Group items tagged

the Japanese puppet play is serious drama combining words, music, and dancing.

Early Japanese novels consisted of series of incidents, each incident built around a poem.

The burakumin (people of the village) are ethnically the same as the majority of Japanese. However, their ancestors were members of the former outcast class. The burakumin are often treated unfairly.

Shinto is based on the worship of local spirits in nature.

Japan has a rich and complex culture. Native Japanese traditions have been mixed with cultural styles adapted from China and, later, from the West. Japanese culture and art emphasize understated simplicity, elegance, and grace. For example, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, flower arranging, and garden design are highly stylized and refined. On the other hand, contemporary Japanese society fully embraces Western-style popular culture—influenced by television, motion pictures, and advertising.

modern Japanese writers include Soseki Natsume, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Osamu Dazai, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, and Yukio Mishima.

Poetry plays a central role in Japanese culture.

The carefully composed paintings used few brush strokes to suggest a scene in nature.

Japanese No plays are generally short, stylized, and heroic.

Today the martial arts are more important as competitive sports and as aids to physical and mental fitness.

The Japanese economy grew remarkably throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.

Historical records, however, show that Japan was not united as one state until the late 4th or early 5th century AD. It was ruled by the Yamato dynasty.

Meanwhile, Japan was developing trade contacts with the outside world.

By the mid-19th century the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to keep European and United States traders away.

A new government was established under the young emperor Mutsuhito, who took the name of Meiji, meaning “enlightened government.”

Japan soon sought to build an empire. It successfully fought a war with China (1894–95) and with Russia (1904–05).

The Japanese government believed that expansion through military conquest would help the economy.

Under the terms of surrender, Japan had to give up all the territory it had acquired since 1895.

Japan rebuilt its ruined economy, using new technology in every major industry.