Japenes Culture

Running Head Japanese Culture

Japanese Culture

Introduction

Japanese culture represents a unique combination of historical political , religious and social forces which influence the society and its values . Every culture has its own unique qualities not found in other cultures . Japan is no exception . It is culture is centered on the core values and traditions . They lead Japanese people to have different ways of looking at the world largely from differences in language and religion . Japanese culture determines specific way of living and social relations , cultural and religious views

History

, Culture and Lifestyle

Japanese history rises mistily out of the period known to archeologists as the Tomb or Tumulus period . During this important period Japan was unified under the imperial court of Yamato and became intimately involved with South Korea , pathway for many cultural elements of continental origin into Japan . Writing was one such element . Japan began to have historico-legendary records of its own and gradually moved from its protohistoric to the historic period . The main historical period were Asoka period (522-710 , Nara Period (710-784 , Early Heian (784-897 , Middle and Late Heian (897-1185 , Kamacura period (1185-1336 , Murimachi Period (1336-1393 , Memoyama period (1573-1614 Edo Period (1615-1867 , Meiji Restoration (1867-1911 (Martines 1998 . During all historical period , Japanese lifestyle was influenced by political , economic and social changes , new perception of the world and religion

Japanese culture is based on unique traditions and values influenced by religion and life style . The Japanese learned to view the world from the perspective of traditional versus modern values after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 following the opening of Japan 's doors to the world This attitudinal structure started to fall apart in 1978 , and its disintegration became definite by 1988 . For example , the "conquering nature was an important value during the era of Japan 's modernization process , but it has since been replaced by the "following " nature . In the middle of the XX century , the traditional perspective of catching up with the West and categorizing what is Western and Japanese has become meaningless (Oxtoby 2001 . While the industrialization process produced divergent values for Japan and the West , it also is responsible for the development of some homogeneous cultural values . Researchers found three levels of similarities (1 ) frequency distribution of single variables (2 ) similar impacts of age and gender on attitudes , and (3 ) similar structures in the way people categorize their experience (Oxtoby 2001

Modern Japanese lifestyle is influenced by industrialization and innovations coming from other countries . Thus , Japanese value their old traditions and rituals adapting them to new social environment . For instance , Japanese take off shoes inside the house , they pay 5 commission tax for purchases , they follow bath and toilette design according to norms and practices of century old traditions (Oxtoby 2001 . In short , the Japanese self , characterized by its diffuse nature or collective orientation , represents a self who lost its space to be free of the omnipresence of the giri-ninjw social network in Japanese society in return for being taken care of by its group . The...