My Friend Peter Was The Closest Foreign Culture

Japanese Celebrations Organizational Pattern: Topical I. Introduction A. Attention Getter: The Japanese have a very unique and interesting culture. B. Statistic: 90% of Japanese people celebrate on New Year's Day. C. Thesis Statement: Like the United States, the Japanese celebrate various holidays with lavish festivities. D. Importance: As more and more Japanese people immigrate to the United States, knowledge of the Japanese culture becomes increasingly important and necessary.

After conducting this substantial research, I believe that I have gained a lot of knowledge between the eastern and western cultures. I gathered information not only from the class module, but books and online articles as well. These references helped me realize how self-oriented the eastern culture is without being selfish. However, the information gathered also taught me how social and exclusive western cultures tend to be.

I decided to do my paper on one of my cultures that I celebrate which Is Juneteenth and also I wanted to write about is the Japanese culture. I just wanted to share with you how my family celebrate this culture and enjoy it at the same time and also explain the meaning to you. I also would like to talk about the Japanese culture and some of the unique ways they celebrate things in their culture also. Hope you enjoy.

Shintoism has influenced the population of Japan since around the 4th century BCE, well before the countries written language had formed, making people’s morale’s, beliefs and social interactions very unique.

Translated books were not the Jesuit’s only influence on the Japanese. Artwork and painting techniques were also brought over to Japan and were knew to the natives. (13) The new Japanese followers quickly learned

Q 1: B) Those that belong to the Japanese culture are demonstrated by the interdependent view, compared to Western cultures which are embody an independent view. Individuals that affiliate themselves as interdependent, their actions and emotions is influenced by their social situation and surroundings. ‘We suggest that for many cultures of the world, the Western notion of the self as an entity containing significant dispositional attributes, and as detached from context, is simply not an adequate description of selfhood. Rather, in many construals, the self is viewed as interdependent with the surrounding context, and it is the “other” or the “self-in-relation-to-other” that is focal in individual experience.” (Markus & Kitayama, 1991, pg. 225). They are more likely to express and display their actions and emotions based on the reactions of others, or how others around them are behaving. In sum, they are connected with social context, as their statuses, roles, and relationships are external. The Japanese are known to be the most humane, when in the context of other people. (Lebra, 1976, as cited in Markus & Kitayama, 1991). They promote other people’s goals and belong and fit in with their social groups, instead of being “unique.” They’re relationships with over individuals, in particular situations, define themselves. Independent individuals are more unique and direct, whereas interdependent individuals are not. (Markus & Kitayama, 1991).

I enjoyed reading all my sources, and I have learned a lot. Especially when reading Van Gennep’s explanation of “the common view of human life is birth is the start of life passages is that they are separate and linear events: birth is the start of life, sexual maturation marks the end to childhood; and death, inevitably awaits at the end of life”. (Visser, 2012 ,para.2). The Japanese culture has a lot of positive things in their culture. I love the way that they celebrate the older generation’s birthday, by making it a big deal. In addition the way the Japanese culture treats their dead is impeccable. I did have a bias when reading Tsuji’s rite of passage, when he talked about how his grandmother would wake up every morning to offer tea, flowers,

Our group separated the research on Japan into sections of history, current Religious Education (RE) in schools, demographics, and government/current policies. There were two main religions that surrounded Japan: Shinto and Buddhism. In addition, two other religions, Confucianism and Christianity, also contributed a considerate amount to the RE in Japan. The four major time periods involving RE in the history of Japan were Pre-Meiji, Meiji Restoration Period, wartime era, and post-WWII (Inoue 115). There were religious tensions during the Tokugawa shogunate era that which have led up to the establishments of RE in Japan for RE did not come into place in Japan until the late 19th centuries until the shogunate gave way to the Meiji Restoration,

The magical Japanese society works towards creating a happy relationship with all people. Harmony, order, and self-development are the three most important values in Japan. Basic ideas about self and nature of the human society came from different religions and different philosophical traditions in Japan. Empathy is an important reason for the Japanese culture. Empathy began in Japanese mythology. The gods displayed human emotions like love and anger. The Japanese society discourages bad behavior by providing rewards when someone is angry. When the actions caused harm to others, they would be rewarded with negative behavior. Young Magical Japanese children learn from the early stages

They are the ritualization in Japanese culture, women’s implicit expression of love, women’s hierarchy in 18th Japan, and how the landscape of Japan influences the prosperity of Geisha culture.

Within the Japanese culture, one can find several cultural values that are instilled into society by the Japanese creation myth. The Japanese creation myth begins with a man, Izanagi, and a woman, Izanami, on a bridge with the task of creating the land of Japan. After this task was completed, the two walked in opposite directions on the newly formed land until they met in the middle. Once they met, the woman spoke first and then they procreated. The offspring was a failure and they asked the gods why their attempts were not successful. The gods told them that it was because the woman spoke first. The two walked around the land they created and met in the middle once again. This time the man spoke first and the procreation was successful. After several births, the woman gave birth to a fire-child and she was burnt so severely she passed on to the underworld. The man chased after her and when he found her decomposing body, he ran in terror. As he washed away his horrifying experience, several more children were born. One of these was the ancestor of the ruling family of Japan. Japan’s first ruler met a beautiful woman and asked for her hand in marriage. Her family granted the ruler the woman and her sister. The ruler refused the sister, even though she could grant their children immortality, because of her ugliness (Philippi). From this myth, the reader can gather that Japan values men over women, beauty, and obedience to authority.

Compared to our neighbours out in the Far East, our culture does not rely as much on respect and ancestral worship, and this is where we find Japanese culture strange and how our culture does not compare. A big example of this being a matter of respect and honor- a large part of Japanese culture that plays a part in their everyday life and to us Americans seemingly strange and unnecessary. It isn’t that we don’t have a concept of what honor and respect for our ancestors is, it is just that we don’t find a necessarily important aspect of our life to honor regularly; we don’t live in a culture where honor and family status is quite as important. This is can be seen quite well in the works of Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. The stories to focus on that preach Japanese ideals very well and clearly include: The Martyr, Kesa and Morito, and In a Grove. The Martyr has good examples of honor, religious importance, and dignity. Kesa and Morito include examples of marital values and loyalty to your partner. In a Grove deals with good examples of certain cultural-relevant content portraying to the spiritual and truth of what people say. The Martyr covers the most as it deals with a mis-gendered child that is kicked out twice, but still finds the values more important than image. The Martyr deals with a child that is miss-gendered originally as male, is found abandoned and through a series of unfortunate circumstance caused by a spiteful neighbor is kicked out of its second home. The

‘curious’ concept of giri has remained and still strongly governs Japanese social behavior. To analyze giri Benedict’s work serves as a useful starting point.

“…As Japan grows increasingly cosmopolitan, Japanese and foreigners are eagerly mingling with one another; all sorts of new doctrines and philosophies are being introduced; and both men and women are adopting [emphasis mine] up-to-date western fashions. No doubt, the times being what they are, the sort of marital relationship that we 've had, unheard of until now, will begin to turn up on all sides.”

Numerous religions are popular within the Japanese culture. Two of the most powerful religions, Shinto and Buddhism, they are wealthy and complicated, and it consists of many contradictory developments which may additionally puzzle a Westerner. Inside the center of the way of life is Shinto, the "natural" faith of Japan. also in the center is Buddhism, the Indian faith that became added to Japan in the sixth century from Korea and China. For the duration of the history of Japan, it's been these two religions that have contributed maximum to the Japanese know-how of themselves and their surroundings, and to many important activities. Shinto and Buddhism that assist formed plenty of Japanese values are Shinto and Buddhism, played a big role in shaping Japanese values. Various likenesses and contrasts keep running between these two religions; nonetheless, Japanese accepts more than one religion at the same time. It is also possible due to the polytheistic nature of maximum popular religions in Japan. It is not difficult to state that religion is a major piece of Japanese culture because a ton of religious convictions can in any case be found in their regular daily existences.