**Preface to "Mental Health Matters: From Cross-Cultural Perspectives"**

Awareness of mental health has been increasing rapidly worldwide in recent years, and even more so since the outbreak of COVID-19. Depression is now regarded as one of the most debilitating diseases, and wellbeing is incorporated into the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. In order for all of us to have a happy life, mental health cannot be ignored. As announced by the UK government, our health cannot be achieved without good mental health. Likewise, in Asia, the word 'health' in Chinese and Japanese encompasses both a healthy body and a calm mind. The Japanese government has implemented a work-style reform to protect employees'mental health. While these movements suggest the importance of mental health worldwide, a universal definition of mental health remains to be defined. This is partly attributed to a lack of understanding of mental health from different cultures. How an individual regards mental health can differ significantly according to their culture. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to address this problem by introducing alternative views to mental health through discussion of cross-cultural psychiatric matters.

> **Yasuhiro Kotera and Elaina Taylor** *Editors*
