Board Games and Japanese National Character

Occasionally, I indulge in board games and often notice certain traits that seem distinctly Japanese. Once, I participated in a four-player board game. Everything progressed normally until, towards the end, one player seemed poised to win. Unexpectedly, the remaining three, including me, conspired against this leading player to ensure he didn't win. This wasn't a lighthearted jest; it became a genuine strategy discussion on how to prevent this player from winning.

Logically, if someone's victory is almost certain and even if we strive to score points, it won't change the ranking, the sensible strategy would be to maximize one's score in the remaining turns. Doing so would also maximize the cumulative score of all four players (though unrelated to the game's win/loss). But instead, there's this impulse to pull down someone about to win. Sometimes this strategy succeeds, sometimes it doesn't. When successful, the second-ranking player becomes the target next.

This tendency to pull down someone excelling is also seen in various Japanese industries, fostering a culture of mediocrity where everyone ends up dragged down together. I felt that this same sentiment appears even in board games. While I've not observed board game dynamics abroad and can't compare, I believe these games in Japan vividly reflect some inherent Japanese tendencies. It's also possible that the particular board game session I attended was an anomaly.