Japan

Japan

The Japanese have a lot of different cultural values. I believe a very important value of Japanese culture is nature. There are three possibilities for man's relationship with nature. They are subjugation to nature, harmony with nature and mastery over nature. Subjugation means that man has the impression that natural forces control man and man must accept these forces and not attempt to change them. Harmony refers to man not controlling or trying to conquer nature but rather, both man and nature live together as one and are accepting of each other's forces. Last but not least is mastery over nature refers to man's intent to control nature. The Japanese have a Harmony relationship with nature. The Japanese don’t try to destroy or control nature but instead try to spiritually bond with it. You can see that they have this relationship through the many practices that they have. I feel that the Japanese out of anyone has the strongest relationship with Mother Nature. There is many examples to prove this point. In Texas we have many parades and events like Mardi gras, car shows, and the state fair. In Japan they do things totally different. A lot of the Japanese people go to seasonal festivals like cherry blossom viewing, moon viewing, and even snow viewing. Instead of watching cars and partying, they find it more fun and pleasing to bond with nature and celebrate the beauty of nature. The Japanese often attempt to bring nature into the proximity of their daily lives. They do this by designing patterns in kimono fabric after natural objects and phenomena. Kimono has been a big part of expressing nature in the Japanese culture for many years. The Meissen kimono was very popular among girl students in 1920s and 1930s and it was ardently welcomed by young women as a casual and fashionable kimono later. Another way they get nature into their daily lives is they reduce nature in miniaturized presentations by arranging flowers in an alcove or cultivating a dwarfed...