The ethics of care centers around the idea that the essence of ethics lies in the caring relationships between individual human beings. Building on this idea, the author argues for the following two points in this essay. First, if the ethics of care requires that the limited scope of “second-person” relationships be extended to every corner of society and avoids the violent and coercive use of force by the law, then it requires an attitude and way of thinking that treats the entire human race as an extended family, or what we might call the “cosmopolitanization” of kinship relations. Secondly, if caring relationships are to be realized within a dense web of emotional relationships, then those caring relationships must respect each individual’s autonomy and independence. Caring relationships, in other words, necessitate some form of practice that enables us to maintain a certain distance from each other. The concept of ma’ai, a traditional Japanese word signifying adequate distancing, provides a way of recognizing the continuity and fateful connection between human beings that transcends individual preferences and choices while at the same time allowing each individual to remain autonomous and independent from the pressures exerted by groups.