Talk:Culture of Japan

Surely those teenaged girls are not the best representatives of the culture of Japan? --Larry Sanger 02:00, 26 July 2007 (CDT)

I changed it as I have a feeling people want to see something 'traditional' at the top of this article. :) The girls have decamped to Japanese popular culture. John Stephenson 05:19, 18 February 2008 (CST)

Also, with regard to the proliferation of subsections, please see CZ:Article mechanics. --Larry Sanger 02:02, 26 July 2007 (CDT)

Deletion of 'Nihonjinron' section

I have deleted this section from the end of the article. Definitions of the term I've found (outside Wikipedia!) seem to imply that these theories about Japanese culture may have a racial edge to them. As I'm not familiar with the topic, and since what I've also found from a casual internet search seems pretty controversial, I've got rid of the section. I have other books on Japanese culture which are more factual, and will use these in the future. John Stephenson 09:47, 27 July 2007 (CDT)

Notes on Japanese culture

These should be covered:

• soto 外 / uchi 内 - outsider/insider view of the world
• honne/tatamae - what is intended vs. what is said
• ie 家 - traditional household family structure
• gift-giving

John Stephenson 22:15, 27 July 2007 (CDT)

Moving to Japan (Culture)

I am proposing to move this article to Japan (Culture) in line with our priority page and to make searches more likely to hit. If anyone does not wish me to move this article to the above location (or has a better title or good argument for this article remaining Culture of Japan, please respond here. If I have not had any comments by Wednesday of this week I'll go ahead and move it.

Lee R. Berger 09:29, 16 September 2007 (CDT)

I thought that Culture of Japan was the preferred CZ way of naming articles. Also, Japan (Culture) is vaguer: does it mean Japanese culture in Japan, worldwide, both? Does it include cultures in Japan that are not Japanese? (e.g. there are a lot of South Americans in Japan). Does it refer to the attitude of the Japanese to culture in general? I think 'Culture of Japan' specifies that this is about the culture of the Japanese people within Japan. John Stephenson 05:52, 17 September 2007 (CDT)

Not a problem, I'm just trying to get a feel for how we are going to list all of the articles and this one came up as the test! Anyone -other comments from editors and authors?

Lee R. Berger 05:56, 17 September 2007 (CDT)

I strongly endorse using Japan (Culture) or Japan, culture. The article is about Japan, not about culture in general. Richard Jensen 06:19, 17 September 2007 (CDT)

Text here was removed by the Constabulary on grounds that it is needlessly inflammatory. (The author may replace this template with an edited version of the original remarks.)

I think that "Japanese culture" would be a better place for this article. After all, we now have Japanese popular culture, Japanese media and Japanese language, so this would seem a sensible change. --Tom Morris 11:45, 9 July 2008 (CDT)

OK, though there might be a subtle shift in meaning: the present title means 'Japanese culture in Japan', whereas 'Japanese culture' would logically include Japanese communities abroad (e.g. in Brazil). Not that that's a problem. John Stephenson 23:10, 18 July 2008 (CDT)

A few changes

I rearranged some sections to try to make it read better and put the cosplayers back in lower down; there was no need to delete this image altogether. See Japanese popular culture if you want to significantly expand this aspect of Japan; however, I think that cosplayers are just as much a part of Japanese culture as the kimono, probably more so (geisha girls and people in kimono are the sort of thing you see in tourist areas, but the culture today is far more forward-looking).

I also deleted "In the late 1980s, the family was the focus of leisure activities, such as excursions to parks or shopping districts" from the 'leisure time' section as I didn't really understand its significance or relevance. John Stephenson 05:19, 18 February 2008 (CST)

This Wikipedia 'popular section' has now completely gone, as it was a dull as dishwater and poorly sourced (what 1986 study? And who cares?). I've put a new section in with a reference as a start. John Stephenson 22:47, 18 February 2008 (CST)

No Go?

The game of Go seems to me to be an aspect of Japanese culture that needs mentioning. Sandy Harris 12:19, 31 March 2009 (UTC)