Ichiro Kishimi’s and Fumitake Koga’s experience as writers, lecturers, philosophers, and thinkers offers a sound academic foundation for the psychological theories they posit throughout The Courage to Be Happy. The authors co-authored a prequel to this text, called The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness. This text offers a preliminary look into Adler’s theories, which Kishimi, in particular, is well versed in, having studied Western philosophy at Kyoto University. In the Afterword to The Courage to Be Happy, Koga explains that Kishimi “is the foremost specialist in Adlerian psychology in Japan, and is a philosopher with enough of a familiarity with ancient Greece to be able to handle the translation of Plato” (271). Kishimi’s intellectual and vocational background thus bolsters the text’s credibility while also shaping its Socratic structure. Koga, meanwhile, is a professional writer who brings a layperson’s perspective to the text, contributing to its distillation of complex theory. 

The work’s structure also reflects the authors’ real-life practice. The Afterword also reveals that Kishimi and Koga engaged in a philosophical discourse much like the philosopher and the youth’s in preparation for writing the text. The authors used their relationship as scholars and friends to fuel their discussion of Adler’s philosophies and psychological principles, lending further credibility to the book’s commitment to respect and understanding.

Nevertheless, the authors’ framework does rely on assumptions that may limit its applicability for some readers. Adlerian psychology is generally individualistic in nature; in particular, it is premised on a robust understanding of personal agency that may not fully account for systemic inequalities, the neuropsychiatric effects of trauma, or the experiences of some kinds of disability. Writing from a historically collectivist cultural context, Koga and Kishimi highlight the communal aspects of Adler’s theories, yet this, too, may alienate some readers. For instance, the emphasis placed on social cohesion risks normalizing unhealthy or exploitative relationships in the name of harmony. With these caveats in mind, however, the book offers readers interested in Adler’s concepts of self-reliance, community feeling, and happiness an accessible introduction to Adlerian psychology.