Japanese Culture

Welcome to your class blog.  This is where most of your "journal writing", worth 30%, will take place.  I may sometimes ask you to write something or answer questions on loose leaf in Monday's class.

As we noted in the last class, culture includes everything that people of a particular group are socialized (that is,trained by families, schools etc) to do, think, use, and make. I asked you to reflect a little on your feelings about Japanese culture.

Please write about aspects of your culture that you feel proud of, and others which you find a little tiresome, or out of date.

In my case, I feel the good points of Japanese culture outweigh the bad (otherwise I wouldn't have lived here for 20 years!!).  I appreciate the punctuality and efficiency found in businesses of all types (especially trains, as I have to use them a lot), and the convenience of having so many shops nearby and open until late.  I also enjoy the bathing culture, in sentos or rotenburo or onsen. I especially like riverside rotenburos in the mountains. Japanese food of all types is great, and I think it's a good idea to have several small plates on the table from which we take small amounts.  Nabe parties are fun too.  Dinner can seem like more of a shared experience here. 

On the downside, I don't like the amount of noise pollution in Japan (needless announcements everywhere, politicians in mini-vans touring neighbourhoods, screaming their names into mics, and horrible muzak in supermarkets and shopping streets (I live near one). Do you know what muzak is?  I think Japanese get used to a lot of noise, and don't notice it. The number of perverts (chikan) here is shocking too. 65% percent of Japanese women report having been attacked at least once, which is a shameful statistic.  I'd like my daughter to learn a martial art, so she can defend herself in future.