The
word MuRatopia is originally coined by Kaoru Yamaguchi in his book: Beyond
Walras, Keynes and Marx - Synthesis in Economic Theory Toward a New Social Design,
Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 1988, as follows:The
word MuRatopia is originally coined by Kaoru Yamaguchi in his book: Beyond
Walras, Keynes and Marx - Synthesis in Economic Theory Toward a New Social Design,
Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 1988, as follows:
"We will call such a re-unified future economy MuRatopian economy,
where co-workers work co-operatively in communes, communities, local organizations,
and global organizations in harmony with nature. The Japanese word mura literally
means village. I have envisioned the future society in the spirit and practice of
a Japanese village where village people live in a self-sufficient community, help
each other co-operatively at the busiest time of harvest, and respect nature's way.
The one character word mura may also be considered as consisting of two different
characters: Mu and Ra. Mu implies "nothingness" or
"emptiness" - the most fundamental concept of Zen Buddhism, and Ra
means "being naked" or "having no possession." Accordingly, I
have associated the implications of Mu (nothingness) and Ra (no possession)
with mura (village), because I have further envisioned the mind of future
society in the combination of these concepts. -topia is from the Greek topos,
which means place. Hence, the word MuRatopia is now coined to describe our
new social design.
This is our future economy. (Chapter 8, pp .170-171.)"