reaction paper #1

9/22/12

Reaction paper 1

            In the past four weeks I have gained a much more in-depth understanding of Japanese culture and how their traditions have affected their modern day culture. The first week of class we learned about transportation specifically the bullet train and how it is know for always being right on time and is major form of transportation for many Japanese people. We also learned about the geography of Japan the country is split into 8 regions and that the country has many different climate areas since it is such a long chain of island. The fact that there many different seasons plays a major role in Japan and they often have festivals celebrating a particular season, these festivals have been going on for many years and play a large part in the culture of Japan. The next week we talked about the House and family system, which play a large role in Japanese day-to-day life. The family system that was used by most Japanese family and was part of their law was the IE system which was a tradition from the samurai and Confucian ideology. The IE system gives all the power to the male of the household and it also has structure for family hierarchy in order to make sure that, the parents and older family members will have some one from the younger generation to take care of them which plays into the Confucian idea of filial piety which is major focus of the IE system. It also instills the idea that individual is not important compared to the family as a whole and that it is always important to put the family first. After studying the IE system it is very easy to see how this system has had a major cultural impact on Japanese society and many ties to this system can still be seen in Japan today. But understanding this traditional form of family and their relationship it was easier to understand certain Japanese cultural practices and how they fit into their society because of how the IE system affected Japanese society. Then this past week we have been talking about socialization and classification, but to more specific mostly about the idea of Uchi and Soto. Uchi and Soto mean inside and outside but it goes for beyond that it is the code of cultural relations in Japan. The idea of acting on way in public and another in the home, these two ideas are major factors in the cultural identity of Japan and how one must behave both at home and in public. It also instills the idea of home cleanliness and how the outside and inside most is separate. This idea started the practice of leaving one shoes at the door and having inside slippers in order to keep the dirt from outside from entering the clean home. After these last few weeks although we have only begun to scratch the surface of Japanese culture I really feel as though I am begging to gain a much better understanding of Japanese culture and where it came from and why certain cultural ideas exist there and are enforced. I am looking forward to the rest of the semester and really gaining a deep understanding of Japanese culture.