Muneo Jay Yoshikawa, Ph.D., is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 professor, author, researcher and consultant in the fields of intercultural communication

Intercultural communication

Intercultural communication is a form of global communication. It is used to describe the wide range of communication problems that naturally appear within an organization made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. Intercultural communication is...

, human development

Human development (humanity)

Human development in the scope of humanity, specifically international development, is an international and economic development paradigm that is about much more than the rise or fall of national incomes. People are the real wealth of nations...

, human resource management

Human resource management

Human Resource Management is the management of an organization's employees. While human resource management is sometimes referred to as a "soft" management skill, effective practice within an organization requires a strategic focus to ensure that people resources can facilitate the achievement of...

, and leadership

Leadership

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...

.

Career

Muneo Yoshikawa was born in Tokyo in 1938 and went to study in the United States at the age of 18, graduating from Linfield College

Linfield College

Linfield College is an American private institution of higher learning located in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. As a four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college with a campus in Portland, Oregon, it also has an adult degree program located in eight communities throughout the...

 in Oregon. He then received his graduate degree and subsequently a Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii

University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...

. Yoshikawa retired from the University of Hawaii after 35 years of teaching, currently residing in Japan.

Yoshikawa studied the Communication Theory, the New Paradigm Theory, and the Life Information Science Theory. He developed communication theories in the education, health, and business fields, best known among them being the double-swing model

Double-swing model

The double-swing model is a model of intercultural communication, originated by Muneo Yoshikawa, conceptualizing how individuals, cultures, and intercultural notions can meet in constructive ways...

 of intercultural communication.

He holds the rank of professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii and he is a member of the Board of Directors of Intercultural Open University Foundation (he was originally involved as a mentor and international advisor to this foundation since its inception in 1981). He is also co-director of Mobius Graduate School in Tokyo, councilor of the International Advisory Counsel of The Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (Malaysia) and associate of Ken Blanchard

Ken Blanchard

Kenneth Hartley Blanchard is an American author and management expert. His book The One Minute Manager has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into 37 languages...

 Companies (San Diego, California). Yoshikawa is also involved in corporate education field, with a focus on multinational and multicultural companies.

Double-swing model

The double-swing model (also known as the Möbius integration philosophy) is model of intercultural communication, originated by Muneo Yoshikawa, conceptualizing how individuals, cultures, and intercultural notions can meet in constructive ways. The communication is understood as an infinite process where both parties change in the course of the communicative or translational exchange, emphasizing that both communication parties play the role of addresser and addressee.

The dialogical mode draws upon the Buddhist philosophy (the logic of soku hi

Soku hi

Soku-hi means "is or is not". The term is primarily used by the representatives of the Kyoto School of Eastern philosophy.The logic of soku-hi or "is and is not" represents a balanced logic of symbolization reflecting sensitivity to the mutual determination of universality and particularity in...

) and the ideas of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber

Martin Buber

Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....

 (the I-Thou relationship) in seeing human beings as complete only in relationship. Whilst the dialogue is between two people who are separate and independent, they are simultaneously and inevitably interdependent. The model is graphically presented as the infinity symbol (∞), also as a Möbius strip

Möbius strip

The Möbius strip or Möbius band is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface...

, visualizing the twofold movement between the self and the other that allows for both unity and uniqueness.

Publications

• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1973). Psycho-sociological implications of the Japanese interpersonal communication patterns. In N. D. Liem (Ed.), Aspects of vernacular languages in Asian and Pacific societies (pp. 1–17). Honolulu, HI: Southeast Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1977). Implications of Martin Buber’s philosophy of dialogue in Japanese and American intercultural communication. Communication: The Journal of the Communication Association of the Pacific, 6(1), 103-124.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1978). Some Japanese and American cultural characteristics. In M. H. Prosser, The cultural dialogue: An introduction to intercultural communication (pp. 220–230). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1980). The dialogical approach to Japanese-American intercultural encounter. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1984). Culture, cognition, and communication: Implications of the “paradoxical relationship” for intercultural communication. Communication and Cognition, 17(4), 377-385.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1987). Cross-cultural adaptation and perceptual development. In Y. Y. Kim & W. B. Gudykunst (Eds.), Cross-cultural adaptation: Current approaches (pp. 140–148). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1987). The double-swing model of intercultural communication between the East and the West. In D. L. Kincaid (Ed.), Communication theory: Eastern and Western perspectives (pp. 319–329). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1988). Japanese and American modes of communication and implications for managerial and organizational behavior. In W. Dissanayake (Ed.), Communication theory: The Asian perspective (pp. 150–182). Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Center.
• Yoshikawa, M. J. (1989). Popular performing arts: Manzai and rakugo. In R. G. Powers & H. Kato (Eds.), Handbook of Japanese popular culture (pp. 75–96). New York: Greenwood Press.
• Hijirida, K., & Yoshikawa, M. J. (1987). Japanese language and culture for business and travel. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.

Awards

• Hawaii University Teaching Award (Hawaii, USA)
• American Youth Teaching Award (Hawaii, USA)