Pioneer social psychologist Hiroshi Minami died early Monday of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 87.
Minami, a professor emeritus at Hitotsubashi University, wrote numerous books, including "Social Psychology" in 1949, which has been used as a standard textbook at Japanese universities.
He also wrote books about the Japanese mind -- including "Psychology of Japanese" -- Japanese culture, traditional arts, mass entertainment and mass communications.
The scholar set up the Psychological Center of Japan in 1981 in Tokyo.
After graduating from Kyoto University's school of philosophy in 1940, Minami studied at the graduate school of Cornell University in the United States through 1943. He returned to Japan in 1947.
Minami held professorships at Hitotsubashi University, Seijo University and Japan Women's University.