Japanese Culture and Traditions– category –

Samurai governed Japan for about 700 years, from 1185 to 1867. The age of samurai is divided into some periods. According to a popular theory, samurais in the first period (the Kamakura period, from 1185 to 1333) are believed to be strongest and bravest. It is said that "You look like a Kamakura samurai" was the best praising words for samurais even in the last days of the samurai age.

【The COVID, the one-way time machine】 The COVID is sometimes called "a time machine." Remote work is a good example. I think most of the companies at least in Japan just pretended to take a positive attitude but actually were not so se...

【Something in common between Japanese knives and furniture】 Just before entering the furniture business, I worked in the fishery industry and often took overseas clients to the biggest fish market in Tokyo. It was now-closed Tsukiji ma...

A Japanese professor visited Cuba for a medical conference. When someone threw a presentation, he couldn't focus because the sound of insects was too loud. In the meanwhile, he got interested and asked a man sitting next to him about the insects. Surprisingly, the man answered he didn't hear anything.

The most popular sport in Japan is still baseball. Every summer, the Japan national high school baseball championship takes place by the teams going through the elimination tournaments held in all the 47 prefectures. Hokkaido representative teams were always weak and lost in the first round of the championship in most cases.

【Sado, the Japanese tea ceremony】 Have you ever experienced a Japanese tea ceremony? Me? Never, though I've been Japanese since I was born. The most notable feature is its beauty of style. In a nutshell, it's just a ceremony where a ho...

Sakura, cherry blossom is one of the Japanese national flowers. Japanese people are a kind of addicted to sakura. It's not only flowers in full bloom but also flower petals falling and disclored on the buddles that touch our heartstrings. We discover beauty even in ruined things.

In terms of ambiguity, I believe Japanese people are second to none in the world. Majority vote is rarely adopted in a company meeting for example. Even company representatives don't like to be seen as imposing their opinions. A consensus, decision, etc. are made ambiguously in most cases.

Many Japanese people may forget the original meaning of a summer festival, but I don't think that's a serious problem. What is more important is many people gather and enjoy a summer festival. It's a good opportunity to develop relationships.

An office environment well reflects a social structure. A typical Japanese office environment is hierarchical and cooperative (less privacy), which is completely different from the environment provided by remote work. Let's see how it has been changed in Japan in the post-Corona era.