The Culture Of Japan And Japan

Japan has a very rich and unique culture, unlike any other culture in the world. The Japanese are close and united, and willing to help each other, to the point that they would even risk their lives for one another. Their culture has certain aspects of it that every nation should have. In his book, John Hersey explores the effects that culture and environment have on an individual’s views and belief through analyzing a stereotypical Japanese man, an Americanized Japanese priest, and a widowed Japanese woman and how they react similarly to the bombing of Hiroshima. The influence of Japanese culture has an astounding impact on the reactions of Hersey’s characters.

Firstly, the traditions within Shintoism were important to help the Japanese people to connect with their ancestors and the nature around them. The word ‘Shinto’ itself means way of the gods. It is as old as the Japanese culture and was the only religion in Japan until the 6th century. According to the Shinto religion, there exists a basic life force called kami. Kami are close to human beings and respond to human prayers. They can influence the course of natural forces, and human events. Shinto tradition says that there are eight million kami in Japan. Due to their deep respect and love for nature and Japan itself, many shrines were set up in places of natural beauty. Followers went to pray here to receive good fortune and samurai would often go to the shrines to pray for victory before and after battle. Shinto’s traditions involved having a clean lifestyle. They washed and bathed everyday which made most of japan a fresh

Japan is described as a country of wood, and the reverence of natural materials. The depths of the love and admiration that the Japanese people have for wood are famous, which is similar to the Greek love of pristine marble and its smooth surfaces. This can be seen in an old Japanese expression "plants and trees all have something to say", Japanese believe that trees have a soul and say they can sense spirits, or "kami", within them. It is trees that form the core which nurtures the sensibilities about nature held by the Japanese people. It is thus natural for architecture in Japan to be based on wood. Many structures are made of wood, ranging from shrines and temples to palaces and homes, and in doing so grand structures have been created (Stokstad).

Shinto or “the way of the gods,” is the oldest religion in the history of Japan. Many of the Shino beliefs deal with natural disasters, animals, and plants. Over the years Shinto has become more modern adapting to the changing world, but the core of beliefs still remain the same as they were in 6 bce. Over time due to the different emperors and world events Shinto has had to change in order for it to remain in practice. A lot of Japanese culture such as dance, literature, and music stem from the religion, and even today in the 21st century you can see Shinto’s affect on Japanese culture. (Historyteacher, OMF International)

There are significant cultural differences between Japan and the United Kingdom that need to be taken into account when doing international business. There are also a number of methods and systems by which these differences have been described. These include the Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions, Trompenaars seven dimensions of culture and the Globe Project's cultural dimensions. This paper will discuss these differences and similarities, and shed light as to the best approach to international business in these countries.

The small island of japan is greatly known for its culture that has been practiced for over a thousand years. Japan has many different types of food and entertainment and religion. The most popular religion is Buddhism and Shintoism.

This paper provided an opportunity to take a deeper look into the country of Japan by conducting a Global Cultural Analysis. Throughout this paper the following four research areas were explored: 1.What is the major elements and dimensions of culture in Japan? 2. How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in Japan? 3. How does U.S. culture and business compare with the elements and dimensions of culture integrated by the locals conducting business in Japan? 4. What are the implications for U.S. businesses that wish to conduct business with Japan?

Westernization, which primarily spread in the mid to late 19th century, brought forth a profound change of ideas and cultures across the world. Both Japan and India were affected greatly as Western practices and ideologies seeped into the minds of individuals throughout various societies. Influential individuals, such as Thomas Babington Macaulay and Fukuzawa Yukichi wished to reform India and Japan by introducing Western ideas into these countries. Artists such as Honda Kinkachiro and Werner Forman showed the effects of Westernization on Japan. Through the writings and artwork of Macaulay, Yukichi, Kinkachiro, and Forman, we are able to understand that Europe’s colonizing mentality, as well as Asia’s acceptance of new ideas, were both supported by the belief that the West is superior.

Tokyo started from a small fishing village to one of the greatest and largest cities of the world today and throughout their history, the Japanese have respected nature. Japan is home to a variety of animals such as bears, wild boar, foxes, deer, antelope, hares, monkeys, and raccoon dogs. One of the animals that is an important figures in Japanese mythology and folktales is the Japanese macaque. Japanese macaques are large, shaggy-haired monkeys with pink faces and short furry tails. The national bird of Japan is Tancho or red-crowned crane and the national flower is a chrysanthemum. Another Japanese symbol is their very own flag that is a rectangle with a large red circle in the center, which represents the sun. Japan is known as the Land of the Rising Sun. Throughout ancient Japanese history Samurai carried the symbol of the Rising Sun in the twelfth century during the feud between the Taira and Minamoto clans. Another part of Japanese prideful culture is its very own anthem, the “Kimigayo.” The “Kimigayo” is one of the world’s oldest anthems that come from a tanka that was written in the tenth century. There are also many ancient traditions in Japan like: calligraphy, which is artistic writing; ikebana, flowering arranging; tea ceremonies, and haikus popular poetic form in Japan till today. Japanese religion would be Shintoism. Shintoism has shrines around the

Japan has two big religions. Shinto and Buddhism. Shintoism is not popular in any other countries so we never hear about it. Shintoism means “the way of the gods” (Allison, Gray D.). In Shintoism, they worship many gods, called kami, and ancestors. They worship and pray in Mountains, Rivers, Rocks, and Trees. That is why nature is very important to Japan.

In Japan, Buddhist temples are places for paying reverence to objects of spiritual worship as well as other religious activities and observances.

In this Japan unit I learned that Japan was very much like China. Some reasons that Japan was like these two places were alike was because of their food, philosophies, and etc. One similarity is their abundance of fish, rice, and their writing. Their writing was very similar, and they both ate lots and lots of fish and rice. The Japanese culture was very strict. Although the culture had an emperor to rule them, the emperor was soon taken over, and became only a figurehead. After the emperor was taken over the new rulers were the Shogun and the Daimyo. The shogun were the real rulers of the culture. All daimyo had a ritual suicide called seppuku, that can act as a honorable way to die. For the men, the seppuku begins with a short sword, which

Culture. The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. The dictionary definition seems a little harsh, so let’s fix that. Culture. Something that we are all born into, one that we can’t escape, but it doesn’t define who we are as a person most of the time. You can’t just look at somebody, somebody who might be Japanese for example, and just blatantly expect that person to become the next doctor or lawyer. Just because a culture is well known or stereotypically seen to be something, doesn’t mean the individual bearing that culture has to live up to those standards. That Japanese person could want to be the next New York Best Selling author or just a mere teacher because that’s what interests them. Nobody’s future is set in stone the second they come into the world, nor does it come easy as their lives go on. Sure, culture has some helping guidelines to what they should do in their lives, maybe it be the habits or nature of Japanese parents always pushing you to do your best, or it’s just the different cultures of a family. Sometimes there are people born into two or more cultures, and they have to come to the conclusion that they can be any amount of any culture they want. Just because you’re born in America but come from a long line of Mexicans doesn’t mean you can’t be both. Ok yes, sometimes it’s hard to fit in with both cultures because both cultures see you as the other, but it’s not their choice to define who you are and what you believe in. It’s your job to come to that conclusion on your own and you must make that decision that you are proud of. Sometimes people can be cruel, judging you based on looks rather than personality or morals, but it’s just the way of life. How you choose to handle that as time goes on is the only thing that matters. No matter what the case, culture still plays a minor role in the scripting of your life but remember, you’re the author with the pen. You are in charge of writing your life story. Nobody else.

Japan is the region of the world focused on this research essay. The author will define culture, and describe Japanese cultural traits with an emphasis on leadership competency. The thesis statement hypothesizes that cultural study and research of specific regions of the world will enable cross-cultural competence and comprehension in leadership roles.

Japan has developed a distinct, original and unique culture, the base of a glorious civilization. Japanese civilization flourished and redefined a new interest and a great emotional involvement in the arts. Traditional Japanese arts include Ikebana, origami, Ukiyo-e, handicraft (dolls), poetry, performances (bunraku, Kabuki, noh, rakugo), special traditions (games, Onsen, sento, tea ceremony, budo, architecture, gardening, swords) and culinary arts. To properly understand them, learning the Japanese language, it is a must.