The village was a closed society, not particularly interesting in itself.

"In those days it was a closed society," he says.

Korea in 1950 was not as such a closed society.

"They are virtually a closed society as well," he said.

Japan, which had been a closed society, became more open to the outside world.

I knew the Church was by nature a closed society.

"In the closed society, you didn't have a chance to make your own personality," he says.

In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught.

Do you know how to design a closed society that'd last so long without flying apart?

After all, they might ask themselves, what was there to learn about such a closed society?