Hello! Nice to meet all of you! Welcome to our blog, named How Unique Japan!
In this blog, we would love to introduce the culture of Japan, including Modern and Traditional (sometimes pop)! If you want to know some features of Japan, please take a look and follow this blog.
OK then, let’s see why Japan is so unique.
The reason why Japan becomes unique (My opinion)
Japan has 48 prefectures, and each area has its own unique culture. It seems busy! But how does Japan successfully keep them?
There are four reasons. First, the ocean surrounds Japan like a big island. Such a geographic feature has protected our country for so long (till the US came with steamboats). Then, we could preserve our unique cultures without any conquerors or attacks from other countries.
Second, it is also concerned with geography. The land itself is from great volcanic action. Thus, there are still many active mountains around Japan. (Surprisingly, Mount Fuji is active still) So, the Japanese have only 30% of habitable areas. Besides, each of them is separated so far by many mountains, hills, and big rivers.
Therefore, Japanese ancestors settled in areas far from their neighboring villages each other. That is why each area became individual. And they created their own unique culture.
The third reason leans on history. We have a worthy era when our ancestors created so much uniqueness. It is called the Edo era. As you might have known, that era surprisingly lasted over 250 years (from 1603 to 1868 AC). Despite this, the city was gigantic in its population.
That era came after a long period of war. Thus, that time had more meaning than peace for the old Japanese Because they were finally able to enjoy their own life with enough food resources, clothes, and houses, which new lifestyle made them creative.
(If you are interested in the Edo era, click here!)
The biggest and last one is about various nature/seasons in Japan. Flowers bloom in Spring, crazy and humid hot in Summer, colorful dead leaves in Autumn, and snow in Winter. They decorate our country changefully and beautifully.
We Japanese usually get a lot of inspiration from such rich seasons. They also incubate a uniquely Japanese character (Please look at the next section, Japanese characters).
In our opinion, the most affected part of the character is sympathy sense.
But how does the sense work for Japanese uniqueness?
How does the sympathy sense work and create uniqueness?
How did the sympathetic feeling between Japanese work and create the unique culture?
Then, we must touch on one more detail bounded strongly by the rich four seasons: Agriculture.
It is still a top industry in Japan and has lasted since ancient times because the various Japanese seasons (weather) make it possible to grow multiple crops in Japan.
However, it is always a tough duty for us to get good outcomes from the industry. That is where the sympathy comes in. It means we were able to help each other and go through a hard time together. That is more than just community survival.
Thus, we used to exchange information with no hesitation. Indeed. The ancient Japanese knew such support would reduce any risks for each other. Therefore, many unique cultures (or inventions) were born from such mixed information. That is also why many Japanese usually are kind and gentle.
Coincidently, it could also answer another question. It is why many Japanese easily observe some influences from other cultures and create uniqueness.
One other cause gave birth to the creation sense
As it was said, observation from another is the key because that action needs tolerance and a gentle mind, which makes Japanese characters curious about anything new.
However, there is one more cause boosting the growth of such a character. That is a unique perspective on religion.
That is a unique perspective on religion.
So, the religion is an idea of nature worship. After time passed, it was named Shintoism.
A long time ago, before any religion was born in Japan, the ancient Japanese made such worship. It belonged to the Forest or Mountains. So, they thought each object there had its spirit, including rivers and even stones. That is one of the answers to why many Japanese still believe in the eight million gods surrounding us (It says Yaoyorozu).
Thus, many Japanese do not hesitate to absorb new ideas or religions.
By the way, there is also a funny fairy tale. That said, if someone uses some artificial objects with respect for over a hundred years, they will obtain their souls and become alive. (It is called Tsukumo-gami).
That is why some objects sometimes have funny faces in some Mangas (Japanese cartoons). So, we love to animate soulless objects. Thus, we love anime.
They are the grounds of Japanese uniqueness and characters.
Now, let me tell you the reason for this blog.
Reason for this blog & categories
Following those, you might understand how hard specializing such various uniqueness of Japan on a few pages is, although I said I would introduce many of them.
Therefore, we separated that uniqueness into some categories, which should sound catchy to my lovely readers.
So, this front page has the categories of Japan’s uniqueness below. Each has small articles separated into Alphabetical order.
However, each page still contains a few articles because this blog is very young and immature.
We deeply apologize.
So then, let’s see what we have right now.
There are many differences in the lifestyle of Japan. The polite way of greeting, eating with guests, even angle for vowing.
Not yet. There are some events (festivals/seasons) based on religion.
This category also features traditional amusements, such as Sumo Wrestling.
If you want to see some Japanese lifestyle, please click here!
Nobody can ignore this era if they want to know about Japan because many Japanese uniqueness were born within that time.
Interestingly, some historians in Japan usually call this era the Japanese Renaissance.
Indeed, many sub-cultures, unique food, and inventions were born in the era.
But how did it create this era? And how did it work for citizens?
If you want to know more, please take a look here!!
Japanese features also created unique food and menus. As I said, it was hard writing all things.
At least, the Japanese always utilize power from nature, fermenting, drying, and pickling. It is like the bond between humans and nature.
It also says Japanese foods are indeed concerned with the climate in Japan.
If you want more details about Japanese food, please check this section.
Surprisingly, some Japanese people often confuse the differences between Shintoism (shrines) and Buddhism (temples) because buildings belonging to each religion look similar even in manners for praying.
Therefore, we would like to individualize each with features from them in this section.
If you want to boost your knowledge about such a unique situation in the East country, try to read them!
To close (New announcement)
Here is the end of this front page! Thank you so much for reading this blog!
However, it is not yet. New articles and categories will be here on this page. If you are interested in, please follow this blog! And wait for a new one!
OK NOW! SEE YOU FOR THE NEXT UNIQUENESS!