JAPAN is a country where the land affects EVERYTHING - culture, language, history, and even people's basic personalities. Imagine a country, physically the same size as California, yet 85% of it are mountains. The 15% that is livable makes the living area the size of West Virginia. Now imagine cramming HALF the population of the U.S. (130 million) into that area. That's what Japan is like.
Because of this fact, Japanese have been forced to value HARMONY above all things - it's a survival characteristic. They have evolved into a GROUP society where NOT making waves and being the SAME as everyone else is highly valued. We have the saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." And Americans value FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE above all things. The Japanese have the expression, "The nail that sticks up gets punded down." So Japanese are conditioned from birth, school, and work relationships NOT to share their true inner feelings (their HONNE) with anyone for fear of offending someone and breaking the harmony of the group. Instead, they show their outward "face" (their TATEMAE) that goes along with the group, yet they may hide deep-seated hurt and disagreement.
This in turn influences the whole functioning of LANGUAGE. Japanese is designed as a language to talk completely around the true subject, without ever coming out directly and naming it (for fear of offending) and the other person has to intuit the true subject and the speaker's feelings about it and then respond in a vague, but appropriate way (so the other person doesn't lose "face"). Thus, it's very hard to get to heart issues with many Japanese. This characteristic also fuels many Japanese people's desire to learn English - they find they can be DIRECT and speak their true feelings in English, much easier than they can in their own language. That's why almost ALL churches and Missions groups in Japan offer English classes.
Geography also infuences their national psyche - Japan is an island with almost no natural resources. They have to import EVERYTHING in some quantity, thus they've had to become master traders to survive. They have to make the most of what they do have and make it stretch as far as possible. They're masters at taking other countries' innovative ideas and refining them to the highest level - as compact and efficient as possible. This accounts for their leadership in the manufacturing and electronics fields.
As an island nation, they have never successfully been invaded. There is a deep-rooted pride and natural sense of superiority and a feeling that, given time and enough education, they can solve any problem. Religion is viewed as a weakness and only weak people turn to it. Many times it takes "weakness," suffering, or disaster to open Japanese up to the Lord's Love.
Please click on the many links we've provided to the right of the map to explore varied facets of Japan's beautiful land:
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We live in Shizuoka City currently – 35 miles south of Mt. Fuji, right on the Pacific Ocean. We lived in Hamamatsu, an hour further south of Shizuoka, for 2 years. Yumiko is from Yonezawa, to the south of Yamagata and west of Fukushima.
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Millions of people across Japan crowd into local Shinto Shrines for "Hatsumode" – the first prayer of the New Year for health and good luck.
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SHINTO is the folk religion native to Japan. It comprises a wide variety of beliefs that allow for 800 million gods (but no One Creator God), the existance of "kami," which are Spirit Beings enshrined in local entities like a rock, a forest, a mountain, a mighty tree, and that emphasizes rituals that purify people and put them into harmony with these gods, kami, and nature.
Most localities have a Shrine where the local deity, or kami, is enshrined and where people come to pray, to report births & marriages, and to receive blessings on new children, new adulthood, and new buildings. The local Shrine is also the center point of a neighborhood's social life with local and regional Festivals accompanied by dancing, sparring with portable shrines from other localities, and much drinking.
Most people in Japan may not personally believe in kami or the need to "worship" them, but the practices associated with Shinto are so entwined with their society, most people end up faithfully practicing them.
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Drawing "Omikuji" (good or bad luck fortunes) hopefully brings Good Luck for the year. Bad Luck fortunes people receive are tied to trees or strings at the Shrine to avert it from them.
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The worship of dead ancestors is where Buddhism has it's strongest hold on Japanese. On the Spring Equinox, the Fall Equinox, and the O-bon Festival of the Dead, most Japanese would visit the grave site of their departed loved ones and pay homage and report to them their recent activities and pray for their protection and help.
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There are many sects of Buddhism with slightly different tenents. However, most promote bodily and mental discipline to eliminate desire, which is viewed as the source of all suffering. Most people also embrace the idea of reincarnation, where people's souls are attached to the Wheel of Life for a time to live out their Karma, then they die (which is the equivalent of a "time out," and then they are re-attached to the Wheel at a higher or lower station, depending on their actions in their past life. Once all desire has been eliminated, they are freed from this cycle of birth/death/re-birth to reach a State of Enlightenment and Oneness with the Universe.
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