Promotion of Wellbeing in Japanese Culture using Positive Computing

Many Japanese tend to associate mental health issues with a weak personality, which leads to people hiding their problems and avoiding help-seeking. Thus, this paper presents user research and design of a smartphone application tailored to people with a Japanese background that promotes wellbeing using positive psychology, focusing on positive feelings and events as well as methods to increase positive emotions. To this end, a narrative literature review has been conducted on mental health in the Japanese context and positive computing/positive psychology, which was followed by five qualitative interviews with participants with a Japanese background living in Europe. The literature review and interviews resulted in 24 design implications (12 for each step), and a high-fidelity prototype for an application to foster mental wellbeing through self-help.