The nation of Japan, even more so than other countries, has a long, long history behind it. It's a country dating back as far as the B.C. Era, and that has experienced various powerful events that has shaped the country since its birth. As with other nations, an important part of their past lies in their religion. Before they were introduced to Buddhism and other outside religions, which had a large impact on their society, the Japanese followed something known as Shinto. As the one religion that can truly be called “Japanese,” it follows that its influences would still remain in the eyes of the people and only aided by a traditionally xenophobic view of the world.
Now, in modern Japan, the role of fundamental religion has, for the most part, come to an end. The country has established its relevance in an increasingly globalized world. They've proven themselves to be a powerhouse in the business sector, especially as it relates to advancement in the technological field. The first thing that comes to mind when people think of Japanese businesspeople is an unwavering politeness and sense of respect. Clearly, how one views politeness is often guided by how one's society views politeness. So, I find myself wondering to what extent, if any, their modern business ideas coincide with their original religion.
First, Shinto itself needs to be explored. As a brief history, Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, that, as mentioned, dates back before written records. In fact, the term “Shinto” wasn't even used to identify their religion until others started infiltrating their country, as they previously had no need to distinguish something that, to their country at the time, was a universal concept. The term means “the way of the ka...
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... everything else. I would say that many of their modern concepts, if they did not arise from modernization itself, are the result of the total cultural influences that have been passed down over the generations. In the end, it's just like it is in every country: How they view things in the past and present effects how they view things in the future.
Works Cited
“Business Travel to Japan on a Budget.” CNN Business Traveller. Perf. Richard Quest. CNN, 2006. Television.
Dore, Ron. "50 Years of Observing Japan: Economics, Society and Business Education." YouTube. Global MBA, 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2012.
Iwase, Daisuke; Terrie Lloyd, et. al. “Entrepreneurship in Japan and Asia.” G1 Global Conference 2011. GLOBIS Tokyo Campus, 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2012.
Religions of the World: Shinto. Perf. Ben Kingsley. SCHLESSINGER VIDEO, 1998. VHS.
Return of the Gods. UFOTV, 2005. DVD.
I did not know that much about this culture until this paper. The Japanese people are very polite and respectful. The Japanese take education very serious and nature. Their langue is a lot different they have different styles of speaking even for different social status there is a certain way of thinking. In Japan there is a mixture of the Buddha religion and the Shinto. Both beliefs have the same influence on the Japan culture. Buddhism was brought o Japan in the early 6th century from China. There are five precepts that they go by which are no killing, no stealing, no lying, no sexual misconduct, and no use of intoxication.
Analysis: Shinto: The Way Home’s organization is quite useful because it moves in chronological order and it leads the reader in a way that allows for understanding the most unrelatable Ideas of Shintoism. The book uses many Japanese terms and names that may lead confusion for the audience as they have to learn the vocabulary to understand many of the statement Kasulis uses. Kasulis also lack an argument through most of this work and he seems to focus on supplying information as accurately as possible. The author discusses a variety information pertaining to Shintoism making it useful
Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan. It means “the way of the kami”. Shintoism is mainly focused on beliefs in, and worships of Kami. Kami are spiritual or divine beings. They are sometimes referred to as the ‘gods’ in Shinto. But rather than the powerful and supernatural beings seen in Western religion, Kami is more like a mystical and sacred spirit that exist in the creative forces of nature. Shintoism follows the belief of animism, which is the belief that natural, material objects possess souls. These sacred spirits, called Kami are able to take the form of different things in nature. Kami not only exists as spiritual beings, but also takes the form of plants and animals, mountains and seas, and all natural phenomena.
Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...
Shintoism has no founder ,and the history behind the technicalities of the rise of Shinto are rather obscure. Experts don't agree as to when Shinto became a unified religion more than just a label to give to the different faiths of Japan. Before the arrival of Buddhism, Shinto referred to the many local cults of the prehistoric Japanese people. These people were animists; devoted to the worship of nature and spirits. These spirits were the Kami; found in living things, nonliving things and natural phenomena. The early Japanese created a spiritual world—and rituals and stories to accompany it—that seemingly gave them control of their lives. It wasn't considered a religion at those times, early Japanese people regarded their faith as a commonality as a part of the natural world. The realms of Earth and the supernatural were closely integrated into each other for them. (“Religions”)
The religion of the Japanese people is called Shinto. Shinto translates to Way of the Spirits. Some say that it is more than a religion, it is a way of life for the Japanese people. It is closely paralleled by the Japanese cultures and way of life (Hirai, 2007). Shinto has been a way of practicing faith and living a pure life in Japan for over 2,000 years. Shinto is in every aspect of the Japanese life. For example: ethics, politics, social structure, artistic life, sporting life, and of course spiritual life (Religion, 2017). Nowadays, the people of Japan mix some Shinto and Buddhism in their lives as far as their spiritual beings are concerned. Shinto is a very free religion. There is no God, no commandments, no founder, and no scriptures. Rather than worshiping a God, Shinto followers worship kami, or spiritual energy (Hansen 2007).
Japan, at first, let the newcomers in and learned about them, and let them learn a little from them. However, they didn't have very good experiences, like as portrayed in document twelve, the Japanese thought of the Europeans as arrogant and full of themselves, and the Europeans, like Will Adams in document fourteen, didn't like what the Japanese did, in holding them there when they wanted to leave, and the way they treated the women as completely there just to serve and help the men, as was mentioned in document eleven. The Japanese, as in document fifteen, said that innovations had to be reported, and listed them right next to factional conspiracies, as if they were both equally bad, showing that the Japanese didn't want to advance technologically, and wanted to stick with tradition. The Europeans as we already know, where rapidly advancing technologically, because of their fierce rivals with each other, making Japan dislike them even more. The Europeans, who were trying to spread Christianity as well as become rich, thought that the Japanese would convert quickly, as Francis Xavier wrote in document thirteen, “They see clearly that their ancestral law is false and the law of God true, but they are deterred by fear of their prince from submitting to the...
Japan is part of our world that not many people know, for the few that do, they know that Japan is filled with an extraordinary history. Some of the history starts with little traditions like, the tradition of kimono’s, to big ones such as their well known Japanese festivals. Ancient Japan was a series of islands and many cultural expansions which included religion, armies, art, classic traditions, and their type of clothing. Ancient Japanese is still alive today, from basic works of art, to then a following of certain religions such as Shinto and Buddhism. Many Americans don’t the cultural aspects that were attributed by many across the world, they don’t know that many of those aspects made what Japan is today in society.
Japan has been a home for Shinto and Buddhist religions for centuries. The Christian missionaries during the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries worked hard to evangelize the Japanese nation but could not get desired success. There efforts in past failed partly due to sanctions imposed by the local rulers. The Jesuits missionaries traveled with Spanish and Portuguese traders to many areas of America and Asia-Pacific and established their churches and religious missions. They were funded, sponsored and trained by their respective governments in order to spread Christianity. At several places they preached the Christian faith by force but the aboriginal population did not accept it wholeheartedly. Initially the Jesuits targeted the elite class of the country and a large number was converted. The rulers also forced their subject to embrace the same faith. About 300,000 Japanese were converted in the first phase. Later on, Christianity was prohibited as the rulers started seeing them as a threat to their authority. Following a change of regime, the ban was lifted and missionaries were again allowed to enter Japan. Like many Native American tribes, the Japanese also resisted the new religion. As a result, presently Christians form only 1% of the total population in Japan. This paper is focused on how the Christian religion was introduced in Japan, the evolution of evangelism, establishment of churches, the restrictions and hurdles faced by the missionaries and priest of the new religion and the response of Japanese nation towards an alien faith. All these queries are answered in detail given as follows.
The Ottoman empire had a long history of using foreigners as slaves. The Janissaries were boys taken from the Balkans to be soldier-slaves for the Ottomans. They took these boys from their homes and used them as a cavalry in their strong military. Near the end of the empire, the Janissaries had gained much power which eventually aided in the fall of the empire. The Ottomans were not scared of the outside world. They continued to expand their vast empire, almost until it fell. The Ottomans spread themselves out and had many various cultures and people living within their empire. This is very different from how Japan came to later view and treat foreigners. Under Nobunaga, Japan traded with foreigners and was tolerant of new religions. However under the Tokugawa shogunate, the empire completely changed these policies. The Buddhist uprisings in Japan had ended, so the need for Christians in court was nonexistent. Along with this, the people of Japan became more dedicated to their faith than to the shogun. They would refuse to follow some orders of the shogun if they believed it went against their newfound religion. This greatly angered Tokugawa and he began to persecute the Christians. He eventually led Japan into a period of isolationism. Isolationism has been long used in history, even in the United States. Before entering World War II, the United States took on a policy of isolationism to protect themselves. Japan turned away from the world as a way of keeping themselves safe from foreign invasion. Unlike the Ottomans, Japan never let foreigners gain significant power, and when it seemed like they may the shogun essentially removed all foreigners. Japan stopped trading with foreigners almost all together, save for the Dutch at a small port. No foreigners were to step on Japanese land. Japan shut themselves out of the rest of the world to protect
The Japanese culture has allowed for very little diversity. This started very early in their history. The social controls used to eliminate diversity are the family, the power of gender, the poor treatment of minority groups, the corporate Japanese mentality, and the respect required by people in authority. However, due to globalization and the shrinking of the world, Japanese society is starting to make the change to diversity. The individualistic mentality shared by the new technology driven younger generation is putting pressure on the old Japanese status quo. The transformation is happening very slow, but as the population ages and the old conservatives are being replaced by the new liberals, the old way of thinking is also being replaced by the new.
Shimazono, Susumu. 2005. "State Shinto and the Religious Structure of Modern Japan." Journal Of The American Academy Of Religion 73, no. 4: 1077-1098. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 23, 2012).
Japan is a large island off to the east of China it is a great country that has a rich culture. The Japanese religion is based off of two main beliefs, the belief in Shinto and Buddhism many Japanese people believe consider themselves both. The Japanese people were known to be around as early as 4,500 B.C. They have constructed their government style to a constitutional monarchy where they do in fact have an emperor, but he has limited power within the country. The main power of the country is held by the Prime Minister of Japan. Japan is made up of many islands that extend along the Pacific coast of Asia. The land area is made up of a lot of forest and mountainous area that cannot be used for agricultural, industrial or residential use. Japan also has one of the largest and growing economies in the world. They are growing every day and it is all because the people of Japan work very hard in order for their economy to flourish as it has.
Japan is a fascinating multifaceted culture, on one hand it is filled with many traditions dating back thousands of years and yet is a society with continually changing fads,
Japan has a large population in relation to its land mass. Japan is a cultural society. They live their life with key factors in mind. One factor happens to be religion.