Japanese Culture

The country we live in ; Japan is a island country. So Japan has been separated from foreign countries and developed unique culture. Today, I'll introduce some of unique Japanese culture.

There are a lot of unique food in Japan. Generally, they are called Japanese food. I think that "sushi" is one of the most interesting Japanese food. Most Japanese eat sushi on the special day such as birthday or the New Year's day. It means that sushi is expensive and affective food for Japanese. Sushi have a lot of varieties. Most of them are raw fish on polished rice. Some foreign people don't like to eat raw fish. But Japanese are fond of eating raw fish. I also love it. We can eat sushi without chopsticks, of course not knife and fork. Today, Japanese food are loved all over the world.
We can see a lot of Japanese custom in New Year's day. I think that "Kakizome" is one of the most interesting Japanese culture. The first calligraphy of the year is called "Kakizome" in Japan. Many people in Japan write their aspirations of that year with a writing brush and common Japanese writing paper. I had go to a calligraphy school for about 10 years. So I do "Kakizome" every year. I can set my objective of that year and in order to make my ambitions come true, I can keep going to the end!
I think that Japanese style room is also important Japanese culture. Japanese building is in a class by itself Japanese style room. Its Japanese name is "Washitu". For example, "tatami","syouzi","kakeziku" and so on. In these days, more houses in Japan are made in Western style. But a lot of Japanese people is very familiar with Japanese style room. The smell of "tatami" makes me relaxed. I think that we can feel Japanese history and spirits of our ancestor from Japanese style room. So I think that Japanese style room is important Japanese culture.
Thus, Japan has a lot of unique culture. I think that this is the culture about which Japan can boast to the world. We should succeed to the next generation!

Japanese culture

　Japanese have a unique idea called “Ma.” “Ma” is the spatial or chronic intervals that characterize Japanese culture. It has much influence for Japanese idea and the way of expression. The range of its influence is very broad, and reach from Japanese life-style to art. Especially, “Ma” is often reminded in Japanese traditional art like “Noh”, “Kabuki” and “Gagaku.” And in art that has no motion like bonsai and calligraphy, “Ma” is reminded.
For example, in Noh, audiences tend to feel tired and troublesomeness when a performance is too perfect as audiences hardly have time to catch their breath. However performance is good, this phenomenon always happen. But if performer purposely refrain from his performance moderately, audiences enjoy that performance and concentrate on it. Saving his performance purposely like this is called in Japanese “Suki” means “an aperture,” and this aperture is very “Ma”, which makes Noh enjoyable and deeply significant. In a similar way, in other arts, “Ma” makes them enjoyable and deeply significant.
In Japanese dairy life, “Ma” is necessary. If any “Ma” like “Ma” among talks, chronic “Ma” and spatial “Ma” are not exist , we must live always feeling strictness. So, it is the Japanese idea to create emotional, chronic and spatial composure in dairy life. However, though “Ma” is very important, “Ma” itself is not usually reminded. It is on the ware and not noticeable. And this character can give us composure in dairy life that tend to be busy.
Then, how used “Ma” in modern society. Modern Japanese become very busy, and people are given many characters, roles and duties. And to make matter worse, in modern Japan, the mass say this tendency is good, and if we try to keep “Ma,” we must feel a sense of estrangement. Then, people take small “Ma” in dairy life. This means people have hobbies like travel, playing sports or game, and listening music. Modern Japanese get emotional composure by this way.
Thus, “Ma” always supports Japanese culture and dairy life from the earliest times to modern inconspicuously. I think this “Ma” is the very Japanese fundamental sensitivity.

Japanese Culture

There are some unique cultures in Japan. I tell you something that is important to Japanese culture from them, Haiku, Sushi, Mt.Fuji.
Haiku has some features.
First, Haiku is a Japanese poem in seventeen syllables having a 5-7-5 syllabic form. It is thought that it is a very good rhythm.
Second, most haiku has a word that is called "Kigo". Kigo is a word that symbolically indicates season. It is assumed that it is preferable that one is sure to be included in haiku.
Third, in the haiku there must be one "Kire" without exeption. "Kire" is the one to sever the flow of the phrase. It is considered that Kire is important. So if a certain Haiku doesn’t have a Kire, it is not viewed as a Haiku.
Haiku is actively written in the English-soeaking countries , and not the English-speaking countries , in Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Slovene, Serb, and Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, China, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil, India, and Bangladesh , it is created. Today, the haiku is widely received and created100 in many foreign countries.

Sushi is Japanese food that combined rinegared rice with the seafood. Today, sushi shaped by hand is representative of sushi. Others, there are pressed sushi, inarizushi which flavored boiled rice wrapped in fried bean curd, fermented sushi and so on.
In these past few years, especially in conveyor belt sushi bars and foreign country sushi restaurants, such as the mini hamburger steaks, pountry, avocadoes, and fantastic idea has increased if it sees from a past sushi. It is very delicious, too. So it is very popular in not only the country but also foreign countries.

Mt.Fuji is higher any other mountain in Japan. Mt.Fuji is in the prefectural boundary in Shizuoka and Yamanashi. When it is seen from a long distance, it looks beautiful. It is widely known as a symbol of Japan in not only the country but also foreign country.

They are not in foreign countries and indispensable for Japan. We should be proud of them and inform the world of them. As a result of it, Japan might be known more.

Japanese Culture

There are a lot of wonderful cultures in Japan. The cultures have appeared and disappeared while we live casually every day. I want to introduce three cultures here from among that.
First, “karaoke” is Japanese culture. “Karaoke” makes feels of us good. Though this is what I also knew for the first time, “karaoke” seems to be a culture of Japan. It doesn’t limit to the Japanese, and music is one of the things that we can enjoy in all parts of the world. “Karaoke” is gotten at a good chance to relieve the stress. In Japan, because the stress builds up easily few at the vacation, it seems that the culture of “karaoke” established it. If the stress is removed by “karaoke”, people can spend life of the good feeling.
Second thing is “hanami”. “Hanami” promotes the interpersonal communication. It is the one to eat food and to drink while seeing cherry blossoms. We will see a lot of people of families, groups of the university students, and the company. Though we are happy only in seeing cherry blossoms, we can enjoy irreplaceable time by talking and eating with friendly people. Thus “hanami” will come in a splendid place for the person to deepen the exchange with other people.
Third thing is “keigo (the honorific)”. “Keigo” becomes the most important for building sociability. The feature of “keigo” uses the honorific expression for the other party, and the humble expression is used for oneself. If “keigo” is used in a social scene by a wrong usage, it becomes impolite to the other party. However, if we can use it well, it becomes big arms for us to associate with the person.
To defend the Japanese culture of which we can boast, we will have to pass on the culture to people. I think that everyone learns the Japanese culture, and want everyone to enhance every day.

Japanese culture

Recently, Japan came to be paid attention by all over the world. As one of these reasons, Japanese culture has been received to the world. Japan has many various cultures. For example, Bowing, Green tea, Karaoke, Healthy food, and etc.
However, these come to be changed because of the influence of various foreign countries. In this essay, I would introduce some Japanese cultures, and change of Japanese culture in recent years.

I think the most necessary thing to live in Japan is Bow, which is very important thing. You will know that Japanese values cooperation. If you are facing trouble with someone, bowing is very useful to avoid such a situation. We have learned the way of Bowing since born moment. So, all of us know how to bow.However, it becomes severe when finding employment in the service industry etc. At least, the angle of the bow has been decided by the enterprise in Japan. For example, ”Irassyaimase”, which is used when you invite your customer, is decided 30°, and “Moushiwakegozaimasen”, which is used when you want to apologize, is decided 45°.Of course, you don’t have to do these things all day long. But, if you want to become accustomed to the culture of Japan, you should use these things. Then, people in Japan will be seeing you well. For the above-mentioned reasons, bowing is very important in Japanese culture.

Japanese foods are very healthy. It was not until recently that its importance was fully recognized. Now, many people know it all over the world. Why does it be so healthy? I think that the history of Japan is in the background. For a long time, Japanese ate fishes, and vegetables. Japanese has eaten a little meat for a long time. Because, Japan is an island nation, so they didn’t have enough space to grow domestic animals. So, the Japanese food became healthy for such reasons. Because of this, Japan became the best country of long life expectancy in the world.
However, the number of those who get the lifestyle diseases has increased along with the change of food to Europe and America recently. I think Japanese will become the people who don’t want to eat Japanese foods. And, long life world 1 will not become Japan some time.I think that we should eat Japanese food more to avoid such a situation. And I want to make Japanese food known to the world more.

There are various kinds of tea. For example, Green tea, Tea, Oolong tea, and so on. The tea most frequently drunk in Japan is green tea. (Chinese drink it, too) So, I often drink green tea, too. Green tea was transmitted from china as a panacea. (Panacea is a medicine which is used for all kinds of sickness) I often drink green tea when I want to settle down. Gradually, green tea is paid to attention in the world for its effect concerning health.However, when foreign people drink green tea at first, they will feel bitter.In foreign country, Japanese green tea is sold with sugar added. Usual green tea doesn't add sugar. Though I drank both, but I like usual green tea. Additionally, it is certain that not adding sugar is good for health. So if you have opportunity to drink it, you should not add sugar.

In conclusion, I introduce three typical Japanese cultures. One is the culture of bowing, which is very important thing. Another is about the health of the Japanese foods, which importance has been researched by a lot of researchers. It is gradually clarified.The last is the culture of drinking the green tea. We are often relieved by it. I think that there are still many cultures excluding these. So if you live in Japan for a long time, please learn many important cultures. This will help you to live easily.

Japanese Culture

Samurai (侍 or sometimes 士) is a common term for a warrior in pre-industrial Japan. A more appropriate term is bushi (武士) (lit. "war-man") which came into use during the Edo period. However, the term samurai now usually refers to warrior nobility, not, for example, ashigaru or foot soldiers. The samurai with no attachment to a clan or daimyo was called a ronin (lit. "wave-man"). Tom Cruise in "The last Samurai" has provided a modern introduction to the way of the Samurai.Samurai were expected to be cultured and literate, and over time, samurai during the Tokugawa era gradually lost their military function. By the end of the Tokugawa, samurai were essentially civilian bureaucrats for the daimyo with their swords serving only ceremonial purposes. With the Meiji reforms in the late 19th century, the samurai were abolished as a distinct class in favour of a western-style national army. The strict code that they followed, called bushido, still survives in present-day Japanese society, as do many other aspects of their way of life. The word samurai has its origins in the pre-Heian period Japan when it was pronounced saburai, meaning servant or attendant. It was not until the early modern period, namely the Azuchi-Momoyama period and early Edo period of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the word saburai became substituted with samurai. However, by then, the meaning had already long before changed. During the era of the rule of the samurai, the earlier term yumitori (“bowman”) was also used as an honorary title of an accomplished warrior even when swordsmanship had become more important. Japanese archery (kyujutsu), is still strongly associated with the war god Hachiman.

Shogatsu

In Japan, there are many events the people enjoy. “Shogatsu” is one example of them. I have memories that I’ve been enjoying talking with my families and eating delicious food during Shogatsu. In Shogastu, people feel happy, smile, and laugh very much.

Shogatsu, Japanese New Year, is important days for Japanese culture. Though there are differences among areas, we generally celebrate it for the first three days or the first week of January. During those days many people living away from their families return home, and their families get together. In Shogatsu, Japanese people eat special dishes, for example, sushi, "osechi-ryori," which looks colorful and splendid, and "ozoni," which is soup including rice cakes and some vegetables, enjoying talking with their families. We make it a custom to send New Year's postcards called "Nengajo" to our friends and relatives as greetings for the new year so that they arrive on New Year's Day. Nowadays many young people send them as e-mails. We enjoy writing and reading them. In Shogatsu children get money called "otoshidama" from parents and relatives, so children are looking forward to coming Shogatsu and meeting relatives. When children meet relatives, they can learn good manners, too.

Sushi is vinegar rice topped with raw fish, or rolled in “nori”, which is translated as “laver” in English, with various ingredients. Japanese people have developed the food culture of eating sushi because we tend to like eating fish since Japan is surrounded by sea. Now it is known as a famous Japanese food all over the world, you know. When we eat it, it is always dipped in soy sauce. However, it often tastes not only lightly salty owing to soy sauce, but also spicy because sushi generally contains “wasabi,” Japanese horseradish. When we are children, most of us don’t like the taste of wasabi, but the older we become, the more delicious sushi with wasabi tastes for us. Sushi is expensive, so it seems that we don’t have much opportunity to eat it, but since Shogatsu is special days, we can often eat it, which makes us feel happy.

A kotatsu is a low table frame covered with a futon or blanket on which a table is put, and its underneath is a heat source. We use it by putting our legs into it in winter, of course, in Shogatsu, too, and we warm up from its heat. It is a familiar scene for us that there are some mandarin oranges on the table of the kotatsu, and a family put their legs into it, watching TV together and laughing. The kotatsu makes us relaxed and gives us much opportunity to communicate with our families.

There are many other things we do and scenes we can see in Shogatsu. From young to elderly people, all enjoy Shogatsu, so it is important days for Japanese culture and people. We need to cherish those days.