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Konnichiwa! ^^
Have you ever been to
Japan?
Or would you like to travel there?
Japan is pretty popular among young people in Western countries
since it´s known for its pop culture all over the world,
including manga, anime
cosplay, j-pop music
and video games.
Well, Japan is an island nation
surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the West
and the Pacific Ocean to the East.
The main islands are
Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku and Kyushu
but there are more than 4,000 other islands
smaller than those four
belonging to it as well.
Japan has a large North-South extent
so there are many different climates from
snow-all-around-the-year to
subtropical regions.
The West-East extent on the contrary
is quite small
and the area in the middle of the islands
is usually characterized by high mountain ranges
and even
volcanoes.
Those areas are neither safe nor fertile
or good for trade
so people don't really settle there.
The majority of the population lives at the coasts
in big cities like
Tokyo, Yokohama,
Osaka, Nagoya,
Sapporo or Kyoto.
Living that close to the sea,
the Japanese eat a lot of fish.
A well-known dish is Sushi.
In its most common way
it's made of dried seaweed, rice and raw fish
but there are certainly a lot of variations.
More Western food has been established as well
but traditional Japanese food
still plays a way bigger role,
since it is more easy to obtain on a large scale.
For people on islands it is simply
obvious to live of the goods of the ocean.
Japan has not always been an island though.
In fact, 30.000 years ago,
Japan was linked to the Asian continent by
land bridges.
Those allowed people to colonize it
and
develop their own culture.
There were many different tribes,
each with their own distinct practices and beliefs.
The Ainu culture and the Shinto religion
still prevail as the remains of early Japanese history.
On the way to modernization,
elements of other countries were adapted as well,
such as Buddhism, Confucianism
and the Chinese writing System.
It is interesting to see that many Japanese
are members of both Shintoism and Buddhism.
Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples can be seen
everywhere in Japan.
The Shinto religion believes in ghosts and spirits
while the most important topic in Buddhism is harmony.
The country was in turns united as a whole
and then again
split into numerous smaller kingdoms.
Famous periods in which the whole country was ruled by one single, divine emperor
were the Edo and the Meji period.
Central government also comes along with a certain
stability and security.
But in terms of fragmentation
many wars were being fought
and rich people hired Samurai to protect themselves and their property.
A commonly known samurai weapon was the katana,
a longsword with a slightly bent blade.
They used it with both hands because it was hard to handle.
In those days not only combatants were solely male but
life in general was dominated by men.
Women didn't get to decide a lot.
Geishas as an exception were highly respected women
who worked as entertainers.
Their skills included playing Japanese music and performing traditional dances
as well as conversation.
Wearing typical Japanese clothes like Kimonos,
they took great influence on the female fashion.
Their accessories included hair ornaments, called kanzashi,
and colorful fans.
Japan developed mostly separated from the Western World in its early days.
But eventually, it became a global player just like the Western countries.
Japan started off colonizing some smaller islands
then went on to conquer Korea and parts of China
even fought against Russia and participated in both World Wars.
Nowadays its relations to other countries have immensely improved, though.
Due to a crazy working mentality, great inventions and an appealing pop culture
Japan has become a respected and admired country with an
outstanding economy.
But still only few foreigners speak Japanese.
The language might scare people off and to be honest, that's understandable because
Japanese is really tough.
To clear up some general confusions,
here is a short overview:
Lacking a writing system of their own,
the Japanese adapted the Chinese characters sometime in the past.
Those are called the kanji
and there are still about 3.000 of them in use.
The Japanese language though works a bit differently from Chinese,
so additional characters were required to form grammatical structures.
Therefore the hiragana were invented,
which look rounder and less complex than the kanji.
Luckily, there are only 46 basic hiragana characters.
They can be modified by adding additional strokes.
Due to the periodicity they are all pretty easy to learn.
As a means to adapt foreign words the Japanese use the Katakana, the third and last writing System.
Each of them has a hiragana equivalent.
Sometimes, the pairs look pretty similar.
Can you see it?
Japanese grammar works by adding particles behind words.
It is built up very logically
but the sentence structure differs a lot from English,
making it hard to get into it.
With enough practice though,
you might even be able to write your own haiku,
which is the famous form of Japanese poetry.
Haikus are expressed through the art of shoudou calligraphy
using a brush and black ink.
It takes years of practice to master the painting techniques.
Japan is not only known for its poetry and art
but also for its stunning wood craftsmanship.
Without question, the most difficult things to build out of wood are music instruments
and Japan as many of them.
The shamisen, a long-necked lute with three strings;
the shakuhachi, a flute made of bamboo
and the taiko, a drum earlier used to set a marching pace for the Military.
Finally, there's the koto, Japan's national instrument.
The koto is often played to accompany songs about cherry blossoms and springtime.
In Japan, that whole season is celebrated at local festival in every region of the country.
Today, ancient instruments are still used in folk rock music,
but there are also new genres like j-rock and j-pop.
Modern music is often linked to anime,
as it is usually used in the opening and ending sequences.
Anime is very popular in Japan.
Not only kids and teens watch it but adults as well.
Just like with actual movies there are numerous different genres of anime as well.
No wonder that it captivates viewers from all over the world!
But keep in mind:
Anime is often exaggerated
and does not necessarily portray the everyday life of Japan as it truly is.
If you're interested in finding out about foreign countries yourself,
the very best way to do so is by going there in person.
Traveling to Japan surely isn't cheap
but for enthusiasts like us it'll be absolutely worth it.
Sayonara and see you there!
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