The Japanese Culture - Research Paper Example

The Japanese Culture Introduction Japan is an East Asia island nation, in the Pacific Ocean covering about 142,000 square miles. It is located to the east of China, Sea of Japan, Russia, South Korea and North Korea. Tokyo is its capital city and has a population of about 127,817,277 as at 2011 according to the World Bank. The Japanese culture has evolved greatly from the prehistoric Jomon period to the modern culture that has been influenced by North America, Europe and Asia. As such, the culture embraces both the Eastern traditions and Western influences. Geography Even though there are thousands of islands making up the archipelago of Japan, the four main ones include Hokkaidô, Kyûshû, Shikokû and Honshû. Okinawa Island provides the scenery of mangrove forests with waterfalls and beaches. The highly mountainous topography is largely covered by dense forests, crisscrossed by short rivers with only a few being navigable. Mt. Fuji, a dormant volcano marks the highest peak in the country. The high frequency of earthquakes has seen the development of a fault circling the Pacific Ocean which causes earthquakes to occur on the west coast of South and North America, but remains more frequent in Japan. It has four different climatic patterns: spring between March and May, summer between June and August, winter between December and February and autumn between September and November. Most of its islands occur in the temperate zone (Varley 8). History The history of Japan could be traced back to the Jomon period, which started at about 10,000 BC with the inhabitants living by hunting, gathering and fishing (Varley 4). At about 300BC, the Yayoi period saw the cultivation of rice being introduced from the Peninsula of Korea. Queen Yamatai ruled during this period as per the account in a historical Chinese document. The fourth century saw the establishment of the first unified state by the present imperial family under the Yamato court with agricultural tools, weapons and manufactured articles introduced from Korea and China. The Nara period between 710 and 794 saw Buddhism made the national religion. The Edo period between 1600 and 1868 saw the establishment of Tokugawa Shogunate, now Tokyo. The 1927 financial crisis devastated Tokyo leading to economic depression for a long period. But the country has risen from its World War II defeat to become among the leading democratic powers in the world today. Government As indicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, MFA, Japan’s government is a constitutional monarchy with limited power for the Emperor, currently Akihito, whose duties have been primarily perceived as ceremonial. The 1947 constitution symbolizes the Japanese people’s state and unity. The Prime Minister as the head of government chiefly holds the nation’s power together with Diet’s elected members. Diet is a bicameral parliament, the legislative organ of Japan, made up of a House of Representatives and House of Councilors, serving four and six year-terms respectively. Its judicial system makes the decision of courts the final judicial authority, with the Emperor appointing judges and the Cabinet directing them. Economy The International Monetary Fund ranks Japan’s economy as the third largest globally after the US and China and second largest as a developed economy. In 2011, the per capita GDP of this member of Group of Eight stood at $34,739, 25th highest and has also been ranked third in automobile manufacturing. It is the largest creditor nation globally though with high reliance on exportation of products such as research and development and engineering, in which the country has comparative advantage, in exchange for petroleum and raw materials. Despite the deposits of silver, magnesium and gold, the country depends largely on foreign sources for a majority of the essential minerals. Agriculture and fishing also considerably contribute to its economy. Lifestyle Purchases in Japan attract 5% consumption tax payable to the Japanese government. There are various commercial cable and satellite TV and radio stations that supplement the national public broadcaster, NHK. Whatever the choice of station to watch, a listening fee must be paid as long as one owns a TV set (Varley 22). In majority of the homes, shoes should be taken off before entering the front door. Most businesses remain closed during national holidays. Before entering a bathtub, one would be expected to wash and rinse off. Religion Shinto and Buddhism are the major religions in Japan with the former being as old as the country’s culture while the latter was imported in the 6th Century from the mainland. However, there is freedom of religion and minority faiths like Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Hinduism respected as observed by the Japan National Tourism Organization. But today, religion does not play a significant role in majority of the Japanese as it would typically be adhered to during birth, weddings and funerals, with shrines and temples being visited during festivals and in the New Year (Varley 26). Language The official and primary language in Japan is Japanese. Early evidence of the language exists in a 252 AD Chinese document, with Japanese being written by combining three scripts: kanji, katakana and hiragana derived from Chinese. Modern Japanese borrows from romaji, Latin alphabets with numbers borrowing from Hindu-Arabic numerals. Fine Arts The Japanese art includes a range of media and art styles that encompass ancient sculpture in bronze and wood, pottery, calligraphy and ink painting. There also exist ukiyo-e woodblock prints and recently, the modern Japanese cartoons, manga. The Japanese ceramics rank among the global finest according to Japan National Tourism Organization with their architectural works preferring natural materials. Festivals and Holidays Numerous local festivals, referred to as matsuri would be celebrated in almost every shrine in Japan, mostly on an annual basis and could last for several days. The most distinct element in these festivals has been noted by Varley (10) to be the processions in mikoshi (palanquins) through the town. They would also feature dashi, the decorated floats from where people would be drumming and fluting. A few of these festivals cited by Japan National Tourism Organization are the Sapporo Snow Festival in February, Omizutori in March, Sanja Matsuri in mid-May and Chichibu Yomatsuri in December. The public holidays follow the Public Holiday Law and those falling on Sunday would be celebrated on Monday with the days between two national holidays also being marked as national holidays. They include Christmas and New Year. Works Cited International Monetary Fund Japan: Financial Sector Stability Assessment Update. IMC Country Report No. 12/210. Washington, DC. 2012. http://www.imf.org Japan National Tourism Organization. “Japan: The Official Guide.” 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. http://www.jnto.go.jp Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. “Highlights.” 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. http://www.mofa.go.jp/ Varley, H. P. Japanese Culture. 4th ed. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press. 2000. World Bank. “Data: Japan.” 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. http://data.worldbank.org Read More