The Pros And Cons Of Japanese Culture

Yasumasa Morimura was born in Osaka, Japan 1951; before the end of the American Occupation and during the Korean War. It was at this time in Japan that society had become increasingly modernized and influenced by western culture. Subsequently, the foreign influence of Japan’s culture affected their culture, politics and education. With a westernized curriculum, much of the education focused on occident values, ideas, and art. Despite Japan’s rich history, much of the art history that was taught had originated from western culture.

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?

In American culture the word, conformity, seems to have a negative connotation, but in countries like Japan, conformity seems to be a way of life. Why are the Japanese so willing to conform? Why are they so willing to be just like everyone else? The following will summarize a short video about Japanese conformity, as well as provide my own analysis of the video, and my own views on Japanese conformity.

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

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

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

Japan and the United States have been allies for years. Our two countries have overcome many obstacles to achieve the alliance we currently maintain. Even though there has been some challenges and differences over the years, our two countries have some similarities. There are differences between Japanese and American cultures as well. Japan is a successful country, and continues to thrive, due to its operational environment and rich culture. The operational environment categories we share common ground are politics, military, and economic.

Japanese people are just normal people, they can love and laugh, they can hate and cry, they can be moral and can be immoral, they have their own culture though, but it doesn’t make them any more or less “human” than people like “us” (whoever you are).

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.

The word culture normally refers to the shared beliefs, norms, interactions, effective understanding and shared patterns of behaviors among a particular group of individuals. For a particular norm or belief to be termed as a culture, it must possess some special features. One of the features is that the culture must be a learned behavior that is passed from one generation to another, especially as a person grows in a given environment. Another feature of cultures is that they are interrelated. Cultures emerge from family, educational institutions and social institutions which offer a ground for learning the basics of the cultures. Other characteristics of the cultures include; cultures are adaptive, it is shared, it is a symbol, and it is dynamic in nature.

I have decided to discuss the Japanese culture because we have the foreign exchange students visiting us October seventeenth though the nineteenth and I thought it would be nice to learn about their culture beforehand. I also would like to learn more about the Japanese culture because when I become a nurse, I want to be aware of cultural differences. I will be giving a brief overview of the culture, talking about their religion, community customs, family roles and organization, how they communicate, and their healthcare as well as how they view nurses.

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.

In societies across the world, religion has always had the ability to unite the people into communities through its rituals and celebrations. Japanese society is a major example of how people can join together as a community to celebrate their unique beliefs. However, this would then often raise the question of which came first; the close-knit community who started the religion, or the religion that jumpstarted everything and brought people together. The truth of the matter is, if one were to look at Japanese culture and society, it is rather apparent that ancient religions such as Buddhism and Shinto form rituals and traditions which would then later shape the ceremonies that the community partake in. These ceremonies are essentially festivals that villages put together to show respect and acknowledgement for a certain religion or an important event. Festivals are done with the most dedication among everybody in a village or town, and it is this dedication that proves how important festivals are to the community. Essentially, the religion is the driving force behind a culture's communal bond, and it is the festivals such as the Kenka Matsuri, Namahage Matsuri, and the Gion Matsuri that are physical representation of this union. However, these religious festivals have proven to lose its religious background and tradition and start to converge into a celebration of the community itself. A very well known festival that Japan usually takes pride in is the Kenka Matsuri, or also

Culture is a significant theme in this film. One important factor to point out is throughout Stevenson’s trip in Japan, he is hit with culture shock and the same can be said for the Japanese executives. Stevenson mocks how the Japanese exchange business cards during the presentation, how they eat with chopsticks and how rigid and structured Japanese culture is. This culture clash not only affected the characters’ personal lives, but also impacted the business. “Research has clearly established that culture affects the application of management theories and practices. Work values, in particular, are an important part of cross-cultural understanding in that they are themselves measures of cultural dimensions, and also have strong implications for many areas of management, from employee motivation to organizational communication” (Matić, 2008). Almost immediately after opening up the doors to the plant, there were problems. The Japanese people had a very strict and rigid way of running their businesses and doing their work as compared to the lackadaisical American work ethic. The plant workers are expected to perform calisthenics in the morning, are denied basic privileges like sick leave, paid overtime and a union. The town and these workers are in such a desperate situation that they decide to withstand the abuse and impossible demands set by the Japanese plant owners. It is difficult enough to manage a business with workers and executives that have a common culture and

In the world today, we are exposed to many different cultures; America is a great example of this. It is a giant melting pot full of many unique people who bring their cultures from around the world. Thanks to them, we have little parts of towns that are chock full of their culture, like China Town and Little Italy. We also have them to thank for all the different types of food and styles of cooking that they have brought over. But what about the cultures of other countries, have Americans influenced their culture like they did to ours? One country that really interested me in answering this question was in Japan. Japan is packed full of culture from their old traditions of their new futuristic culture and has Americans have any part in their pop culture transformation?