Aren't Japanese people afraid of losing their traditions?

[File0]

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Hello everyone!

Sorry if my question has already been discussed here, but if not,
I hope you don't mind speaking of it. It's just something I've been thinking about and up until now I hadn't been able to put into shape (not even as a question).
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As I know Japan treasures traditions very much, so my question is rather about the meaning of a tradition, such as religious purports.
Aren't traditional and ordinary life diverge more and more - so some day not many will recognize the purpose behind a festival or a way to prepare a food?

I hate to see in my country how many people act in the name of traditionalism without these purposes, how twisted a meaningless tradition can be, without the background knowledge it just seems to be wrong, but in our case it's been so long since we began to lose our old selves.

So what about Japan? Is it all right there? Can Japanese keep the shape of the origins, without shutting out everyone who just don't fit the picture? Or is it OK to change even if it means deformation? And what questions may occur related to this, which an outsider can't possibly see?

Thank you!

edit: sorry for the title, I didn't know it was too long...

[JayT]

They have the best of both worlds. There is still a strong sense of tradition as well as a modern flare.

[cranks]

In my opinion, Japanese culture is one of the most resilient ones in the world. Look at the language. You see Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji was imported 1500 years ago from China. And Japanese invented Hiragana and Katakana from it and use a mixture of them now. Nobody says Japanese writing system is a bad copy of the Chinese one today. Likewise, Japanese didn't eat animal meat up until 150 years ago. Today, you see a lot of "Japanese" dishes that use beef, pork and chicken. Even Tempra has an origin in Portuguese dishes.

I think it's this attitude, attitude to import new and good things from outside and digest them in our own way to create new things that makes Japanese culture unique. Even Manga and Anime aren't entirely Japanese. They have strong influence from Disney. But Japan had things like 浮世絵 and 紙芝居 and we adopted new things from the west and now nobody says or even thinks Manga is western.

So, nah, most of us aren't "afraid" of the change.

[Ronin4hire]

Tradition is only worth saving if it has a function or can be justified rationally.

I don't quite understand the idea of holding on to tradition for the sake of tradition.

Circumcision for example.

Why someone would cut the foreskin off of the penis is beyond me. (Apparently God doesn't allow circumcised penises into heaven. )

I agree with cranks.

I think Japan does well at keeping the traditions that work while getting rid of the ones that are useless.

[GoNative]

I would question what is there to be afraid of? Traditions change in all cultures over time. Japanese society has changed a lot throughout it's history. Some traditions remain throughout the ages, some cease to be observed and there are new ones that come along. Japan is not really any different to any other country in that sense. Is Japan in any imediate danger of losing it's rather unique culture? I think not, nothing to fear here!

[cranks]

How was your turkey?

Oops, I've forgotten, Thanksgiving is an American tradition. I still think GoNative should make use of his professional grade oven though I said this somewhere before and got a counter argument from MMM which was well founded, but I still think average Japanese people aren't good at using an oven (we are good at pretty much everything else regarding food though ) so if you can conjure up a perfectly roasted turkey, or beef, or whatever, I think you'll get some Wow! from them.

Well, what was the point again? religious purports? mmm. The religion in Japan is very very different from Abraham's religions. Many Japanese are in a way atheists but at the same time very religious.

[File0]

First, thank you for your answers!
I can see it's quite a meaningless question to make if it's Japan. I'm still unsure though in some...

Originally Posted by cranks

Well, what was the point again? religious purports? mmm. The religion in Japan is very very different from Abraham's religions. Many Japanese are in a way atheists but at the same time very religious.

Religion is just one possible aspect, but since you highlighted it, I should exact my thoughts about it. I know you're incredibly good at adopting things, from religions to pharmaceutical discoveries, but can you still keep up with the 21th century's tempo. You cannot hide anything from the 'eye' of our age, but are you OK with it, I mean don't you have sacred traditions, which shouldn't be relieved under secrecy. How does a traditional wedding sublime when foreigners (even Japanese) stands on the side of the road with their photo-machine in their most casual/leasure dresses. Is this OK for you?

Originally Posted by GoNative

I would question what is there to be afraid of? Traditions change in all cultures over time. Japanese society has changed a lot throughout it's history. Some traditions remain throughout the ages, some cease to be observed and there are new ones that come along. Japan is not really any different to any other country in that sense. Is Japan in any imediate danger of losing it's rather unique culture? I think not, nothing to fear here!

I wasn't sure because the last few decades brought a lot more changes everywhere; in the past there wasn't this big gap between traditional and average life-stile, so I'm glad to hear if it's not a problem there, but I can assure you, it is in many other country.
Sorry I can't really explain this I'm not that good in English, I hope you understand it anyway.

[GoNative]

Why do you see it as a problem though? What are the benefits of holding onto old traditions? I agree some can be worth holding onto but I just want to understand what you think is possibly being lost.

[File0]

Originally Posted by GoNative

Why do you see it as a problem though? What are the benefits of holding onto old traditions? I agree some can be worth holding onto but I just want to understand what you think is possibly being lost.

I can give you an example, maybe I can explain through it. In my country there were traditional funerals, in which everyone, from the closest relatives to the last acquaintance have their positions described - it was easy for everyone, when you went to someone's funeral you knew right away who's the widow/widower and his/her family. There was an order in the ceremony too, so you didn't have to worry about these things, you could give your thoughts to the parted one and the family. Now it's different, and the worst when it tries to be traditional, because not everyone remembers how it was exactly, it's a chaos which instead of ease the mourner's pain gives it more, even some sense of gilt because the funeral's 'failure'.
So I wasn't asking about the benefits of holding onto old, meaningless traditions. I asked if they do it or not. Do Japanese make this kind of mistakes or not? - If yes, isn't that something what should be feared by those who still can keep the origins?

[MMM]

I am a little confused by this discussion. It's like arguing whether or not the sun should come up or not. Traditions are like living things. If they a vibrant and healthy, they will live a long time. If not, they die. We cannot decide whether or not a tradition is maintained or not, the culture decides that.