Japan and the United States: Different but Alike!

The United States’ and Japan’s political systems have some similarities and differences. The United States has a federal government, which in our textbook is defined as “a system of government in which power is divided, by a constitution, between a central government and regional governments.” Japan has a unitary government which is defined as, “a centralized government system in which lower levels of government have little power independent of the national government.” Some of the similarities in the political systems are that both governments are broken into three branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial). Also, they both elect their political leaders, and value the opinion of their citizens and institutions to determine leaders. The

Korea, China, and Japan all share similarities when viewed as a whole. They all reside in Asia, they all speak similar languages, they could practically be the same place if without the language barrier; what the uneducated public is accustomed to thinking. Facts prove that when looked at deeply they really aren’t so similar after all. These dynasties that mainly ran almost simultaneously, all classify differently and follow different standards. The politics and sociality of China and Japan (and slightly Korea) exposes the differences between these Asian countries.

Currently in the world there are 196 countries, each one with unique qualities and political structures. Japan is an island nation in East Asia that is located in the Pacific Ocean. It has a total of 6, 852 islands that make up about ninety seven percent of Japan’s land area. It is the world’s tenth largest population with 126 million people. The emperor ran the country until it was forced to surrender and the United States assisted in the reform of the country. Currently, Japan is a democracy with a constitution that used the structure of the United States as a model. It uses the three-branch system, however, one of its branches drastically outweighs the other two in regards to power. This developed nation has many aspects of it government

China and Japan have a very long history and many events happened. Throughout these events, China and Japan created many different elements or factors respond to changes of time. Both China and Japan have produced spectacularly prolific culture.in modern era we can see China has essential the same cultural orientations informing and shaping their modernity.

During the 19th century, after a long period of isolation, both China and Japan underwent social and political changes to open up to foreign trade and interaction with European forces. Both countries eventually signed treaties with Western provinces such as the United States and Great Britain in order to establish a trade relationship to induce and increase commercial trade networks. Even though culture and civilization in China and Japan were fairly similar, both countries had distinct reactions to Western influences in their societies which impacted the way that the two empires developed socially, culturally, politically and intellectually over time.

As an international student I am lucky enough to be able to provide a unique outsider’s perspective on some of the cultural difference and similarities between Japan and U.S.A. I try to do this by using my own customs and traditions as a tool to compare that of the two countries. I use religion, political stance, formality, collectivist vs individualistic ways of thinking and traditions that they share as a rubric to measure the similarities and differences between the two. As an international student I also have the unique opportunity to get insight from my personal friend from Japan, Kazuki Sona.

Japan is a multiethnic and multicultural society, but the majority of their residents hold very strong beliefs of the pureness of a person and their status in the country based on heritage and personal background, (Lecture, Sept 12). During postwar Japan there was a heavy emphasis on unity and homogeneity of the people rather than diversity, (Lecture, Nov 30). As a result, the country’s

This investigation is important in its historical context because Japan and Germany had shared many similarities such as the ideology. In the Second World War, Germany was considering that the Aryans are the most superior race, and it persecuted approximately 6 millions of Jews cruelly. On the other hand, Japan considered itself as ‘leading race’ of Asia. When it conquered the colonies in Asia, it forced the Asian civilians to take Japanese education. It taught Japanese language to kids, and taught a song and dance which supported the Japanese military. The Asian civilians were given a Japanese name as well. Japanese military tried to make civilians discard of their original identity. These aspects tell that Japan and Germany were considering

He states that Japan used market capitalism to pursue individual and corporate material wealth. However, China has been far more conservative approach having evolved from Mao Zedong’s planned socialism towards a “functional market socialism”. Further Japan appears to have adopted a far more western attitude more readily in comparison to China.

Have you ever wondered about other countries outside of the United States? Have you thought about how different their foods, religions, and languages are from yours? There are many countries that are very different from the United States, especially Japan. Japan is only a short 6,000 miles away from the United States, but have strikingly different foods, religions, and languages. Now then, let’s see how much different the United States is from Japan.

Many westerners view Japan as a collectivist country that differs greatly when comparing it to western countries such as the United States in cultural aspects. One may explain that Confucianism plays a key role in how the Japanese society functions. Others may argue that Japan is distinctively different and no other country share similar traits. People can see the evidence of Japan being a collectivistic country by comparing Japan to other countries in the concept of high-context society versus low-context society.

After the crisis of oil in 1973, the demand of Japanese’s vehicles in the United States increased significantly, this is mainly due to Japanese vehicles had a competitive advanced in the automobile manufacturing. They were cheaper, better design and more competent than cars produce in America. Part of the advantages was due to labor differences and technical efficiencies (Exhibit A) (Japan 's Automakers Face Endaka, 1996) Including the lower exchange value of the yen, leaving on the side the principal companies of the U.S automobile industry such as Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, who suffered important losses in their market share. Furthermore, during 1981 to 1985 the dollar appreciated approximate 30% appreciation (Exhibit B) (Trading Economics, 2014), The losses of market share and the appreciation of the dollar caused distress among several sectors in the U.S economy, who exerted pressure to politicians so they could take protective measures in favor of their industries. Most of the measures of protection are given through tariffs and quotas on imports. In pro of the automobile industry, the president of the United States, Ronald Regan, request the government of Japan to voluntary exports restrictions (VERs), limiting to 1.68 million the number of cars exported to the U.S, the restriction was kept in place until March 1984 (Toyota Global, 1981). Although at first the restriction help the American industry to maintain their market share,

Japan is an East Asian Island country with a distinct cultural identity. Samurai values, kimono clothing, Noh Theater, woodblock art, and sumo wrestling are among the many instantly identifiable aspects of Japan's culture. Many of Japan's cultures have developed through centuries of feudal rule and has benefited from the country's geographic isolation.

For this paper, I will be explaining how the movie Hung Ho we watched in class applies to international business I will also be applying this movie to everything I have learned in class this semester. To do this, I will talk about how and what the manager and Hunt could have done to avoid the problems they were having, and what could they have done to make things better.

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