Japan: examples of modern Japan alongside tradition.
 

Hey there,

When I think about Japan I often get the feeling that Japan is an extremely modern and technologically advanced nation, but what sets is apart from other modern european nations and the US is the way that it has developed whilst maintaining a strong sense of its own culture. When I try to think of good examples which show this however I have quite a hard time - I was wondering if anybody out there might have some good ideas.

The sort of things I have come up with are how the traditional Ryokan Onsen is such a popular place to stay (and expensive) despite there being arguably more luxurious and advanced hotels? This possibly shows that Japanese take comfort in their own culture?

The perserverance of Japanese bathing culture and visiting bath houses - rather than just taking a shower?

I have also been trying to think of places where traditional buildings exist alongside more modern buildings - possibly Sensō-ji in Asakusa with buildings such as the Asahi building in the same area.

I don't think these examples are very strong and I'm having a bit of a mental block at the moment! If you have any angles on this concept and can give me any examples which show either Japan choosing tradition over technology or a modern approach which maintains tradition, then I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!

(PS. I am European and have never been able to visit Japan so I might not know what I'm talking about!)

So...you're saying Finnish people don't have a strong sense of their own culture?

Hehe, not at all. It's probably because I am European and I have never travelled to East Asia but when I travel around Europe I often find the different nations blend alot and share alot of cultural aspects with their neighbours, they do of course have their own national identity however. From my (poor) viewpoint I see Japan as taking concepts from abroad and expressing them in a manner which makes them very much their own, like the Japanese take on Californian culture with the Ganguro style. This idea could be completely wrong - but I was wondering if there were any examples to support it?

I agree with what you are saying, Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world yet they still rely much upon tradition.

It's very true in industry. Japanese are famous for taking a great idea and making it better. Look at cars and consumer electronics.

This is also true in language. "loan words" pepper the Japanese language, but are written in a special way that distinguishes them from "native" Japanese words, but doesn't exclude them.

Interesting, by loan words do you mean words from other languages which can be adopted into Japanese sentences? I agree very much with the earlier sentiment - especially considering Toyota's prominence in the car industry (competing closely with GM to be the world's biggest carmaker - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7227691.stm). This probably doesn't say too much about Japanese tradition however?