Japanese culture

For my main project, I need to have some understanding of Japanese culture. This is because, by getting a better understanding of how Japanese people are, I can my animation very accurate. I will also go to touch on the Manga and Anime aspect, thus making part of their culture and it will be important to me.

Japanese People:

Japanese people seem to be very equal to each other. They are very homogenous compared to other populations in the world. This goes back to a time when Japan was isolated from other countries after WW2. A good example is Japanese workers have associated themselves with the company they work for a businessman will introduce himself as "Nissan no Takahashi-san" (I am Nissan's, Mr. Takahashi). By extension, we might get the idea that a Japanese person subordinates the self to the objectives of the society. (Inside Japan, n.d.)

All of this to say that Japanese people, compared to most people from Europe and America, have a very big difference. Good examples of this are the following:

- Christmas is A Romantic Holiday, they don't celebrate the Christmas holiday but Christmas Eve. This is because only 2% of the population celebrate it as a religion, which is the Christian.

- Japanese Women used to Blacken their teeth. This was done as an attractive facture for the teeth and it was believed that it helped protect the teeth against bacteria and other teeth problems. It was later banned to make the culture more appealing to westerners.

- Slurping is a Compliment. For us, this is something that we think is not very comfortable, but for Japanese people, this is perfectly fine. Not only they don't mind it, but they want people to do it while eating soup out noodles. They see this as a sign of "this food is good" and probably a more directed compliment to the cook. (Dawdy, 2017)

The religions in Japan are a mix of the religions from Shintoism and Buddhism. But the biggest difference between them and us westerners is that they don't consider themselves religious. As stated by the "Inside Japan" website (n.d.), they say "there are no religious prayers or symbols in a school graduation ceremony, for example. Religion is rarely discussed in everyday life and the majority of Japanese do not worship regularly or claim to be religious".

(free stock image)

Anime And Manga:

Most people know what the difference between manga and anime is, but to make it clear, Manga is the comic book in Japan, and anime is the animated cartoon in japan. (Inside Japan, n.d.)

Manga comics are generally books that are usually printed in black and white and have a variety of genres and subject matter that is aimed at both sexes and all ages, including children most of the time. 

Themes include:

- Romance 

- Action-adventure

- Science fiction

- Comedy

- Sports 

- Darker subject matter for adults such as horror and more +18 material (Inside Japan, n.d.)

Most people in Japan read mangas and it could be compared to people in the US reading about Superman and marvel comic books. Manga books can be found and seen everywhere in Japan.

From Inside Japan (n.d.) they say "Most manga aimed at children uses a simplistic style and the adorable characters feed Japan's love for all things kawaii (cute). Characters also have oversized eyes through which the artists are able to convey emotion more easily."

Anime is normally a manga but animated. These animations are normally aimed for kids as it goes on television. Anime usually includes more color than manga. With animations, we also have sounds, movements, and music to make the manga more real than it was before. And with this, the animes also got what most cartoons get: a theme song.

One of Japan's most famous animators in the anime industry is Hayao Miyazaki, co-director of Studio Ghibli. Most people in Japan and in the rest of the world adore his work and most people feel touched by his work.

This research is very underdeveloped, taking into account all the cultural differences that the Japanese have in relation to Western culture. Customs, habits, values, ideas are examples of these differences. With this research, I am not able to understand the complexity of all the elements that involve Japanese culture, but I was able to perceive some differences that help me to start to understand better because Japanese animation is also unique. But I still have to do more research to be able to carry out animation with oriental influences, more specifically from Japan.

References:

Iside Japan (n.d.) Japanese Culture [online] Available from: https://www.insidejapantours.com/japanese-culture/ [accessed on: 15/04/21]

Dawdy, J. (2017) 12 Things You Didn't Know About Japanese Culture [online] Available from: 

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/12-things-you-didn-t-know-about-japanese-culture/ [accessed on: 15/04/21]