Natural disasters provide humanity with a setting in which to examine core dimensions of life. How people respond to and make sense of their experiences due to the ruptures of trauma and devastation remains vital in grief recovery. An earthquake of 8.3 magnitudes on October 29, 2009 triggered a galulolo (tsunami wave) that devastated parts of Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga. This calamity provided an ideal setting for a case study examination of how those directly impacted recovered from the devastation. In this article, the experiences of one couple in the context of Samoan grieving processes becomes the key focus. Disaster and grieving literature is examined to inform and provide interpretation to their experiences. It is through such an examination that this article seeks to makes an important contribution to understanding the complexities of loss and culturally patterned responses of Samoan people, like this couple, to disaster recovery.

The Virtue Existential Career Model (VEC) is a Chinese career development model based on the Classic of Changes. It is designed to supplement the person-environment fit paradigm of Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education for junior high school students. We adopted an action research approach with two parts, reflection-on-action and critical-emancipatory. An easy-to-use VEC career curriculum and a career information system (Career Genesis; CG) were developed by a team of staff members from government agencies (Tainan Department of Education and Student Counseling Centers), junior high schools, and the Chinese Career Research Center of National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan. The outcome of this project was strong on fostering interconnectedness. Implementing our VEC curriculum and CG to 30 junior high school students received statistically significant immediate increases in resilience, adaptation, and liking of career decision. The feedback and reflections suggest that mandating, attracting, and simplifying are useful strategies to promote our VEC model as well as to facilitate social change and create a multiple-win situation for all parties involved. This approach also follows the tao (道) of the Classic of Changes to provide new knowledge.

It is claimed via analysis of Shu-Hsien Liu's seminal book Understanding Confucian Philosophy that contemporary Confucianism offers: (1) a set of ultimate concerns that can be used to guide life and scholarly endeavour; (2) an axiomatic world view, and a generative model of human nature that not only accords with empirical evidence, but is highly adaptive in organising society; (3) an epistemology that is appropriate for social science research on social change. These qualities suggest that contemporary Confucianism can inform psychological research in a manner that goes far deeper than merely describing popular tendencies among culturally Chinese people. It may be used in constructing a form of social science with depth and utility in addressing both practical and existential concerns of scholars and ordinary people in society that is not restricted to Chinese societies alone, but any society in need of inspiration in seeking to construct humanist ethics for research and governance.

To challenge the Taiwan Ministry of Education's (TMOE) dominant enforcement of a person-environment fit model, the Chinese Career Research Center incorporated yin-yang alternation principles from the Classic of Changes (I Ching, Yi Jing or 易經) to develop the model of career development touching the sky yet grounded (TSG) and corresponding practice guidelines, a career website (CCN), and four career service projects. Using Lewin's (1946) cyclical-spiral process of action research, CCN and TSG service projects were promoted to complement the TMOE's fit model, and feedback was utilised to revise our TSG model and its applications. Yin-yang alternation principles and the four stages of chien (the creative) from the Classic of Changes were applied to develop social action strategies. Social change was indicated by counsellors’ and students’ changes in their career views, as well as the TMOE's direct financial support for TSG service projects. This progress is encouraging for whoever is interested in developing culture-inclusive indigenous psychology with practical outcomes.

The three articles in this special edition of the Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology encompass a range of approaches within cross-cultural psychology. Adrian Furnham's (2011) culture shock shows how academic psychology can be applied to, and helps to inform a popular concept. John Berry's (2011) acculturation theory demonstrates how focused theory and empirical data can align with a national agenda. Anthony J. Marsella and Ann Marie Yamada's (2011) socioconstructionist critique of mainstream clinical psychology and psychiatric practices illustrate how epistemology and indigenous psychology can challenge institutional practices. They are united in rejecting a culture-blind psychology of the mainstream. They differ by referencing largely separate but nonetheless complementary literatures on cultures of relevance to the Pacific Rim region. Taken together, these three articles combine meaningfully to illustrate how Pacific Rim psychology might benefit from having (1) a definition of itself with Hawaii and the Pacific Island Nations as the centre and hub for the broader Pacific Rim that includes East Asia and the Western American seaboard; (2) a focus on action, particularly action research and its cyclical communication process of planning, action, evaluation and feedback; and (3) an interdisciplinary orientation where interconnectedness with such institutions as mass media, government, and clinical and psychiatric practices, as well as within psychology itself, underpin and inform research practice and policy.