Japan is an independent country in East Asia. The island is located in the Pacific Ocean and reaches southwest to the East China Sea and Taiwan. It is often referred to as the land of the rising sun, a reference to its Japanese name, which means'sun origin'. It is made up of over 6800 islands, with the four largest being Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Honshu (Morton). Japan has a population of approximately 128 million people, placing it among the countries with the greatest populations in the world. Tokyo is the capital city, and it is home to approximately 10 million people. It is true to say that the Japanese culture has evolved significantly over the millennia. It has evolved from the prehistoric time referred to as the jomon period to the contemporary modern culture which was formed by absorbing influences from different parts of the world, for example, China, North America, Asia, and Europe. The Japanese culture is rich in language, literature, music, visual arts, performing arts, architecture, sports and leisure, as well as, fashion. The popular culture of Japan is simply the modernized culture of the country. It is composed of cinema, anime, manga, television shows, and cuisines, however, all these maintain features of the old literary and artistic traditions. This paper will argue that the Japanese popular culture is entirely Japanese by showing that despite the fact that the popular culture was influenced by American media due to the US occupation that ended in 1952, Japan did not allow itself to be dominated by the American products. By partly appropriating the originals, as well as, imitating them, Japan managed to a greater part nature the growth of the popular culture and this is what makes the popular culture entirely Japanese.
The culture of Japan
Language
The Japanese language is the official language in the country. Although it is relatively small, the language has a distinct accent system characterized by its high pitch. The earliest attestation of this language was in a Chinese document created in 252 AD. In writing it is done with a combination of 3 scripts namely; the Katakana, Kanji, and Hiragana (Kuno). To create company names, logos, advertisements, as well as, to input characters into the computer, the Latin alphabet referred to as romaji is usually used in the language. Just like many other languages in the world, the Hindu-Arabic numerals are also used in Japanese to input numbers, however, before these were adopted the Sino-Japanese numerals were being used and it’s true to state that they are still commonly used today.
Literature
The early works of literature in Japan were mainly influenced by cultural contact with the Chinese and the Indians. The spread of Buddhism throughout Japan influenced Indian literature on the people, whereas, continuous cultural contact with the Chinese influenced Chinese literature on them too. Over the years, Japanese literature managed to grow into a separate style as the writers begun to write works about their country. It can be acknowledged that since the 19th century when Japan opened its ports to Western diplomacy and trading, its culture, as well as, that of the West have strongly affected and influenced one another to date.
Music
The Japanese music includes a wide range of performers with both traditional and modern styles. This can be supported by the fact that Japan is the 2nd largest market for musical works in the world and the largest in Asia with the market mainly being dominated by Japanese artists. The traditional music is different from the Western music. The main difference is that the traditional music, unlike the Western music, utilizes the intervals of human breathing but not mathematical timing.
Visual arts
The visual arts are made up of painting, calligraphy, sculpture, and Ikebana. Paintings have existed in Japan for a very long time and this can be linked to the fact that the brush is the traditional painting and writing tool. Calligraphy has been used a means of conveying information and it was often composed of poems, single characters, phrases, and stories. The early sculptures in Japan put a lot of focus on Buddhist images with the oldest being the wooden statue of Amitabha. Ikebana is the art of flower arrangement that is being used to date because of its focus on rhythm, color use, harmony, and simple design.
Religion and Architecture
There are 2 main religions in the country and these are Shinto and Buddhism. The architecture was heavily influenced by Chinese architecture, however, it has managed to develop aspects that are indigenous to Japan. Modern architecture is mainly made up of an amalgamation of the Japanese tradition and the Western architecture.
Traditional clothing
Japanese clothing distinguishes the country from other countries in the world. Referred to as Kimono, the traditional clothing was widely used in the past and play a significant role today. The early Kimonos were influenced by the Chinese Han clothing.
A summary of the culture of Japan
By critically evaluating the information presented above, it can be established that the culture has been influenced by contact with other cultures, for example, the Chinese, Indians, and the Western cultures. However, what was borrowed from these cultures was gradually changed by the Japanese, thus, maintaining the important imprint of the Japanese people. This has led to the development of a popular culture, which is entirely Japanese.
The popular culture and how it is entirely Japanese
The popular culture just like the traditional forms discussed in the above section are aspects that distinguish Japan as it is today from the rest of the world. There are large industries in the comic book, music, film, and the gaming sector. However, all these features that characterize the popular culture have been localized over the years through imitation and appropriation.
Brief history
In the early 1920s, considerations to use culture, as well as, media communication to improve the international understanding of the country’s perspectives were made. This was, however, interrupted by the occurrence of World War II which plunged the country into an economic struggle. The concept of using culture and media communications was brought up again to enable the country to reinvent itself and show the rest of the world the spirit its people truly have. By exporting appealing cultural products, for example, animations, television dramas, fashion, film, and music, they managed to show to the rest of the world the lives of the common Japanese people (Treat).
The people of Japan were initially considered to be cultural odorless, however, by launching the first television drama referred to as Oshin which aired in many Asian countries, this consideration changed. This television drama had various effects on the Asian countries but the most significant of all was it helping the countries develop a sense of commonality. The postwar reconstruction was difficult, thus, a vibrant entertainment industry was necessary. The people strongly believed in technology, hence, it was widely applied in the entertainment industry. The popular culture began to be dominated by the entertainment industry, for example, the people used technology to create toy cars and the revenue generated from that helped to rebuild the economy (Craig). It has been proven that the toy industry is one of the industries that significantly influenced the growth of the popular culture. Before the World War II, Japanese films were mainly composed of militaristic story telling controlled by the agendas of the state. Those of the postwar era created icons and idols that helped the people reimagine themselves and forget the victimization of the war. They had themes of why the people should be against the war and the destructions it caused.
Manga and Anime
Manga means whimsical drawing and according to the Western cultures, Manga is simply comic books that depict the Japanese history and culture. The manga style of drawing begun in the 10th century in scrolls that depicted animals with human behavior (Cohn 187-203). Manga used in the 12th century depicted images of religion, for example, the hurry ghost scrolls. What makes Manga different from the Western comic books is their cultural significance (MacWilliams). World War II caused a down surge in the use of Manga, however, the post-war reconstruction of the country begun the resurgence through the use of rental manga, as well as, illustrations. Anime is a television episode that uses a cartoon character to convey a story. Anime has a deeper character design compared to the animations of the Western world and this allows for a better connection between the viewer and the character. Anime is developed from manga dating back to the 12 century. It is a fact that anime is an integral part of the Japanese culture as it is being incorporated into various products, for example, in the clothing lines, toys, and video games.
Conclusion
The Japanese traditional culture is a product of influences from various cultures, for example, the Chinese, Indian, and the Western culture. However, despite this heavy influence, the Japanese people managed to forge their own culture by gradually changing the adopted traits from other cultures to make them suit their current status, for example, architecture, clothing, and music. The end of World War II ushered in the development of the popular culture. The people continued to be highly influenced by other cultures, for example, USA due to the US occupation but managed to imitate and change what was acquired, thus, make it unique in their own way. Manga and anime are a good example of this when the world is focused on producing the ordinary comic books and animations, the people of Japan create comic books (manga) and animations (anime) that are culturally relevant. A lot makes up the popular culture but since all of that that has been borrowed has been modified and changed to the preference of the people of Japan, it can confidently be said that the popular culture is entirely Japanese.
Works Cited
Cohn, Neil. "Japanese visual language: The structure of manga." Manga: An anthology of global and cultural perspectives (2010): 187-203.
Craig, Timothy J. Japan Pop: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture. Routledge, 2015.
Kuno, Susumu. The structure of the Japanese language. Vol. 3. Cambridge, MA: MIT press, 1973.
MacWilliams, Mark W. Japanese visual culture: explorations in the world of manga and anime. Routledge, 2014.
Morton, Scott. Japan: Its history and culture. McGraw Hill Professional, 2004.
Treat, John W. "Contemporary Japan and popular culture." (1996).
