In Japan, many politicians and important people of power are families who have heavy influence in Japan’s economy through companies for products, television, business, and the like. Through this financial power in advertisements and influence over what can be placed and expressed in media, there is power over what is considered and thought about within the country. Keerti explains that this aspect of Japanese life needs to be revised in order to achieve democracy so that all voices are heard equally and no voices are left or censored out. Keerti also expresses how political engagement and civics classes are mandatory within secondary school and college in order to prepare students to become informed citizens. She says there is room for corruption …show more content…
Since many millennials are moving to heavily populated areas, elder voters left in less populated prefectures have more of a say when it comes to policies and elections; therefore, the Japanese government is becoming more in favor of the aging Japanese population rather than millennials. But since my citizen lives in a primary rural area of Japan, his say would become more influential than if he were to live in Tokyo. Especially if he wants to vote against the construction of renewable energy sources within the prefecture, it would be harder to express his opinions when his is not equally weighted. Views of the older generation within Hokkaido who are not of the working force on farms don’t see the potential harm that it has for the environment as well as the employment risks. So for my Citizen X, it would be essential for his ideal democratic Japan to have equal votes not only with the elite in other prefectures, but also within his own prefecture amongst the aging …show more content…
One common aspect across the three personalities is the degradation of the power of the rule by the elite. All three agree that there is no good democracy that comes from a select group. Not only because it is the elite in Japan, but it is those in power who are the problem. In Japan, a majority of the House of Chancellors are passed down through bloodline or company relation. We cannot be certain that those individuals are trained and knowledgeable in the problems in the political view. However, this also brings up the concern of public awareness of political issues. Today, according to Ikeda, Kohno, and Yamada’s studies on citizen understanding political concepts between 1960-1990, many Japanese citizens feel that they had no say in political decision making and that they were not well educated in the policies and issues being discussed. As we discussed in class, this is a common problem amongst democracy as a whole, not having a well educated, well informed general public voting. Finally, the aspect of religious liberty brought within the political spectrum. Although this contradicts John Locke’s beliefs of keeping the politic and religious spheres separate, this unity of religion ties together an ideal form of democracy for all three individuals. It is through applying Buddhist values into Japanese government that would provide a sense of patriotism through
Throughout the world there are many diverse political cultures. A political culture is the attitudes, beliefs or practices among a group of likeminded individuals. (Giardino pg. 27) There are different categories that embrace a political culture like an Individualistic, traditionalistic and moralistic. An individualistic culture is one that prefers less government involvement. The traditionalists’ culture maintains government as the social and economic hierarchy and does not like change. The moralistic culture favors public good and it revolves around social issues. In shaping a political culture demographics such as population size, growth, distribution and diversity are essential to determine how a state is in any of the three categories. Society is strongly affected by decisions of who, what and when does an individual receive any types of goods or services. Government is the structure, buildings and institutions that are held within politics.
Fukuyama argues that a modern liberal democracy needs a state, rule of law and accountability. A state is a centralized authority that holds military power on a selected territory. It is the armed forces that keep a nation safe on a domestic and foreign level. On the other hand, the rule of law came about through written legislation. Thus, written rules, organize power in a system no matter who is in power. This implies that a modern democracy must have legal institutions that are superior to a ruler, the army and bureaucracy. Finally, political accountability comes through accountable bodies like parliament’s and assemblies that represent the people. In the end, Fukuyama claims democracy is truly born when laws reflecting the people’s desires are stronger than individual rulers and elections are held.
Unlike the national government, state governments encourage and support religious activities’ that inculcates virtue in the citizens (Bryner, Public Virtue and the Roots of American Government, 1987). Hence, in a small republic (state), there is a higher probability of finding true natural aristocrats with wisdom, talents and virtue to be representatives of the state. Being virtuous and wise, the representatives practice self-restraint to act in their own self-interest. For instance, corruption causes the funds to be diverted away from establishing a better society through the upgrading of facilities, provision of education and healthcare services. Furthermore, representatives in a small republic are a clear reflection of the citizens’ interests (Lim, 2014). Elections are held every few years to select the best representatives for the state. During the period of campaigning, the candidates have direct contact with the citizens through to organization of rallies and walkabouts where they interact with the electorate and understand their concerns. Hence, the electorate has an idea of whether the potential representatives are truly virtuous. Since these representatives are highly talented, they will also have the knowledge to implement appropriate laws and policies to manage the concerns of the
Over the length of this course, we have discussed several aspects of politics. We have studied citizenship and obligations to society as a citizen, justice and what it means to us as individuals, and how to go about enacting change within a community and around the world. Some of the most important topics from this class included the characteristics, duties, and obligations of rulers of government. In addition to the concept of rulers, we also studied the notion of authority and the moral and metaphysical implications of authority to individuals ' autonomy. Within each concept of study, we read works from many authors with conflicting ontologies, constructed from their differing views on human nature.
the practice by which powerful nations or social orders hope to create and keep up control or effect over weaker nations or society. By the 1800 's, the Western powers had central focuses in this technique. They drove the world in creative advances, giving them a quality while vanquishing distinctive countries. The European Imperialists made tries to vanquish China and Japan. In this methodology, they succeeded by affecting Japan immensely. In any case, they were not as productive with China.
By far, one of the greatest achievements of humanity as a whole has been the development of democracy. This idea sprouted with the growth of history’s most successful and innovative civilizations; the Greeks and the Romans. Their enormous populations called for a fair and just way of governing. Why not allow control to stem from the populations own members? This logical way of thought is still evident in the world today, especially in the democracy of the United States of America. Upon examination of America’s most valuable texts, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, it becomes very evident that many of these modern ideas can be traced back in time to the beliefs of the Greeks and Romans. The principles of democracy were very successful within these ancient societies, as they are successful within America today.
There are many aspects of this world such as culture, technology, or art that have been influenced by other things. The way that things influence each other has allowed for new possibilities and ideals to be formed. Religion is no exception; there have been many instances where religions have influenced each other and blossomed due to new ideas being presented. A good example of this the relationship between the two religions: Buddhism and Shinto. Buddhism was brought into Japan during the early 6th century from Korea, and was later institutionalized as the state religion in the late 6th century by Prince Shōtoku. The Prince was a great patron of Buddhism and by having made it the state religion, it would help Buddhism spread. However, Japan was not without its own religion—Shinto—which had been there for many years prior to the arrival of Buddhism. With Buddhism gaining traction in Japan with the help of Prince Shōtoku, what then does it mean for the Shinto religion? However, Shinto was not long forgotten, which leads to the question: how did the two religions, Buddhism and Shinto, interact with each other when Buddhism arrived in Japan? In this essay, I will discuss how both Buddhism and Shinto were closely tied to each other in Japan, and how they would influence each other in different ways that allowed them to grow into new directions.
Kon'nichiwa! I’m Japan! You probably know me for my aesthetic cherry blossoms and splendid anime, but let me tell you, things weren’t always as kawaii as they seemed. For a loooong time, I was isolated from other countries by my own shoguns and daimyos, my militaristic dictators and their warrior landlords respectively. We got along fine at first, but my common people were becoming increasingly unhappy with their little political power and heavy taxes. Then, on a fateful day in July of 1853, I met… the West.
Japan is been always known for their unique artstyle, but none is more influential on both Japanese and western cultural than Katsushika Hokusai. Many consider his paintings the pinnacle of art in the Edo period. The old man of many names is a true part of both japanese and art culture.
In relation to the observation made by Reid, the concept of “Confucianism” is often observed as one of the major Chinese religions alongside Taoism as well as Buddhism. The religion has been emerged in the Japanese culture during the period of 285 AD. A few of the major principles of this religion such as humanity, morality, trustworthiness along with the consideration of developing an individual have been widely witnessed to provide significant influence within the Japanese culture (Reid 67-90). The principles and beliefs within the facet of “Confucianism” had played an imperative part particularly for Japan which eventually strengthened its political philosophies as well as ethical code of conducts by a considerable level. In relation to the political phenomenon, the notion of “Confucianism” had played an essential role for the Japanese culture in terms of developing morality along with increasing individual potentials of achieving their desired goals and objectives. Moreover, the religion had also been widely observed to create significant loyalty among the Japanese communities through increasing the amount of
In 1543, three Portuguese travelers aboard a Chinese ship accidentally drifted ashore on Tanegashima, a Japanese Island. Within a few short years, a myriad of Portuguese merchants, missionaries, and settlers began to arrive in the country and ushered in almost a century of Portuguese imperial presence in Japan. This time period was a unique era in the history of European imperialism, and it is important to evaluate it from multiple points of view. This comparison is easily done with records such as, Captain Alexander Hamilton’s A New Account of the East Indies: Descriptions of Japan and Engelbert Kaempfer’s History of Japan. These two works are both first-hand accounts of the European interactions with the Japanese people. Indeed, these two
Western Influence on Japan Japan, as a nation, is a continually changing society. Ever since western nations became involved with Japan, its changes over recent times have increased at a substantial rate. Japan now faces cultural, economical and social differences as a result of the western involvement. The involvement was initiated by the Japanese themselves, beginning during the Meiji Period1 through current times.
Throughout the course of East Asian history, Japan has been largely influenced by the Asian mainland. From ancient times to the medieval period, significant contributions to Japan can be seen coming from both Korea and China. Both of these countries diffused elements of their cultures to form the basis of Japanese society – namely China. These foreigners would influence various aspects of society including technology, philosophy, politics, and religion.
one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.
In Greek Mythology, the power of right is passed by kinship in generations, and people’s belief in gods leads their life and their acts show gods’ will. In the meanwhile, politics originally indicates certain relationships are between politics and groups of individuals. Moreover, politics is always referred to methods, including the purpose and the use of power, for addressing impacts on the tendency of those individuals’ performance, as well as their engagement and activities in civic affairs. In result of that, theories of political behavior are aimed at explicating the influences that define an individual’s behaviors, opinions, and participation in civic