Fly that flag.

Date : Thursday, December 9, 2010
Time : 12:51 PM

The Culture of Japan

The culture of Japan comes in many forms, tangible to intangible, beginning from their literature to their manners and etiquette. A breakdown of their culture as follows:

History

A timeline of Japan History:

Extracted from Japan-101.

Social Stratification

Generally, classes and castes system do not exist in Japanese society, but a small percentage exists, particularly in rural and urban populations.

In an urban setting, social differences come from the status in the work industry, such as being ‘white-collared’ which is middle class being the highest, ‘blue-collared’ which is industrial workers or self-employed such as artistes and shop owners being the lowest in hierarchy.

In a rural setting, social differences can come from workforce participation, education and family composition.

Gender role

Shinto beliefs play a big role in Japanese culture, which brought about certain rules in ritual life. Women were excluded from ritual spaces, enter mines or tunnels and boarding fishing vessels as women were considered ‘unclean’. Due to modernization, most of these superstitious have stopped, but some still remained. In the film, Memoirs of a Geisha, Nobu told Sayuri that women were not allowed on the sumo wrestling ring, and this belief is still being practiced now.

Nobu informing Sayuri about rituals of sumo wrestling, from film Memoirs of a Geisha.

In a domestic setting, a male is normally the head of the house and breadwinner, and he exercises control over the home, his wife and the daily lifestyle of the family. The roles of the wife in the household generally consist of being a housewife, a mother and taking care of the in-laws, which underlines the problem of gender inequality.

This is further proven in the workforce, whereby women were not favoured as compared to male workers and no maternity leave will be given as women are expected to resign if they are getting married or having children.

Literature

Japanese literature has a long history of almost two millennium, and it was influenced by Chinese, Indian and Buddhism. It can be categorized into five main period, being Ancient Literature under year 794 with work like Kojiki, Classical Literature from year 794-1185 with iconic work like The Tale Of Genji, Medieval Literature from year 1185-1603, Early-Modern Literature from year 1603-1868 and Modern Literature from year 1868-1945.

Manners & Etiquette

This section is very important in the culture of Japan, as they are deep-rooted as they are used in many circumstances, for example greeting, exchanging name cards, gifts and public behavior.

These are some examples of proper etiquette:

Train manners
Japanese considers it rude to talk on the train or make noises as it is part of their public etiquette. Some don’ts on riding a train in Japan:
-    Talking on the mobile phone or making calls
-    Applying make-up
-    Blasting music in your earpiece can cause noise to leak out
-    Using the courtesy seat even when there is someone in need of it
-    Create commotion

Exchanging name cards
Name cards are exchanged at the start of the meeting, and name card should be given with either the right hand of with both hands, and this applies when receiving a name card. It is not right to place the card in the back pocket of the pants as it is considered rude, the name card should be placed in a card holder, shirt pocket, notebook or on the table surface if seated.

Greeting
Japanese greet by bowing, and the incline of the bow depends on the status of the other person, for example, a nod is informal and casual, while a deeper and longer bow shows respect. Bowing is the general greeting, and it is widely used such as for expressing their thankfulness, apology or when asking for a favor, while handshakes are not common in Japan unless for foreigners.

More information can be found at Japan Guide.

Architecture

Traditional Japanese architectures are a sight to behold when visiting Japan, as they have a long history and is heavily influenced by the Tang Dynasty.

Traditional architecture.

Popular Culture

It includes manga (comic books), anime (animation) and pop music, which give birth to several other subcultures like Cosplay (Costume role-playing of Anime characters or J-Rock icons), Fashion Subculture (e.g. Lolita, Punk) and Otaku (overly enthusiasts of a hobby e.g. Gundam fanatics).

Cuisine

Some defining characteristics of Japanese cuisine are the use of white rice, vegetables, mild flavoring and the emphasis on presentation. Japanese box lunches are a virtual culture of the nation as children, students and adults bring these homemade Bento boxes with them to school and work.

Japanese cuisine.

Arts

Japanese visual arts includes Japanese painting, calligraphy, sculpture (mainly Buddhist images; material was traditionally wood, but stone and pottery are also used), Ukiyo-e (Translate: “Pictures of the floating world,” woodblock prints for mass-production), Ikebana (Translate: Art of flower arrangement).

Ikebana.

Japanese performing arts are separated into four traditional stles, which is Nogaku (Classical Japanese musical drama), Kyogen (Translate: Wild speech; comical), Kabuki (Dance-drama) and Bunraku (Puppet).

Kabuki.