Japan is located in the continent of Asia. This country is made up of many islands. There are four major islands in Japan which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu. However, Honshu is the largest and most popular as well as home to Tokyo, Kyoto, and other major cities. Japan is often called "The Land of The Rising Sun” because it is located in the Far East and most peoples know that sun rises in the east. The Japanese also refers to their country as "Nippon" or Nihon" which means "source of the sun". Tokyo is the capital of japan and it is one of the largest cities in the world and also modern, very busy as well as extremely crowded. Japan is a well-developed and modernized country. The population in japan is almost 127 million, which 99 of them are Japanese. There are two main religious in Japan which are Shintoism and Buddhism. In Japan all citizens have Freedom to choose and practice their own religious. The Japanese economy is one of the third largest in the world after USA and China. The main export of Japan are cars, electronic devices and computers wh...
...having ceremonies. There is Shegatsu, which is the most important holiday in Japan. This is simply the Japanese new year ().
Japan’s culture is considered to be very diverse and unique. There are so many interesting aspects and traditional culture about Japan. In general, Japan is well known for their brilliant work and excellent technology inventions as well as all Japanese are well taught to become good citizen and have strong sense of discipline. In the continent of Asia, Japan as a whole nation is classifying as one of the top ten country in the world to lived. Including, they are currently place in top 6 countries in the world with one of the lowest crime rate. Currently, the murder rate is about 0.4 per one hundred thousand people with over 200 police officers who are assigned to protect hundred thousand residents on a daily basis. More importantly,
Japan’s history is based off the customs of neighboring countries like China and Korea. The Buddhist religion came from contact with Korea. The ruling Yamato clan set up an imperial court system based on that of China’s court system. Power went from the court system to the gentry families and then to the prominent warrior class of the samurai. The samurai were part of a clan that protected the shogun who took over the role of ruler. Japan was a firm believer in their customs and did not want them to change. So when the first contact with the west was made the Japanese were suspicious about their religion of Christianity. This sent the locals into revolt and soon trade with the west was prohibited. It was only when Japan was forced to trade with the west that they did, reluctantly. Later the shogun system was abolished and a modern/western government was created (Japan).
A thousand torches blaze with fire in dozens of cities and towns in Japan. It is January 15th, the start of the lunar year. Before World War II, the emperor of Japan used to light fires twice a year at the four corners of his palace in homage to Kagutsuchi, the God of Fire. Today, temples across the country continue to celebrate the fire festivals, known as Dosojin Matsuri, to honor the fire deities and ask for favors. Shintoism is not a normal religion. In modern perspective, it resembles the views of many modern pagan religions—for instance Wicca—in the sense that it involves ideas like animism, shamanism and the existence of a spiritual world; nevertheless, Shintoism, unlike western modern paganism, is deeply rooted in Japanese culture including its literature.
As many know, the capital of Japan is Tokyo. The Japanese use the metric system like many European countries and their currency is the Japanese Yen. Japan is located on an archipelago just off the eastern shore of Asia and is surrounded by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East China Sea, the Sea of Japan, and the Pacific Ocean. Japan is slightly smaller
With centuries of bloodshed far behind them, Japan has spent the decades proceeding the end of World War Two as a mainly pacifist country when it came to military conflicts around the globe and in their backyard.
From the 1600's to the mid 1800's, Japan had been successful in keeping their nation closed off from the rest of world. To ward off "outside influences", Japanese people not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. Japanese ports would not allow any foreign ships to enter. Japan's culture was that of simplicity and independence (Schirokauer 180-183).
In Christianity they have yearly rituals. In Buddhism they have no such rituals. Christians celebrate Christmas on December 24; it was the day Jesus was born. They also Celebrate Easter on the second Sunday in April, It was the day they believe Jesus was resurrected.
The Chinese New Year is a huge festival celebrated all over the country, it’s the most important festival celebrated on the calendar (13). The Chinese use a lunar calendar for their festivals so the date of the Chinese New Year is different each year (13). The date corresponds to the new moon in either late January or February (13). This is a time of good fortune and happiness. It is also considered the beginning of spring so; many also call it the spring festival (13).
The Japanese culture in very unique and opposes what most say is normal in their lifestyle. Japan is formed by a band of islands east of Asia in the Pacific Ocean. The islands stretch over 1360 miles from the northeast to the southwest. Japans total land area is smaller in size than the United States state of Montana. The four largest islands make up about 98 percent of the total land mass of the country. Due to the mountainous region, only about 15 percent of the land is able to be used for housing and agriculture.
The Shoguns kept Japan isolated from the outside world in numerous ways so that they could maintain power. This helped them maintain power because the people had little knowledge of the rest of the world. During 1633, shogun Lemitsu banned travelling overseas and almost fully isolated Japan by 1639 through limiting contact to the outside world. Japan limited their trade relations to just Netherlands and China, and even killed traders that were washed up on the shore. All foreign books were forbidden. Japan was kept isolated for up to 260 years. (Japan Guide, 26/4/14) In 1549 Christianity was introduced by a Jesuit pr...
A festival day begins with a visit to the communities’ temple, where they offer food or other items to the monks and listens to a Dharma talk (Religion Facts 4). The afternoon consists of distributing food to the poor, to earn merit, and to walk around the temple three times in honor of the Three Jewels, chanting and meditation (Religion Facts 4). The dates of holidays/festivals are based on the lunar calendar and often differ by country and tradition. A few examples are the Buddhist New Year, Vesak (Buddha Day), Sangha Day, Dhamma Day, Observance Day, and Kathina Ceremony (Religion Facts 4). One of the most important festival is Vesak, which is Buddha’s birthday. On the first full moon in May, Buddhist all over the world celebrate the birth, enlightenment and the death of the Buddha all in one day. Another eventful festival is the Buddhist New Year, the Buddhist New Year is celebrated at different times during the year. In Theravadin countries such as Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, etc, the New Year is celebrated on the first full moon day in April (Religion Facts 4). Comparing that to the Mahayana countries, New Year starts on the first full moon day in January. All festivals/holidays have the same purpose and meaning, but all differ depending on which region and whichever traditional factor comes into play for
One of the traditions you will see most often is the Red Packets. Red packets are passed out to children by elders, married couples, and adults. The packages will contain yuan and is believe to keep the children healthy and suppress evil. (“Chinese New Year Traditions.”) Many people will also clean and decorate their house with Fu, Papercutting and door gods. Fu or upside down character of Fu (which means luck) will be posted because upside down it means coming, as in luck will come to those who post it. Door gods are decorative pieces which are placed on the side of an entry to ward off evil spirits. (“Chinese New Year Crafts.”) Some of the more popular foods eaten during the fifteen days of Chinese New Year are dumplings, New Year Cake, Tang Yuan, and LaBa Congee. New Year Cake is a solid cake with glutinous rice flour together with some sugar, it is most popular in eastern china. Tang yuan however is a small ball of glutinous rice flour served in boiling water. They can be filled or unfilled and are traditionally eaten on the fifteenth day or the Lantern Festival. LaBa congee is a mixture of rice, nuts, and beans cooked together. LaBa Congee is usually served at the LaBa festival, which is the 8th day of the last month of the year. (“Chinese New Year Food.”) The final foods eaten are of course noodles and dumplings, throughout the festivities they are eaten because noodles represent long life and dumplings represent wealth because they are similar to silver or gold ingots. During Chinese New Year the people celebrate by writing poetry on the lanterns as well and posting poetry throughout the house. In this poem you can clearly see how the New Year is reveled and enjoyed by the
The evolution of Japanese technological advances has shaped and molded the modern world known today. To understand Japan’s technological advances, you must understand Japan’s roots. Japan has a recorded history of about 1600 years and during these years, they have contributed many technologies that we currently use on a daily basis. Japan’s technological advances have cultivated from the two most common religions, Buddhism and Shintoism. Japan has an extremely close relationship with nature more specifically with trees. The Japanese believe that a spirit, Kami, embodies all things nature.