humanity and
resilience: first, rational and logical recognition, which is important to produce
technology, oral speech, and civilization, and second, sympathy and altruism, i.e.,
empathy, which are important to sustain a family, provide mutual aid to neighbors,
philanthropy to other humans, and guardianship to all living things and the Earth.
However, the author warns that civilization has become a monstrous “desire-satis-
faction system” and has begun to squeeze resources from the environment. He
asserts that the most necessary resilience is rational prevision and practice of altruism
for the future, before a crisis occurs.
In Chap. 5, the author states that social resilience manifests itself as a response to
social crisis; thus, social resilience can be understood through social crisis. This
chapter reviewed the archeological research outcomes in Jordan and analyzed the
initial process of pastoral nomadization. The people of the Paleolithic depended on
hunting and gathering and, therefore, lived a high-mobility life in small-size groups.
Neolithic society introduced a food production economy based on the domestication
of plants and animals; this necessitated a settlement life with a relatively large group,
which thus faced an increase in conflict within and between groups. The initial
pastoral transhumance was a challenge to cope with the Neolithic crisis by means of
reviving the Paleolithic resilience (the small group size and the high group mobility)
reinforced by the Neolithic resilience. The author concluded that subsequently the
Near East shifted into a bimodal society composed of the urban-rural sub-society
within the Fertile Crescent and the nomadic one outside it: the coexistence of both
sub-societies created higher-dimensional social resilience essential to subsequent
urbanization and civilization.
In Chap. 6, the author, learning the origin and history of the outbreak of infectious
diseases, such as measles, examined the human resilience to diseases. Approxi-
mately at the same time as the first civilizations arose after food production, the
measles virus, once hosted by dogs and cattle, jumped species to begin infecting
humans. The Fertile Crescent was the birthplace of measles, simply because it was
the first location in human history to contain a population large enough to sustain the
continuous prevalence of the disease. Eventually, agriculture spread throughout the
world, leading to societies of large fixed population scales appearing worldwide.
These subsequently became new residences for the disease and thus the measles
virus worldwide range. The author notes that some types of adaptations bring about
short-term prosperity and, after that, long-term difficulties. Learning from history, he
suggests that “coexistence” or “symbiosis” between infectious diseases and human
beings is necessary in the context of resilience to avoid catastrophe.
14 Human History and Aspects of Resilience 215
Chapter 7 explored the changes in the societies of the Andean region, which had
been the research field site of the author for many years. In the Andes, the Inca
developed an imperial state before contact with Spanish: this large state was formed
by integrating many disparate peoples who had no personal contact yet who shared
belief in religious myths or fictions (Harari 2011). Resilience developed in compe-
tition between groups in the new continent did not function at all once in touch with a
completely different world (the old continent), and eventually the imperial state
collapsed. Regardless, the Andean society lived on in the high mountainous areas,
and resilience has been maintained in the diverse and flexible relationship between
the Andean indigenous people and the natural environment.
Chapter 8 focused on the components of Mongolian nomads’ resilience: mobility,
commonage of place, flexibility, and mutualism. Mongolian society has changed,
from the time of feudalism to the time of socialism, to the market economy of today.
Nomads adapted to the dismantling of the negdel (pastoral cooperatives), privatiza-
tion of livestock, expansion of the market economy, and the new land ownership
system, among others. Their ways of thinking are filled with resilience that continues
even after they immigrate to cities and become urban residents. However, recent
urbanization in the capital city Ulaanbaatar, where high buildings have been
constructed so quickly, is increasing vulnerability.
In Chap. 9, the author analyzed how the disaster victims, the Ayta, coped with
completely new environments. They exhibited excellent flexibility and ability to
adapt themselves to a new living environment as a basic survival strategy, but they
simultaneously had “attraction” or ability to draw attention, concern, and assistance
from the outside world, because of their appearance and behavior. It was not mere
recovery of the pre-eruption state of living but a path to regeneration as new people
living in a new place with a different self-consciousness and lifestyle. The author
calls it “ethno genesis,” which was enabled by the dynamic resilience of the Ayta. He
also stresses that internal supports have limitations today and the international
mutual supports are inevitable.
Chapter 10 considered the resilience of life against natural disasters from the
perspective of risk management, through an analysis of the recovery process after the
disasters in Japan and China. The author stresses that material and social resources
(social capital) possessed by the community are important factors that innovate
resilience. After disasters, resources on hand sway the conditions of life, and
supplies in advance, not only for oneself but also for others, which is important for
reciprocal assistance. After the occurrence of a disaster, the process of rebuilding
consists of connecting with various people. The author considers that those who
gained a new outlook for their community, and created good connections, can view
their disaster experience with a positive attitude.
In Chap. 11, the author asserts the importance of disaster reduction education
(DRE) when creating a resilient society, considering the lessons learned from the
Great East Japan Earthquake. Faced with repeated natural catastrophes, we recog-
nized the importance of software; social factors, such as a declining birthrate and
shrinking economy; and local initiatives for disaster mitigation. The author con-
cludes that the organization of DRE should be broken down into short-term goals,
216 T. Inamura
including urgent damage reduction, and long-term goals, which imply building a
safer, more peaceful society.
Chapter 12 analyzed private Japanese companies to investigate how they manage
and overcome risks and crises. The chapter concluded that three factors are impor-
tant for resilience: ① directly confronting risk, ② how to sustain the corporate
philosophy even under adversity, and ③ flexible thinking and the linkage between
strategies. This study suggested that resilience of modern groups or organizations
has aspects in common with traditional groups in human history, in particular, the
attitude of respecting altruism and management policy, which becomes the driving
force to obtain support after the occurrence of any crisis, which leads to resilience.
Chapter 13 explored the most difficult and important challenge regarding the
methods through which we can improve the resilience of the Earth system. The
author proposed the terms “abrupt shock” and “mild shock” to identify and designate
the severity of an undesirable situation. Mild shocks include global warming and the
loss of biodiversity; the change is slow but can become irreparable at a critical point
in time. The Earth system has transgressed some of the scientifically established
planetary boundary thresholds without being recognized. The author asserts that a
link between global thinking and local action is needed for our future. It is not an
easy task to recover the resilience of the Earth, but it is not an impossible task either.
The key is to establish bundles of small, yet numerous, region-to-region and society-
to-society relationships.
14.2 Human History Focused on Resilience
In this book, we challenged and examined the diverse aspects of resilience from the
viewpoint of human history, spreading its perspective of time and space to their
maximum. What could be seen by going back to the past, and to the first stage of
human evolution, was that the origin of resilience lies with the ability of empathy,
which is a remarkable human characteristic and is supported by genetic research in
comparison with anthropoid apes. At the early stages of human history, the biggest
threat for humans was attack by predators; this could be confronted by forming
groups, which was aided by the expression of empathy between group members.
The ability of individual humans to survive could only be guaranteed through
group resilience. The interrelation between an individual and a group is important.
The study of psychology proposed to distinguish between the two terms: “resil-
iency” as an individual’s ability and “resilience” as an interactive process with the
environment. The author concluded that the diversity (including defects) of individ-
uals inside a group is significant.
Humans left Africa and spread over the Earth. They adapted culturally with the
diverse environments, rather than evolving physically, and they developed cultural
group diversity, which was vital for human resilience as a whole. Resilience from
humans’ earliest history was developed by inventing better technology for hunting
and conducting activities in groups, and with the addition of the mastery of fire,
14 Human History and Aspects of Resilience 217
humans were able to gather enough resources, gradually increase their population,
and hence spread all over the world. After the last glacial age, humans were faced
with a shortage of natural resources, due to the over-hunting of animals and drastic
climate change. They resolved this crisis, however, through the domestication of
plants and animals. Agriculture and animal husbandry generated stability of life and
the development of food storage, which promoted urban and complex societies.
On the other hand, food production systems increased the human population
radically and soon generated the new risk of conflicts both inside large groups and
between them. Population increase and urbanization also raised the risk of the
outbreak of infectious diseases, which continues until today. The coexistence and
a balance between virus and human are necessary to maintain resilience to infectious
diseases within groups and for humanity in general to avoid catastrophe.
The archaeological study suggests that resilience to social conflicts in West Asian
human history was reinforced by the combination of sedentary village-city com-
plexes with the pastoral nomadic system, i.e., the integration of diverse sub-societies
reinforced resilience. Further, the research in Mongolia reveals the characteristics of
resilience in an actual nomadic society: mobility, diversity, flexibility, and mutual
aid. The research of Japanese companies also demonstrated that flexibility and
altruism are significant for the resilience of modern groups and organizations.
The growth of groups was promoted by the human ability to recognize shared
fictions or myths: this established a bond and united disparate peoples together. After
the development of food production, humans who had moved to the Americas from
Asia established unique ancient civilizations and built huge monuments that
reflected their shared mythology. In South America, the Incan empire was founded
after establishing their dominance among the local ethnic groups. However, when
the empire faced European conquerors, its resilience could not stand and collapsed
easily. Andean indigenous societies, however, survived with resilience of diversity
and flexibility in their subsistence.
Humans cope often with radical changes of nature. The Ayta indigenous people,
who experienced “genesis recreation” after a disaster, are an example of resilience to
a natural disaster. It was the dynamism between individuals and the group, and
further, their resilience was related to the state and the Earth, including international
volunteer groups. Regarding the disasters in Japan, “build back better” was
discussed, too, which increases the resilience of Japanese society and the ability to
confront future challenges.
Together with the drastic change in the natural environment, we should consider
the mild shocks of planetary boundary thresholds, which are not easily recognized.
Resilience to these thresholds is composed of rational thought that leads to scientific
future predictions and altruistic empathy, which engenders mutual aid and guard-
ianship to all living things and the Earth.
Characteristics of resilience vary according to the crisis: natural disasters, artifi-
cial disasters, diseases, natural resources and energy, and wars, among others. War,
in particular, as we believe that this, is the most serious risk today. Humans
developed resilience by forming groups through the ability of empathy, but altruistic
empathy had the opposite function among groups: it makes a group more robust and
218 T. Inamura
better integrated but can lead to conflicts between groups becoming more aggressive.
We Japanese experienced miserable war caused by exceeded altruism or nationalism
during the wars. An effective system of control among groups or states has not yet
been found. We should develop the ability of empathy beyond the limit of groups
and expand to the whole earth. Although this appears to be an impossible task, it is in
fact not unreasonable, because genetically humans as individuals are less aggressive
than anthropoid apes and thus can work together when need be.
What is needed for our future is a link between global rational thinking and local
action, so that altruistic empathy can spread across the Earth. Practice can make our
life richer, too.
Postscript
Yumiko Nara and Tetsuya Inamura
This book is a challenge not only from the viewpoint of human history but also from
the viewpoint of multiple disciplines. Did this wild project succeed? We editors
consider it to have succeeded more than expected, because all chapters correlated
well and weaved together a complete story that reveals the core aspects of resilience
across human history.
Group-bond constructed through empathy was the most important piece of
resilience that allowed humans to survive in the early stages of history. Humans
developed their resilience with cultural diversity and flexibility, allowing them to
adapt to diverse environments worldwide and to share fictional stories or myths to
form enormous groups. Humans developed their most important resilience, empathy
(and altruism), within groups, which strengthened those groups, although, it led to
devastating wars among themselves. Now, it is important that we use empathy to
function beyond the limits of groups and to expand to the entire Earth. This, in its
simplest form, is the summary of human resilience.
We would like to reflect on the resilience to natural disasters, because that is the
theme that we, Japanese authors, living in one of the most disaster-stricken countries
in the world, should concentrate on. In addition, this kind of resilience highlights the
relationships between individuals and groups (of various levels) as well as its
dynamism; the aspects of resilience change continuously throughout the time and
in process before and after the disasters.
In considering what it means to be resilient to natural disasters, it is important to
identify those who face adversity as a “system” and identify resilience as a system-
atic attribute. A system is a group of interacting or interrelated entities that form a
unified whole that is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded
and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose, and
expressed in its functioning. Various items, events, and phenomena, from the

Sciences 23, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4091-2
220 Postscript
micro to the macro level, such as the bodies of living organisms, artificial objects
such as computers, social groups, forests, cities, the Earth, and even life, the
economy, and politics, are systems. A subsystem is a set of elements that is a system
itself and a component of a larger system.
The variables for understanding how resilient the system is include diversity and
modularity. Diversity refers to whether a system is composed of not only highly
homogeneous elements and sections but also a variety. Modularity refers to whether
the parts are autonomously connected to each other. That is, if the subject has
modularity (subsystem autonomy) and diversity, partial damage can be compensated
quickly. The subject of adversity is, in other words, the subject of resilience.
Principal systems can be at various levels: individual, family, regional, national,
and global. Each of these systems are both a single system and a subsystem of a
higher-level system. As each system increases its diversity and modularity, and thus,
its own resilience, it also increases the resilience of the whole and other subsystems.
When resilience against disasters is considered, the resilience of the individual/
family system corresponds to self-help, the resilience of the local community system
to mutual assistance, and the resilience of the local government/state system to
public assistance. Individuals and families will be more resilient if they autono-
mously have ideas, resources, and behavior patterns in their daily lives that assume a
variety of situations including a disaster. Local communities that embrace individual
diversity and local governments and states that can take advantage of individual and
local diversity in the event of a disaster are resilient. In addition, when looking at the
mobilization of diverse resources from outside a country, actors will be connected to
the entire globe. It is also important to have interactions in which a higher-level
system complements a subsystem that cannot enhance its own resilience. Thus,
disaster resilience is enhanced by the dynamism of interactions between individuals
and diverse groups.
Furthermore, disaster resilience is also related to dynamism along the time axis.
As the nature of a disaster changes, the nature of disaster resilience also changes over
time. Preventing disasters is of primary importance. In addition, we must improve
our understanding of the process of disaster recovery on the assumption that they
will occur and cause damage that lasts a long time. Depending on the system,
recovery could take 10 years, 20 years, or more. Reconstruction of the disaster
response system involves not only individuals but also their families, communities,
and government. Over a substantial time span, people work with a variety of actors
to rebuild their systems.
Measures to improve resilience against natural disasters should assume the
passage of time after the occurrence of a disaster, increase the diversity and modu-
larity of each system corresponding to each phase, and connect them in advance
while respecting the diversity and autonomy of other actors in case of emergency.
Higher concentrations of population and the development of large modern cities
have increased the risk of natural disaster. The development of technology such as
nuclear power has accelerated this risk further. Natural disasters are currently one of
Postscript 221
the most serious risks to humankind, and we should have proper prediction mech-
anisms in place and prepare diverse materials and social resources in order to
maintain disaster resilience. After a disaster occurs, mutual aid is inevitable and
international aid is also important. What the Japanese learned from the Great East
Japan Earthquake is the importance of disaster reduction education to create a
resilient society that should be composed of both short-term and long-term goals
for damage reduction, which implies building a safe and peaceful society.
During the editing process of this book, the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. Just as
Yamamoto describes in Chap. 6, an infectious disease epidemic is the risk that we
Homo sapiens have borne since the food production revolution. The current pan-
demic highlights the fact that we share the same globe. We must completely review
our relationship with the earth and change our lifestyle to confront new risks in our
coexistence with viruses in addition to the existing risks. We must recognize that
viruses have no borders. By working together and by spreading our empathy
globally, we can acquire the resilience we need as reflected in the central theme of
this book.
Acknowledgment
The research for this book was partly supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research (KAKENHI) on Innovative Areas “Integrative Human Historical Science
of ‘Out of Eurasia’” (JP19H05731, JP19H05735, & JP19H05737), Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research (S) “Evolutionary Anthropology of Conflicts and Resolution”
(JP19107007), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Integra-
tive Research toward Elucidation of Generative Brain Systems for Individuality”
(JP19H0490), Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists “Understanding Diversity of
Resilience through Multifaceted Profiling and the Development of Clinical Psycho-
logical Approach” (JP18K13330), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) “The
Origin of the Tribal Society in the Near East: Comprehensive Study of the Pre- and
Proto-historic Nomadic Cultures in the Arabian Peninsula” (JP19H05592), Grant-in-
Aid for Scientific Research(B) “Earthquake Hazard of Ulan Bator, Mongolia”
(JP16H05645), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(A) “Anthropology of
Response-ability” (JP16H01968), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
“Research on the Creation and the Construction of a Platform of Cross-cutting
Scientific Literacy” (JP16K01029), and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(A)
“Active Fault Hazard and Disaster Education Learned from 2016 Kumamoto Earth-
quake” (JP18H03601).
Yutaka Hirachi, Shinko Mimura, Sivachandran Ravanan, and Padmanaban Balaji
helped us greatly in the process of publishing and editing this book. Lise Sasaki
advised us with the English expressions for this book. We would like to express our
deep gratitude to them.

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Translational Systems Sciences 23

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11213

Resilience and Human

ISSN 2197-8832 ISSN 2197-8840 (electronic)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020

Caused by Global Environmental Change in Khovd Aimag (Province), Mongolia,”

Chiba City, Chiba, Japan Yumiko Nara

1 Resilient Features Which Humans Inherited from Common

10 Resilience of Life (Livelihood) and Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . 157

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

1.2 The Characteristics of Primates, Apes, and Humans

1.2.1 Heritage of the Primates

1.2.2 The Turning Point Between Monkeys and Apes

1.2.3 Human Characteristics Inherited from Apes and Food

Fig. 1.2 The expensive-tissue hypothesis (Aiello and Wheeler 1995)

1.3 Human-Speciﬁc Resilience

Infant Juvenile Adult Old age

Fig. 1.3 Life history of human and great apes

Fig. 1.4 Community

1.3.2 Changes in Society and Ways of Communication

1.3.3 What Is Human Fundamental Resilience

Humans have inherited the characteristics of primates, especially phylogenetically

Fig. 1.5 Evolution of Food sharing

Family Empathy Community

Abstract By conducting behavioral observations and genetic research in primates,

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 13

2.2 DNA Analysis Is a Common Method

Kin? Paternity, kinship

(Food? Plant species)

Fig. 2.1 DNA extracted from feces shows life of animals

2.3 DNA Database

2.4 Genes Related to Personality

Among humans, cross-situational differences in personality such as aggressiveness,

2.5 Comparison Among Primate Species

Fig. 2.2 Neurotransmission at the synapse of neurons

Fig. 2.3 Species differences among primates in curiosity and anxiety

Fig. 2.4 Species differences among primates in aggressiveness

2.6 Individual Differences in Chimpanzees

What about individual differences within ape species? In chimpanzees, the

Fig. 2.5 Tryptophan hydroxylase2 genotype and personality of chimpanzees

extracted, “Dominance,” “Extraversion,” “Conscientiousness,” “Agreeableness,”

2.7 Future Personality Research

The abovementioned individual differences in anxiety-related traits and in well-

Short: high sociality, low aggressiveness European Breed

Fig. 2.6 Change of genotypes associated with domestication of dogs

2.8 What Genetic Diversity Shows

Maternal mitochondrial genotype is

Paternal Y chromosome genotype is

semi-solitary. To maintain this conﬁguration and to avoid inbreeding, depending on

Abstract Psychological resilience is invisible and a very complicated concept.

3.1 What Is Psychological Resilience?

3.1.1 Deﬁnition of Psychological Resilience

Needless to say, because the mind is invisible, psychological resilience cannot be

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 25

Table 3.1 Deﬁnitions of psychological resilience (Fletcher and Sarkar 2013)

3.1.2 Evaluation Criteria of Psychological Resilience

3.2 Measurement of Psychological Resiliency

3.2.1 Factors Leading to Psychological Resiliency

Next, we explain resiliency as an individual’s characteristics and ability. In the early

Table 3.2 Examples of resilience factors (Hirano 2010)

3.2.2 Scale to Measure Resiliency

In understanding resilience as an ability, it must also be considered that there are

3.3 Changes in Resiliency