Third-century Chinese visitors to Japan were struck by the easygoing equanimity of Japanese women. "All men of high rank," they reported, "have four or five wives; others, two or three. The women are faithful and not jealous."
Faithful and not jealous! And the Japanese family lived happily ever after -- and lives happily ever after still, the winds of rivalry stilled by wa, the mysterious harmony lodged deep in the Japanese soul (in the Japanese genes, say some).
But is it true that the Japanese are less contentious than other people? Certainly many believe so. Wa is real enough -- as an imagined quality if not an actual one; a quality both idealized and cultivated.