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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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