Презентация japan_5192efc1-36d2-4234-a097-2c036e71d1c9

1.

Japanese history

2.

Approximately 100 miles of ocean separate
Japan from the Korean peninsula, and China
is just 500 miles to the east across the
Yellow Sea.

3.

A relatively small nation composed of
four major islands and several thousand
smaller ones, Japan was accessible only by
sea until the early part of the 20th
century/

4.

The natural isolation, further encouraged by
over 250 years of governmental imposed
national seclusion during the Tokugawa or Edo
era(1603-1867), was instrumental in the
development of Japan’s cultural distinctiveness
and self-image.

5.

Historical isolation, low numbers of
immigrants, and a feudal-based system of
governance produced a society
characterised by its relative cultural
homogeneity. This sense of ethnic similarity
has become a defining characteristic among
the Japanese, as Dower writes: “ Although all
peoples and cultures set themselves apart by
stressing differences, this tends to be
carried to an extreme where Japan is
concerned”

6.

7.

Demographic separation and geographic
isolation "produced in the Japanese a strong
sense of self-identity and also an almost
painful self-consciousness in the presence of
others.“
This self-consciousness persists today and
can sometimes be encountered by foreigners
traveling outside Japan's major urban areas,
where they may find themselves treated as
curiosities or even ignored.

8.

Another important link between Japan's long
history and its contemporary cultural values is
the Tokugawa historical legacy. In the early 1600s,
following a period of debilitating civil wars, Japan
was politically unified under the leadership of a
military-style governor (shogun).
The Japanese population, much of which resided
in or around castle towns, was divided into four
specific, hierarchical groups: samurai, farmer,
artisan, and merchant (shi-no-ko-sho) each with
its own set of subgroups and hierarchy (the
Imperial CCourt was above these and several
lower status groups were below)

9.

10.

The central government specified strict codes of
behavior to regulate the conduct of every aspect
of personal and public life. In other words, the
Japanese formed a culture where in many
contexts there was a single correct way to
perform a task, be it sitting, eating, dressing, living,
or even thinking, and any other type of behavior
was considered deviant.
The objective of these protocols was to ensure
external peace and internal group stability by
subordinating the individual to the central
authority and the greater social order.

11.

12.

The Tokugawa era
castle town
residents relied on
benevolent feudal
lords for protection
and civil
administration. In
return for these
benefits, the people
professed a strong
loyalty to the
warlords (daimyo).

13.

Feudalism also inculcated in the Japanese an
acceptance of discipline, sacrifice, and conformity.
People were required to conduct every aspect of
their lives in a highly proscribed manner,
depending on their social class membership.
These conditions have been translated into
contemporary Japanese dedication to societal and
organizational formality and acceptance of higher
authority, status differentials, and conformity to
group expectations.

14.

15.

Japanese "premodern village life was a community
enterprise" where the people depended on
cooperative efforts to carry out labor intensive
wetland (rice) cultivation.
As Reischauer and Jansen point out, "Probably
such cooperative efforts over the centuries
contributed to the notable Japanese penchant for
group identification and group action." Group
affiliation was also inculcated by the feudal
government organization and class system,
discussed above, which lasted until the Meiji
Restoration in 1868.

16.

17.

The demands of wetland cultivation made
an isolated existence essentially
impossible.
As a result, group exclusion became "a
powerful sanction throughout rural
[Japanese] society" to maintain order and
punish social deviance. To some degree,
various forms of social exclusion remain a
means of social punishment in modern
Japan.

18.

Japan In the World War

19.

World War II (1941-45) was a historical
event that greatly impacted Japanese
society.
Motivated by an inability to resist
incursions by Western powers in the mid1800s, Japan immediately instituted
comprehensive national programs to
modernize itself in the image of the
United States and European nations.

20.

Along with economic industrialization, educational
restructurings, and social transformation, Japanese
leaders also sought to build a powerful military, capable
of not only defending the island nation, but also of
providing Tokyo a voice in international affairs.
This led to imperialistic expansion into Asia in the
1930s and ultimately entry into World War II.

21.

At the end of the war
Japan's industrial and
military capacity was
virtually on existent.
Almost one hundred
years of modernization
and industrialization
efforts had been
comprehensively and
completely destroyed.
However, drawing on
their cultural traits of
discipline, the ability to
endure hardship
(gaman), and strong
sense of national
identity, the Japanese
began a wide-reaching
program of
reconstruction, aided
by Allied Occupation
Forces, and by the mid1980s, Japan had
become one of the
world's leading
economies

22.

The aftermath of World War II, especially the
impact of the atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also instilled in the
Japanese a strong feeling of pacifism and a
reluctance to engage in military operations not
directly related to national self-defense

23.

Contemporary Social issues
The era of globalization has given rise to societal
problems that are straining the fabric of
contemporary Japanese social order and, in some
instances, bringing change to traditional values.
These problems include (1) demographic changes,
(2) immigration issues, and (3) risk management.
Japan's once rural society, characterized by
interdependent extended families, now consists
largely of urban nuclear families.
The nation has the world's highest percentage of
elderly population (over 65), whose numbers are
growing rapidly.

24.

25.

The situation is exacerbated by increased
longevity, a rising marriage age, and a
severely falling birthrate.
These developments will ultimately exert a
significant burden on social programs as the
native workforce declines.
The obvious solution is increased
immigration, but this course faces
considerable difficulty, as Kingston points
out, "The growing presence of foreigners in
Japan is generally unwelcome and seen as a
risk not only in terms of crime rates, but
also to a national identity rooted in a sense
of homogeneity."