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BRIEF SPOTLIGHT ON JAPANESE CULTURE AND HISTORY
Current emphasis on Japan and its language ~ Nov. 30th, 2023 - Selena (RCP Newspaper)
CULTURE
From the 20th to the 21st century, there has been a recent increase in awareness and enjoyment of Japanese pop culture in the west, such as the United States. This fascination became widespread when anime and manga started getting introduced to the west, and quickly evolved into an appreciation for all things Japanese, such as their fashion, music, and video games. Many students in schools now are drawn towards attempting to learn Japanese through the Japanese course available, to understand the media they hold so dear.
This consumption of Japanese content has created a glorification in the west of the Japanese environment, culture, and people, idolizing and admiring all that they create. This has had an impact on American pop culture, taking inspiration from the Japanese media to create appealing entertainment to that of the west currently.
HISTORY
As the Japanese language course is focused on grasping and learning the language and culture rather than Japan's history, there are only little morsels of information that Japanese teachers often add in their lessons to add context or provide better understanding of why things have evolved into the modern technicalities that they have. Like this tidbit Mr. Fukazawa shares with us, detailing that the writing in Japanese is over 1,500 years old, making it "clunky." Across the span of 1,500 years, many people in authoritative positions made alterations and rules to the language that may be hard for newcomers and beginners to grasp.
Mr. Fukazawa acknowledges that every language has these kinds of faults, however, Japanese may be more so in this aspect where there are regulations that don't quite make sense, but are necessary.
Japanese, in its rise to prominence, has gained a spot as a common language to be able to be learned in high schools across western countries like America, Canada, and Australia, comparable to French and Spanish. This infatuation with Japanese culture has uplifted awareness on other asian countries, and creates a diverse environment for more languages to be shared across the globe.
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