Japanese culture is one I’ve always wanted to learn about. It is a very interesting culture that I am very unfamiliar with.
It is a multi-layered and complex system that has been developing within itself and forming new layers for thousands of years. It is known for its traditional arts and its contemporary pop culture. Today, there are still kimono-clad women shuffling down the street with umbrellas overhead, and oversized sumo wrestlers battling it out in the ring. This is one of the things that I really liked about Japanese culture, because I just think the women are so pretty with those umbrellas. The Japanese always strive to meet the expectations f those in power. They would rather do something right, than to achieve a favorable outcome.
Which means that a glorious defeat is better than victory received with the wrong attitude. Trust is a key thing in Japanese relationships. They feel that they can trust one another well enough to know the correct action to take in and out of different social situations. Japanese values some aspects of a masculine and feminine society.
Also, gender specific roles are valued highly. The men are out working and the women are taking care of the children. Further on in this paper, I am going to talk about to videos that display Japanese culture. The title of the first video is Naruto and the next is “The Last Samurai. ” Naruto is a Japan anime.
A boy born infused with powers and incredible strength. He is unable to use it at first. As he got older and mature he learned how to control his gifts. With help from friends and teachers he became well loved by the village and helped the village prosper. In Naruto the Japanese culture main force or power behind ninjutsu was that of Chakra, which is the inter strength that is focused to one point in your body. It is a healing method.
Within Naruto, Chakra is said to have 5 natures, which are derived from the Hindu/Buddhism concept of the 5 elements, or basic materials or forces that make up the universe; Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Lighting. Each character from the Naruto series represent a different part of Japan’s culture. Madara and the Uchiha clan are symbols of Shintoism and traditional/ancient Chinese values. Hashi and the Senju are the influence of Buddhism. Their clash represents the internal struggle between isolationist militaristic traditional shinto views, and peace loving buddhist movements.
In this anime, they all work together as a group. They make sure not to leave anyone out. There are lots of swords in this series, which depicts the ancient Samurai warrior. In this anime, it stood out to me that this is a culture that sticks together.
Their trust for one another is very important. They make sure that when they are out in public, their appearance is superior. I would love to visit Japan. I believe that it is a very friendly place.
“The Last Samurai” is a film that was produced in 2003. Tom Cruise is the star actress. The movie tells the story of Captain Nathan Algren, which is who Tom Cruise plays as. Tom Cruise was hired to train Japan’s first army during the warfare. He trained the Emperor’s troops to use modern weapons, in order to defeat the last samurais. Cruise is placed at the center of a struggle between two eras because he becomes impressed by his encounters with the Samurai.
He eventually get captured by them and learns about their traditions and code of honor. The movie clearly demonstrated many aspects of the Japanese culture. The head man in charge job was to train the men under him. The women just took care of the children. I compared both of these films to an article titled, “The Basics of Japanese Culture. This article really talked about a lot of the things that I saw in the anime and movie.
It talked about how it is very important for them to stay together as a group. They actually call this the concept of “wa”. It also talked about the Samurai warrior. The article really opened my eyes to the Japanese culture. I would love to visit Japan. I believe that it is a very friendly place.
I also like that fact that they are together as a family, instead of worrying about just themselves. This is very different from Americans because we are an individualistic culture. We also are not firm on gender roles, in which they are.
Bibliography:
Basics of Japanese Culture. (n. d.
). Retrieved February 08, 2015, from http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring01/Newsome/culture.html“Naruto”“The Last Samurai”
