What Is The Importance Of Japanese Culture

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.

Japan has similarities and differences in compared to North Americans; however by becoming aware of Japan’s cultural norms it will be easier to understand Japan’s business etiquettes.

Japanese and American culture differs in a plethora of ways, but also have several similarities, Showing that no matter how different people are they still have some sort of common ground. Japanese culture is based off of long held traditions that are derived from ancient Japan. American culture, however, is ever changing due to the nature of American society. Japanese culture favors those who conform, while punishing those who are different. On the other end of the spectrum, American culture applauds those who are different. Japanese and American cultures have drastically different social hierarchy and family roles while still having similarities in pop culture.

4) in our daily lives. In more prominent ways, Japanese culture can be noticed through cuisine and religion. “Buddhism” and “Shintoism” are the two significant religions of Japan, though in Hawaii more buddhist temples are seen rather than shinto shrines. Besides the majority of the Japanese population in Hawaii, buddhism is also practiced by a great amount of Hawaii locals. The only set back being, “The only temple activities that cater to non- Japanese…are taiko drumming and meditation.” (Borup

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.

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.

In Japanese culture, their cuisine is much more refined and well presented such as their dishes like sushi. The food not only has to be the best of quality but it also has to look aesthetically pleasing to the eyes as well.

Buddhism has a far-reaching impact on Japanese culture. Back to the 6th century in 552, dated in Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), Buddhism was introduced by Emperor Kinmei and some buddhist monks and nuns together with an image of Buddha and a number of sutras. Ever since, the arrival and expansion of this religion to Japan started to have massive influence on everything, including a unique Japanese architecture, the Shinto Shrine, the centre of beliefs of Shinto and the spiritual totem for Japanese people. Based on extensive archival research, many studies investigate in great depth the effect of Buddhism on Shinto Shrine architecture, or, in another word, the relationship between the visible appearance of Shinto Shrines and the historical

Japan has a history of formality and of family, The United States has a history of expansion and individualism. These two cultures are both similar and different as expected, but which one is better? Taking a look at what makes them different would decide that. We will look at different aspects of life that differ such as food, housing, societal culture, and the economies of these two cultures. One look at the typical diets of these two shows an obvious difference, Japan is all about the freshness of their food, while The United States are care more about convenience, this comes down to the type of food eaten by both cultures.

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 is full of diverse people, music, food, religion, art, languages, clothing, customs, games and festivals. However, they all come together to make Japan as we know it. Which has influenced almost every country on Earth to have a little or a lot of their lifestyle Japanese

Because Japan is a chain of islands its culture has developed in an atmosphere of isolation and control to a certain extent. Over the history of Japan, layers of cultural development can be seen where outside influences were either adapted or shielded from the culture. There are three very influential layers created by the Age of Reform (AD 552-710), the Meiji Period (1868-1912), and

In the far-east, off the coast of the Asian continent lies an island nation, originally shrouded in mystery from the rest of the known world. From a remote and isolated empire to a United States ally, Japan has successfully made its existence known to the international community. Over the period of the nineteenth and twentieth century’s, Japan has gone through drastic changes to its political, military, and economic infrastructure that has had an impact on its unique culture.

Comparative politicians often describe Japanese culture as a Confucian collectivist culture that emphasizes family and work group goals above individualistic needs (Haddad). Embedded in their language, Japanese culture adheres to a hierarchal structure set in place by Confucian ideals. Different from western ideologies such as the ideals of The United States and The United Kingdom, these cultural beliefs are, consequently, seen by western countries as the root to key differences within a state. Indeed, when attempting to interpret differences seen in foreign states with ideologies distinct from western ideologies, comparative politicians will often resort to cultural arguments as a default explanation. Yet, for many phenomena, cultural arguments alone are prone to several errors that will often result in the generalization of a population’s actions (Reed). While a cultural argument seems to be a plausible explanation for events occurring in states with different cultures, a cultural argument alone is not sufficient, instead creating a broad explanation for complex economic and political events.

Just like any culture, Japan also has a culture with distinct characteristics. The most common features of Japanese cultures comprises of the fact that it has multiple religions. The religion in Japan is not being preached as in other Western Countries but instead it is perceived as a way of living and moral codes that cannot be separated from people 's social and cultural values. Japanese cultures are characterized with different manners and customs such as bowing when people say hello, thank you or sorry (Otmazgin, 2012).