Japan and America each have their own value system that draws comparable interest for how it shapes society and patterns of interaction. Even though there are similarities between the two-value systems, it is essential to understand the fundamental differences that deal with equality, respect, and communication style. Understanding the motivations behind behaviors will lead to successful intercultural interactions.
Japanese society exhibits a gender base stratification of society. Male dominance over female contributes to upholding norms and expectations of gender specific division of labor. Still prevalent and modeled after by most households in Japan, is that the male is typical salaryman ‘breadwinner’ that provides only the economic means. Meanwhile, the female is the ‘shufu’ or the full house wife is responsible for the household, raising children, and the wellbeing of the husband’s parents. The masculine and feminine speech patterns further refines the gender roles and the gender divide in all domains of society. Masculine speech is vulgar while feminine speech is politer in nuance. Even though the institutions that prevent women from entering into the workforce are changing, it is stigmatize that a woman’s career peck at age 25 and expected to return to the house married with ‘shufu’ responsibilities. ‘Career women’ are marginalized from society for having a higher status in income or education to good for oneself.
This contrasts with America’s society of equality. Male and female are encouraged to pursue individual goals and aspirations as competitive equals. The transparency of institutions discourages discrimination and enables women to strive and advance in their careers in the majo...
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... pursing happiness by being able to strive for individual achievement and desires. Many Americans would go back to school to seek better skills or degrees in improving the available opportunities in life. Similar in Japan, expectations by parents push their kids into the correct primary schools and later, cram schools, in order to get ahead because of the examination culture. At an early age, these kids learn that self-improvement is the means of avoiding marginalization public and family shame.
The fundamental differences between the American and Japanese values system is the difference in individualistic and collectivism tendencies. Both Americans and Japanese see share similarities in time orientation and self-improvement. Understanding the core assumptions of each culture will improve the intercultural interactions and promote a global consciousness.
...n” has become very antiquated, and purposeless in a world where women have more and more opportunities for equal advancement, affirmative action, etc. It is interesting, however, to note that the ideas of “spheres of influence” still persist, though somewhat altered.
The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receive. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women posted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.
The main purpose of this report is to introduce the key cultural options of Japan. It’s vital for business individuals to avoid some cultural mistake in their journeys to Japan. The report has focus two main views that square measure general cultures and business cultures in Japan.
90) describes people in collectivist cultures rely heavily on “in-groups which look after them in exchange for loyalty.” China and Japan are high power distance cultures. They have a hierarchical structure where societal movement is minimal. Hao (2015) describes collectivist cultures to place emphasis on “what is best for the social institutions that [an individual] belongs to over personal ambitions and goals.” Both Chinese and Japanese cultures are motivated and driven by success as seen by evidence on each countries emphasis on the importance of education (Country Comparison. n.d.). Long-term orientation allows both countries to prepare for the future and achieve long-term goals. While practical in their efforts they are “working to serve [future] generations” (Country Comparison. n.d.). Leisure time is not an emphasis in either culture and leads to “self-restraint and the emphasis on hard work and achievement” defining both China and Japan as restrained cultures (Hao,
Gender roles are stereotypical labels placed on males and females within a specific culture. In addition, gender stereotypes for males and females are products of cultural aspects rather than their physical differences (Kincaid, 2013). As time inevitably progresses through history, a coherent pattern can be identified in regards to changes in gender stereotypes. These changes in gender roles are directly correlated with the alterations in societal advancement. The changes in societal and cultural development over the course of history can be thoroughly recognized in specifically Japanese culture. Although gender roles in Japanese culture deviates from western norms, perpetual emphasis is placed in adopting desirable characteristics for men and women in media and society (Kincaid, 2013). Contrarily, professional studies, conducted by Yoko Sugihara and Emiko Katsurada, indicate that gender role differences in contemporary society are diminishing as time progresses (Yoko and Katsurada, 2002).
Kincaid, C. (2013, July 7). A Look at Gender Expectations in Japanese Society. . Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.japanpowered.com/japan-culture/a-look-at-gender-expectations-in-japanese-society
The cause of this is the way that gender roles are now being protrayed in their country. For Japanese woman, they are currently not being displayed as the...
“Culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth. Today's strategy promoting intercultural understanding confirms culture's place at the heart of our policies” according to European Commission. According to the “The Values Americans Live By” by L. Robert Kohls, the American values are the Personal Control over the environment. American people are no longer believe in the power of fate, and they have to look people who do as bring backward, or hopelessly naïve because for the “fatalistic” are the worst criticisms that can American people.
At one time men were expected to be loyal to their lord and women were supposed to be loyal to their husband and family. During this women were allowed to own property and even inherit family property. They were expected to control the household budget and household decisions to allow men to serve their lord. When World War II hit it marked a shift in thinking about gender roles. The Japanese society went into the past of loyalty and courage to promote war effort during this crucial time. This is when women’s duty became to only have children. Women were looked at as keepers of the nation’s household even though many women worked in factories. During this war many “unused” women were drafted to sexually service military men. Soldiers referred to these women as “hygienic public bathrooms” or even as “semen toilets.” Japan was influenced by China to take on the confucian ideals in society. Confucian society focuses on the family and the roles of the genders in the household. Men are the heads of the household; women are dependent on the men. Women were expected to marry the men their family set for them, produce kids, and oversee the house. Women became not able to own property and became “slaves” to men in every way possible. It is believed that women’s happiness in life is only to be found in marriage. In this society women were to be married between 22 through 27 and if this was not met you were considered
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.
Friedman, Seth. "The Changing Roles of Women in Japanese Society." The Changing Roles of Women in Japanese Society.N.p., Dec. 1992. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
I chose to compare and contrast the United States culture with the culture of Japan. There are a few similarities between the two, such as a love of the arts, fashion and baseball. However, they are culturally different than similar in very major aspects. Japan is a very homogenous society made up of about 98% ethnic Japanese. They tend to put a lot of emphasis on family and communities, and value the group more than the individual (Aliasis, 2013).
When you think of a CEO of a company or of world political leaders, do you think of a man or of a woman? Many, if not most of us, see these positions as being held by men. In this essay, I will explain why women are still not equal to men. In the first paragraph I will discuss inequalities that happen in the workplace. The second section will show the differences that occur within the athletic world. Thirdly, I will explain the differences in education and home life. Even though we are approaching the twenty-first century, women in our society are still not equal to men.
The difference between American and Japanese ways of speaking can cause us some bad experiences at first; however, once we get accustomed to the direct speech of Americans, it is more convenient than the Japanese way. First, we can say what we want. Second, we do not have to hesitate to tell the truth in order to be polite. Finally, it frees us from unnecessary misunderstandings. The third point makes us happy because it makes us feel we have adjusted ourselves to American society at last. Compared to Americans trying to learn the Japanese way of speech, we are supposed to have much less difficulty learning the American way. At first, it might seem to be difficult, but in a few months, we will find ourselves comfortable in the direct speech of the Americans and may be in trouble when speaking with newcomers from 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