Japan is a country of euphemism and politeness. People use indirect expressions in daily life, which has been incorporated into Japanese culture. When entering any small shop or department store, employees greeting customers by saying "irrashaimasei" (welcome in English) is common scene in Japan. Also, unlike English, Japanese language has formal and informal way of speaking and writing. It is required to speak in formal way to the person of higher social rank than the speaker.
These super-polite mannerism and the use of formal and informal ways of speaking define Japan. There is no single answer to the reason why Japanese people use euphemism and being super polite compared to the U.S. It seems that the use of formal and informal speech developed in Japan because of strict social segregation in Shogun period. Shogun was the king of the village he lived. Right below shogun were samurais, or warriors. Samurais fight for their shogun and were respected for their courage and royalty. In ancient Japan, peasants were lower in social rank, and were required to speak in formal way to samurais. In turn, samurais were also required to speak in formal way to their shogun. It is believed that strict social rank system contributed to the development of formal and informal way of speech in Japaneses.
These super-polite mannerism and the use of formal and informal ways of speaking define Japan. There is no single answer to the reason why Japanese people use euphemism and being super polite compared to the U.S. It seems that the use of formal and informal speech developed in Japan because of strict social segregation in Shogun period. Shogun was the king of the village he lived. Right below shogun were samurais, or warriors. Samurais fight for their shogun and were respected for their courage and royalty. In ancient Japan, peasants were lower in social rank, and were required to speak in formal way to samurais. In turn, samurais were also required to speak in formal way to their shogun. It is believed that strict social rank system contributed to the development of formal and informal way of speech in Japaneses.
Likewise, Japanese culture respects group more than individual. In agricultural ancient Japan period, peasants cooperated on rice fields. Samurais cooperated to serve their shoguns. These all had contributed to the development of social bondage in Japanese culture. Strict social rank system and agricultural society developed appropriate mannerism and social bondage. These can be found today not only in Japanese language but also in recreation.
Travel is one of the most common way to enjoy leisure in many countries. In Japan, people do not travel alone, which is little different from some other countries. I interviewed 10 Japanese students in Kansai Gaidai University, and none of them said they are okay with traveling alone. On the other hand, 2 out of 5 American students said they can travel alone depending on situation. Sample size of the quick survey was small though, it seems there is a big difference between Japanese students and American students. I believe that strict rank system and agricultural society molded Japanese culture and cooperation has been essential part of Japanese society throuhout history. As a result, even today people value group more than individual.
First picture of the blog is taken by one Japanese lady at the spot.
I'm really not sure what is going on in this post - you don't get to any sort of recreation subject until the last paragraph - and then it is very brief. I know plenty of Japanese people who travel alone. And how are you using the photos? Where are they taken? What is the point?
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