the role change of Japans culture :: essays research papers

The Role Change of Japans Culture     My experiences in Japan go been surreal in that the cultural behaviors are nearly an exact opposite to those with which I had grown up. The order of daily life is solely dependent on the roles and duties of each individual. When people begin to go against the regular flow of the excepted norms, great controversy is created. Japanese culture patterns follow a specific code that is rarely altered. When they are disturbed, there is panic caused by the insecurities of change.     The identity of Japanese culture is collectivism. Japans culture is dependent on the community of the people. The Japanese do not progress to for individual success, but rather for group accomplishment. It is better for the group as a whole to be healthy than for one person to achieve higher(prenominal) status. The Japanese do not believe in leaving one person behind, they would rather slow the entire group shovel in until that pe rson nookie catch up. In addition, the person who is slowing the group down will feel shame because he has hurt his "family". For example, I volunteered in a Kindergarten in Shinagawa the last four months, and one day there was a little boy who was moving his chair into the group much more slowly than the opposite students. The other students sat quietly watching him. When he finally put his chair down and the teacher was order to begin, the student did not have his materials ready and had to go back to the closet to get things. The teacher became agitated and went after the boy. She pointed to the clock and spoke to him sternly. Then she looked at the students and held him so they could all look at him as she reprimanded him. The child did not scream or cry for his mother as I expected. Instead he looked down as tears flowed down his cheeks. The other students went back to looking at the teachers chair and she returned and did the lesson without the boy. The boy continue d to stand still until the group finished and then he rejoined them. I had seen the students hitting each other and misbehaving many times, but I never saw a student get punished by a teacher until this day. This boy, at four years old, was feeling Haji (shame). He had hurt the group by cutting their time short.