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Cultural differences between the US and Korea
Western civilization’s influence on Japan
Western influence on Japanese tradition
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The contemporary nations of South Korea and Japan have been the home to two of the oldest and most cultured societies in human history. The vast East China Sea that has separated the two countries caused the evolution of two different civilizations, dissimilar by language, food, tradition, and culture. Although this may be true at first glance, a deeper probing of these two nations reveals many striking similarities, even in areas that may seem contrary.
The culture of Japan is a mix of old traditions and new, modern trends. In a nation where a common saying has been “the nail that sticks out, gets hammered,” the homogeneity of the Japanese people kept it wary of foreign influence for a majority of its history. Ancient Confucian and Buddhist influences continue to shape the traditional culture of Japan, and make it unique to most other countries. Tea ceremonies, traditional weddings, Kimonos and other formal dress and bowing all indicate an immense pride in Japan’s formal customs. Japan remains a largely patriarchal society and emphasizes a man’s role as the provider in a family. Respect for one’s elders and ancestors is still part of the very fabric of Japanese life.
Japan’s emergence as a world power made its continued isolation almost impossible. Infusion of western culture into mainstream Japanese culture has become especially popular in post WWII Japan. Modern times have seen an acceptance of many colorful subcultures, known as “zoku” or tribes. Otaku (nerds), nure ochiba or wet leaf tribe (emotionally spent salary men), and garu-o (bad girls) are a few examples. Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya are heavily frequented and resided in by the international community. They offer popular brand name designer clothing and me...
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...ons of technologies and electronics industries (Samsung and LG), automobile industries (Daewoo, Kai, Hyundai) and the world steel market. Kaizen was never established as a philosophy in Korea, but common phrases such as goodbye are actually translated to mean “work hard” and indicate the mindset of its people.
South Korea and Japan have pioneered human advancement in various technologies, sciences, philosophy, astronomy, and societal organization. They have commanded vast empires with massive and powerful armies. They have shared the incalculable devastations of war and the success of their modern nations. Their cultures, languages, and economies more closely examined, reveal many similarities as a result of their common and intertwined histories. These two superpowers will continue to lead Asia and influence the international community for years to come.
Beginning in the early seventeenth century, Japan went from being one of the driving forces of technological and military power in the modern world to becoming outdated, old due to a lack of technological innovation. From this Japan was able to outlast the hard times, becoming once again becoming technological powerhouse. This was because, as stated in the book, “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” by author Thomas L. Friedman, they were able to find a happy median between the Lexus and the olive tree, in other words, new ideas and technology, while still maintaining traditional values of culture and race, both politically and socially. Japan was able to rebound, and regain political, social and economic stability and prosper in each after decades of internal conflict and turmoil because they, unlike similar contemporary non-western civilizations, focused on balancing new reforms with older, more historical governmental traditions.
In the middle of the 19th century, despite a few similarities between the initial responses of China and Japan to the West, they later diverged; which ultimately affected and influenced the modernizing development of both countries. At first, both of the Asian nations rejected the ideas which the West had brought upon them, and therefore went through a time period of self-imposed isolation. However, the demands that were soon set by Western imperialism forced them, though in different ways, to reconsider. And, by the end of the 19th century both China and Japan had introduced ‘westernizing’ reforms. China’s aim was to use modern means to retain and preserve their traditional Confucian culture. Whereas Japan, on the other hand, began to successfully mimic Western technology as it pursued modernization, and thus underwent an astounding social upheaval. Hence, by the year 1920, Japan was recognized as one of the world’s superpowers, whereas China was on the edge of anarchy.
Japan’s religious belief and Japan’s modern, materialist society create and ideological conflict that kept on growing. Contradictions between the old and the new, modernity and tradition are part of the contemporary issues of religion in Japan. Ideological conflicts like this create repercussion leaving a schism in the psyche. Because of this, beliefs and life styles of the Japanese community grow to become more difficult giving as a result internal confusion and isolation. As Japan’s economic power grows, Japanese people are able to enjoy many goods and more modern urban areas and cities. Japan industrial era and religion’s messages creates conflict in the Japanese society. People are facing struggle while tryi...
Japanese society has many beliefs and rituals and women are always secluded from many aspects of ritual life. Women are also forbidden to enter in sacred places although these prohibitions are vanishing. The modern society has defined all social roles in terms of hierarchy such as domination of men over women it is common virtually in all setting that women be subordinated to male as household heads (Countries and their Culture 2014:14). Despite the legal changes on the principle of family structure regarding education and labor equity, there ...
According to him, “Civilization identity will be increasingly important in the future, and the world will be shaped in large measure by the interactions among seven or eight major civilizations” (Huntington 25). Two of the seven or eight civilizations include Confucian and Western. Huntington’s distinction between these religious entities show the difference between North Korea, which is a country that is driven by Confucian ideals, and South Korea, which is driven by Western religions like Christianity. Though Huntington claims that these are the products of centuries, the only modification to the case of North and South Korea is that the division was purely a result of the Korean War, which took place only 66 years
China grew to be the largest and most populous country of Asia. IT developed a unique culture by being isolated and having little contact with any other civilizations. After time, its methods of production and system of government here highly advanced for its time. China’s history is shown through the ruling of several different dynasties, their schools of thought and religion, and the vast spreading of their culture to its surrounding countries.
Since the end of the Second World War, the shape of the relations between the nations in the Pacific region has stayed more or less the same way until the present. However, there has been one big changed that affected the situation in the Pacific region and it was the outbreak of the Korean war and the creation of a Communist North Korea. This brought a huge inevitable change in relations between countries in the region. The stability that was brought about with the end of the Second World War disappeared and a new type of tension appeared. This especially affected the relations between the Korea and Japan to a great extent. In the past few years, the two countries have been seeking cooperation for the common aim of keeping the security in the Pacific region but things did not always work out fine due to many reasons including the historic background of two countries. In this paper, the historical background, the chronology of main events, the development of the relations and the current situation regarding the security and cultural issues, between Korea and Japan will be examined and analysed, which will be followed by a conclusion.
Therefore, Korea’s vast history is a story that must be told, it is what gave them their rich culture that enabled them to become an ethnically homogenous country, it is what divided and transformed them into a democratic nation and at the same time a communist state. The divided Korea has not been able to accomplish the unification of the two states yet but their concept of nationalism is what enabled them to accomplish their quest towards modernization as shown by their advancement in technology and their strong relations with other super powers such as the U.S., Russia, and China which makes them have the potential to become a super power. Koreans are taking the world by storm.
Throughout the course of time, thoughts or passionate emotions develop as a society when approached with different situational barriers. Occasionally though, certain beliefs may also be forced onto a country during times of crisis or war. As the mid-20th century approached, a new Korea emerged after the Japanese invaded the country and officially declared possession in 1910 (Kimble, 1997). For at least 35 years, Japanese inhabitants demanded the small nation to acquire the Japanese language and imposed an education process that caused the Korean culture to repudiate its own history. The South Korean nation would finally get the chance to regain a sense of independence after the Korean War which began in 1950 and lead to the current agreement between the Northern and Southern parts of Korea in 1953. After constantly being abused by the Japanese government and the communist regime of North Korea that nearly demolished the character of the now acknowledged South Korea, the United States was able to terminate the Korean War. The army of South Korea is now highly protected and amplified with American forces. This restricts the capabilities of a modern military that has counted on a foreign military to defend its borders. Although seen as a cynical effect of the Korean War, one might also say that South Korea has had sixty years to develop its own distinctive economy and infrastructure
North and South Korea were not very different politically or culturally from one another before mid 1940’s (White, Bradshaw, Dymond, Chacko, Scheidt, 2014, p. 125). However, North Korea started the Korean War when they invaded South Korea in 1950. These two countries, which were once the same, are vastly different in the areas of politics and culture The Koreas’ continue to disagree and not be at peace with each other since the Korean War despite small steps toward progress over the
...th can be seen walking around in some of the most bizarre looking clothing. I once saw a young girl wearing a swan dress not unlike the one worn by Bjork. I have seen some of the worst “fashion faux-pas,” with severely conflicting colors, completely mismatching styles of the top, bottom, and shoes, makeup seemingly done by a five-year-old. As one might like to hope that these styles were mistakenly created by the individual, it is clear that they are intended, whether for shock value or for personal satisfaction. It seems as though in places such as Harajuku, the more “unique,” the better. While Miyake seemed to have far reaching consequences for Japanese identity on the international level, Kawakubo’s constant questioning of societal norms helped foster individual deviations, thereby creating a new identity which, ironically enough, is not limited to or by itself.
Many of us, if not everyone, has heard of the country of Japan through various means. Possibly through popular films such as Godzilla or the renowned horror films which the country produces. Perhaps through the various anime TV shows that have been dubbed in English creating a massive fan base here in the United States, or the massive franchise Nintendo that has filled our child memories with countless hours spent in front of a screen playing Mario or Pokémon. One way or another the Japanese have shared their culture with a huge audience but thats only scratching the surface of the Japanese culture. The country of Japan wasn’t always the islands that we see there today, the formation of the islands occurred during 50,000 BC and ended in 10,000 BC following the end of the last ice age. This is when we find the first signs of civilization in Japan but they are nowhere near the modern day Japanese culture today. The early beginnings of today’s Japanese culture dates back to the year 538 AC with multiple time periods slowly building up to today. The Japanese culture of today shares a few aspects with our American culture we are familiar with, both cultures love baseball, we both have representative democracies as a form of government, and both cultures do not label outsiders differently and accept them just as equally. Even though we may share aspects of our culture with the Japanese our cultures couldn’t be anymore different from each other.
An examination of Japanese culture, and where it stands on Kluckholn and Strodbeck’s Value Orientation, Hall’s cultural dimensions, and what America needs to know in order to communicate properly with Japan.
Western people influenced Japanese people to follow the American culture. The western culture had a huge impact in the Japanese people because American’s were in Japan’s territory so they decided to follow the western culture. ‘’After Japan surrendered in 1945, ending World War II, Allied forces led by the United States occupied the nation, bringing drastic changes. Japan was disarmed, its empire dissolved, its form of government changed to a democracy, and its
Japan is a fascinating multifaceted culture, on one hand it is filled with many traditions dating back thousands of years and yet is a society with continually changing fads,