The Importance Of Japanese Culture

The fact that Japan is a mountainous country has had made a significant impact on the Japanese culture throughout history. The landscape of Japan has influenced the development of its society and has contributed to the culture in many ways. Although the topography of Japan is mostly covered with volcanic mountains and has constrained the farming land, it has suitable land with extremely fertile soil and high productivity. The land has contributed to the development of agriculture and has aided the farmers in cultivating the food. Under favorable environment condition and the beautiful landscape Japanese farmer was able to provide food by hunting, fishing, or though agriculture. The landscape has also influenced the culture in innovating something

People no longer use the term “Japanese American” in today's society. Instead, they are no longer thought as a separate group and are incorrectly categorized as “Asian American”, along with Vietnamese American, Chinese American, etc. Japanese Americans have an extremely unique background in terms of their origins, history, and struggle with racialization. Like many ethnic groups, Japanese Americans have been subjected to many different portrayals throughout American history. Even though cultural separation and suspicion are deemed as immoral, such practices toward them were thought to be necessary by the American Government. For a good amount of time, they suffered from racial hostility and violence. Now, in an age where cultural diversity

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese Navy bombed and ultimately destroyed the United States Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This sneak attack by the Japanese bombers drug the United States into WWII. The attack caused panic and hysteria throughout the United States, because this was the first attack against Americans, and on their own soil. Following the attack, about 1,500 Japanese suspects were gathered by American security to be arrested. Pressure from anti-Japanese media propaganda, local patriotic groups, and politicians requested for removal of all Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, then President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, giving authorization to the military to designate “military areas” where “any or all persons may be excluded”. Any being from Japanese heritage was put in an internment camp in western inland United States. When being evacuated, humans of Japanese heritage lost all property and possessions to

As a result of Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi, American children believe they can learn the ancient techniques of karate through waxing cars, sanding decks, and painting fences. In 1984, The Karate Kid told the story of a young bullied teenager named Daniel LaRusso, who learns to defend himself through the unorthodox training of Mr. Miyagi; this apartment maintenance man takes Daniel under his wing and teaches him both the discipline of karate, and the traditional values of Japanese culture. However, years of training to become a martial arts master does not make for a compelling American teen film, therefore Hollywood localized Japanese traditions in order to create a story of an underdog kid winning the All-Valley Karate Tournament and the girl of his dreams (Avildsen). Localization is the changing of a product’s function or characteristics to accommodate a particular country or area (localized). This simplifies the original meaning of martial arts, and fails to accurately represent the values of honor, etiquette, and respect that martial arts previously epitomized in ancient Japanese society. The localization of martial arts in The Karate Kid and American dojos has led to misconceptions of Japanese traditions in America.

In today’s modern, fast-paced, technology driven world it is all too easy to misinterpret and misunderstand situations, both personal and professional, that could easily be solved by taking a look into the cultural concepts and norms of a group or society. In cultures with a long history of social customs, it would be beneficial for those involved to examine the special features and norms that make up this culture in an effort to better the communication and understanding of personal and professional relationships. This area can be especially favorable in working with those of the Japanese decent as this culture is deeply intricate with many traditions and standards that have been passed on from generation to generation. Some of theses cultural

Everything changed during the Meiji period, because Meiji implemented the strongest aspects of other powerful countries into their own society. One of the changes was a change of their culture. Other things that changed included, their values and beliefs about culture, their social system and political and economic systems. Another change was Religion. Their government wanted to replace Shintoism in the public schools, as a replacement of Buddhism and Confucianism. The government believed that doing this would bring the people of Japan together. However this did not happen because the people refused to give up their original religion, that they have always practiced and were taught to practice, for a new one. In the end the government decided to keep Buddhism and Confucianism as a religion.

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).

The History of Japan plays a big factor in understanding its culture. Japan is located in Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula. Japan has many concerning natural hazardous features as well as environmental problems that effects agriculture as well as economy and population. Japan’s government and civil law system reflect those of German and Anglo-American structures. Learning about the people and society of Japan can be easily accomplished by understanding their religious structure, social structure, languages they speak and interest they uphold.

Japan is a striving cultural and rich country. Japan shares its culture with the country and the world with its many festivals and there are a lot of festivals. Festivals are held almost every day in Japan. These festivals have lasted for centuries and continue their same traditions that have lasted just as long. The country shares many social traits with American but is different in many other ways. Japan and the United States both have incomparable different social greetings along with different common name usage but are comparable in education importance in society.

Throughout “Hiroshima” by John Heresy, the readers are gradually exposed to Japanese culture through each of the six survivors, regardless of the survivors' nationality, as they stitch their lives back together after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 9, 1945. Japanese-style hospitals are quite different in comparison to other hospitals, gradually reforming through the book. As a Japanese, you were happy to die for your Emperor and country as shown in Tanimoto's letter to an American and in the survivors. Japanese had a resistance toward foreigners due to the war, however, after the bombing, the Japanese accepted those they rejected. Through these Japanese customs, the audience gains further understanding of the influence the

At the beginning of era of Meiji, 1868-1912, the management of Ezo became the reclamation of Hokkaido due to the Meiji government that is new Japanese government of this era. This included a “nihonka” or “douka”, a transformation of nation-state. As a result of this transformation, Ainu people were forced to be considered Japanese. This management made the identity of Ainu people less important. First of all, Ezo changed its name to Hokkaido in 1869 by the Meiji government because Ezo became a formal territory of the Meiji government. The government made family registers for Ainu people who lived in Hokkaido to adapt Ainu people as Japanese people (Kazushi 22). This nihonka simply led to a cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is a concept that is an imposition of a politically or economically dominant society’s culture onto another less dominant society. For example, the Ainu group was known for hunting, fishing, and gathering, but the Meiji government prohibited hunting and fishing most of area in Hokkaido. It made huge impact on the Ainu society because it made Ainu people weaker and sick due to being not able to eat food that they used to eat. They used to live with nature and nature was a part of their lives, but because of those prohibitions by the Meiji government the Ainu’s habitat was getting worse. The Ainu culture was taken away by the Meiji government to become as one nation, Japan. Moreover, most Ainu people were not familiar with farming because they had

Harumi Befu is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropological Sciences in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. He has published in both English and Japanese journals, and his research interests include the social and analysis aspects of Japan’s globalisation, and analysis of Japan’s nationality and cultural identity. In his article “Concepts of Japan, Japanese culture and the Japanese”, he discusses in a strong and unbiased method the reality of what Japan truly is. However, despite the strength of his article there are the negatives, where he does not address any solutions to the issues he raises.

My assign project is in the country of Korea. Korea has had an enormous amount of influence on Japanese culture. It all originated in the Korean Peninsula where Korea was ruled by Japan. Japanese Empire annex the Korean Empire in 1910 for over thirty-five years. Since, the ruling Korea has influenced Japanese’s culture, art, philosophy, and history. During the thirty-five years of ruling Japan surrender and the United Nations ordered to split Korea at the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union controlled north while the United States controlled the South. This country will be very prominent to learn because it will be interesting to learn it’s history, religion, culture, food, and environmental factors.

Japan may be known for its beautiful cherry blossoms when they are in bloom, but they are also known for its unique education system. The rigorous workload these students go through have changed the way their overall performance scores have looked. The way that the Japanese education system works has some ways that align with how the brain learns.

Japan is seen by many in the West as a mysterious, homogenous culture where traditional values and a long history stretch from time immemorial into practices today. What is especially problematic with this view (beyond issues of the essentialization of Japanese culture) is that many Japanese people hold this same belief (Stanlaw 2004; Block and Cameron 2002). Nihonjinron, or theories of Japanese people for Japanese people is a popular literature genre that advocates for the uniqueness of “Japaneseness”(Stanlaw 2004). However, in a country that now more than ever is being influenced by globalization, a process in which “social, economic, political, cultural, and demographic” changes that take place within nations cannot be understood without looking at the relations worldwide (Kearney 1995:547; Block and Cameron 2002), the homogeneity of Japanese culture is being challenged (dubbed by some as the “crumbling of the monolith” (Noguchi and Fotos 2001)). Of particular importance is the role of language in these processes. Language is an interdependent and inherent part of social life (Schieffelin and Ochs 1986), “our very sense of who we are, where we belong and why, and how we relate to those around us” (Llamas and Watt 2010: 1), “a definition of human beings in the world,” (Woolard and Schieffelin 1994:56) and interpretations go on. What all of these have in common is that social reality is inseparable from language. As such, language socialization, language ideologies, and