Japanese culture


Japanese culture is unique. Some antropoligsts consider "Japanese culture" as a totally different entity from "Asian Culture". After living five years in Japan, I think it is true. I've travelled all around Asia, and Japan is just different, with its good things, and also its bad things. In this category I gather my thinkings about Japanese culture peculiarities that caught my attention.

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Taro Okamoto

Por kirai el 22 de September de 2008 en JapaneseCulture

I while ago I visited the Taro Okamoto museum in Kawasaki. Taro Okamoto is one of the most important Japanese artists from the last century. He was a painter, an sculptor and a writer. His master piece was the Tower of Sun, that he designed for the 1970 Osaka Expo. If you have read 20th [...]

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Personal identity VS company identity

Por kirai el 13 de June de 2008 en JapaneseCulture

When you work in a traditional Japanese company the identity of your company is always above of yours. You are part of a group, you are part of a family, a family whose members are all the company employees. Japanese society is “collectivist”, and US society is “individualist”. In a “collectivist” society, every individual tries [...]

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Sakura snow

Por kirai el 14 de April de 2008 en JapaneseCulture, Photography

The beautiful Sakura blossom just finished. One of the most beautiful phenomenon about sakura blossom is to see how the petals drop. It’s one of the romantic scenes you will see over and over in many Japanese films, dramas and manga.
Here are some of my sakura petal “snow” pictures:

Here you can see the petals falling. [...]

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Hanami

Por kirai el 07 de April de 2008 en JapaneseCulture

Hanami (花見 - flower, see) is a Japanese tradition where people enjoys contemplating flowers. People goes wherever there are blossomed trees and do picnics below them. The most important hanami season happens when the cherry trees blossom (Sakura), it happened here in Tokyo two weeks ago and it’s finished by now. This year we had [...]

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Japanese sleeping

Por kirai el 05 de September de 2007 en JapaneseCulture

Japanese have an special ability to fall asleep anywhere at anytime. Since I came to Japan I’m keeping a collection pictures showing Japanese people sleeping. Look at the first picture where four people in a row are sleeping! When I took this picture, almost everyone in my wagon was enjoying a siesta.

Read more crazy stuff [...]

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Hikikomori

Por kirai el 01 de August de 2007 en JapaneseCulture, Society

Hikikomori (ひきこもり - 引き篭り) is a Japanese term used to refer to the social isolation that many young Japanese suffer because they are afraid to start living by themselves in the real world. The ones who suffer this syndrome stay at home and spend their time sleeping, watching TV, playing video games and surfing the [...]

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Kancho

Por kirai el 06 de July de 2007 en Funny, JapaneseCulture

“Kancho” is a procedure in which you attack your victim from behind putting together both of your hands in a “kancho position” (see the pictures), the purpose is to hit your “rival’s” ass with your index fingers. When I first listened about it, I was very skeptical, I thought the guys who explained it to [...]

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Nemawashi - 根回し

Por kirai el 29 de June de 2007 en JapaneseCulture

Nemawashi is a very important concept you need to know if you want to understand how Japanese companies work. The way decisions are made, the way changes in the system are introduced in Japanese companies follow the Nemawashi process. In the old times Nemawashi 根回し was a word used by farmers when they had to [...]

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Amae - 甘え

Por kirai el 05 de June de 2007 en JapaneseCulture

Amae (甘え) is a Japanese concept/word that is used to describe people’s behavior when you desire to be loved, you desire someone to take care of you, when you want unconsciously to be depending on another person (your parents, your wife/husband or even your boss) with a certain meaning of submission. For example, a person [...]

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Blood types in Japan

Por kirai el 15 de May de 2007 en JapaneseCulture

In Japan they ask your blood type even if you wanna go to the toilet! Just joking, but seriusly talking they usually ask it when you register in websites, in job interviews, when you meet a new person he/she asks your blood type before your age, my workmates know everyone’s blood type in the office [...]

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