Japanese Culture from my Perspective - A Prologue -

I've been asked from by many people about Japanese culture since I joined italki a month ago. The most typical question is "I would like to know your language and culture." It's always pleasure to hear that and I want to do something for them, but at the same time, I always wonder what they expect me to show them about Japanese culture.

So, I try to introduce my daily life in Tokyo, Japan from my perspective. Please kindly note that this is my personal opinion which does not always reflect other Japanese's thought.


Prologue: Japanese Traditional Culture in my Daily Life

I guess that some people may think Japanese culture is like this.

Experience Japanese Culture - Japan National Tourist Organization
http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/indepth/cultural/experience/index.html

I can't explain about Japanese tradition better than this official website,_so please take a look at this for more detail if you are interested in an overview {or "reading more" or "it", etc. It needs an object here.}


Traditional culture in my life looks like this. I'm sorry if you are disappointed...

-I seldom wear a kimono since it's very tight and impossible for me to wear {better to say "put on"} alone. That's why there are kimono schools that teach you how to wear a kimono. Women in my mother's generation went to that kind of schools before marriage.

-I go to a shrine on New Year's holiday only because that's my family's custom. I like spending time at a sacred and peaceful place, but that doesn't mean that I'm religious. I can't read the sutra (the Buddhist bible) written in only in Kanji and or* explain about Shinto at all.

-I have never been to watch Kabuki, Noh and or other traditional performances in which actors move relatively slowly and speak traditional (old) Japanese that, I guess, I don't understand. My friends and I would rather go to Onsen or the countryside.

-Traditional summer festivals called Bon-odori are held in almost every city or town. Local people get together and enjoy foods, drinks, small games and folk-dancing_(actually I don't do this), etc. Bigger summer festivals called Hanabi-taikai_(fireworks festival) are very popular. I can watch some of them from my balcony.

-An amulet used for greater purification is (displayed) in my house. This is the only object that looks traditional (in my home).

I know my friends in italki don't expect me to show them traditional cultural things only. From For the next time {or just "Next time"}, I will write a series of essays about my normal daily life in Tokyo which hopefully reflects Japanese modern culture, common courtesy and philosophy.

Excellent!

*Since you're listing several things that you can't do, the conjuction should be "or". Ex: I can't drive a car or rollerblade or play the piano.

Japanese culture from my perspective - prologue -

[To help avoid some possible confusion, I may not have highlighted all the changes or corrections in color.  In any case, your English is great!  While looking at my corrections, please do not be alarmed by the number of changes -- this is just how I tend to proofread and edit papers written by my native-English speaking friends.  You are absolutely welcome to take most of my changes as simply being recommendations to help make this post "read" in such a way so that it sounds somewhat more typical of what may be written by those with native-level fluency.  This has been an interesting post to read, thanks for sharing this with us.]

Since I joined italki about a month ago, I have been asked by a lot of people to talk about Japanese culture.  The most common question is along the lines of "I would like to know your language and culture."  Of course, it is always a pleasure to know that people around the world are interested in your own culture, and as a native Japanese myself I do enjoy sharing some of my insight with others. However, I always end up wondering what exactly they are hoping to hear.

I generally like to introduce my day-to-day life in Tokyo as a way to provide some of my own perspective. Please note that these are my personal opinions, which do not always reflect the thoughts of other Japanese.


Prologue: Japanese traditional culture in my day-to-day life

I guess that some people may think Japanese culture is like this.

Experience Japanese Culture - Japan National Tourist Organization
http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/indepth/cultural/experience/index.html

I can't explain about Japanese tradition better than this official website,so please take a look at this for more detail if you are interested in.


Traditional culture in my life looks like this. I'm sorry if you are disappointed...

- I seldom wear kimono as they are very tight, making them virtually impossible for me to wear alone. Indeed, this is why there are in fact schools that actually teach people how to wear kimono. For my mother's generation, it was very common for women to attend those kinds of schools.

- I go to a shrine during the New Year's holiday due in large to it being a family custom. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy spending time at sacred and peaceful places, but I'm not religious in much of the traditional sense. For reference, I can't read the sutra (essentially, the "Bible" of Buddhism) written exclusively in Kanji, nor for that matter can I really explain much about Shinto at all.

- I have never been much of one that enjoys watching Kabuki, Noh or other traditional performances in which the actors move slowly and speak such traditional (old -style) Japanese that is hard to understand. My friends and I would rather go to Onsen or to the countryside.

- Traditional summer festivals called Bon-odori are held in almost every town and city. Locals will get together to enjoy foods, drinks, lighthearted games and folk-dancing (I don't actually do these things myself), amind other festivities. The larger summer festivals called Hanabi-taikai (fireworks festival) are quite popular and worth a mention. It just so happens that I can actually see some of them from my balcony.

- An amulet used for greater purification is in my house. This is likely the only object in my house which looks traditional.

I know my friends in italki would also like to learn about other topics than just traditional culture. In the future, I'll probably write a series of essays about my typical daily life in Tokyo that will hopefully reflect contemporary Japanese culture, including topics such as common courtesy and philosophy.

Japanese culture from my perspective - prologue -

I've been asked by many people about Japanese culture since I joined italki a month ago. The most typical question is "I would like to know your language and culture." It's always pleasure to hear that and I want to do something for them, but at the same time, I always wonder what they expect me to show them about Japanese culture.

So, I try to introduce my daily life in Tokyo Japan from my perspective. Please kindly note that this is my personal opinion which does not always reflect other Japanese' thoughts.


Prologue: Japanese traditional culture in my daily life

I guess that some people may think Japanese culture is like this.

Experience Japanese Culture - Japan National Tourist Organization
http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/indepth/cultural/experience/index.html

I can't explain Japanese tradition better than this official website, so please take a look at this for more detail if you are interested.


Traditional culture in my life looks like this. I'm sorry if you are disappointed...

-I seldom wear a kimono since it's very tight and impossible for me to wear alone. That's why there are kimono schools that teach you how to wear a kimono. Women in my mother's generation went to those kinds of schools before marriage.

-I go to a shrine on new year's holiday only because that's my family's custom. I like spending time at a sacred and peaceful place but that doesn't mean I'm religious. I can't read the sutra (the Buddhist bible) written only Kanji or explain about Shinto at all.

-I have never been to watch Kabuki, Noh and other traditional performances in which actors move relatively slowly and speak traditional (old) Japanese that I guess I don't understand. My friends and I would rather go to Onsen or the countryside.

-Traditional summer festivals called Bon-odori are held in almost every city or town. Local people get together and enjoy foods, drinks, small games and folk-dancing(actually I don't do this), etc. Bigger summer festivals called Hanabi-taikai(firework festival) are very popular. I can watch some of them from my balcony.

-An amulet used for greater purification is in my house. This is the only object that looks traditional.

I know my friends in italki don't expect me to show them traditionaly cultural things only. Next time, I will write a series of essays about my normal daily life in Tokyo which will hopefully reflect Japanese modern culture, common courtesy and philosophy.

Japanese culture from my perspective - prologue -

I've been asked from by many people about Japanese culture since I joined italki a month ago. The most typical question is "I would like to know your language and culture." It's always a pleasure to hear that and I want to do something for them, but at the same time, I always wonder what they expect me to show them about Japanese culture.

So, I will try to introduce my daily life in Tokyo, Japan from my perspective. Please kindly note that this is my personal opinion which does not always reflect other Japanese people's thoughts.


Prologue: Japanese traditional culture in my daily life

I guess that some people may think Japanese culture is like this.

Experience Japanese Culture - Japan National Tourist Organization
http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/indepth/cultural/experience/index.html

I can't explain about Japanese tradition better than this official website,so please take a look at this for more detail if you are interested.


Traditional culture in my life looks like this. I'm sorry if you are disappointed...

-I seldom wear a kimono since it's very tight and impossible for me to wear alone. That's why there are kimono schools that teach you how to wear a kimono. Women in my mother's generation went to that kind of school before marriage.

-I go to a shrine on new year's holiday only because that's my family's custom. I like spending time at a sacred and peaceful place but that doesn't mean I'm religious. I can't read the sutra (the Buddhist bible) written in only Kanji and or explain about Shinto at all.

-I have never been to watch Kabuki, Noh and or other traditional performances in which actors move relatively slowly and speak traditional (old) Japanese that I guess I don't understand. My friends and I would rather go to Onsen or the countryside.

-Traditional summer festivals called Bon-odori are held in almost every city or town. Local people get together and enjoy foods, drinks, small games and folk-dancing(actually personally I don't do this), etc. Bigger summer festivals called Hanabi-taikai(firework festival) are very popular. I can watch some of them from my balcony.

-A An amulet used for greater purification is in my house. This is the only object that looks traditional.

I know my friends in on italki don't expect me to show them traditional cultural things only. From the Next time, I will write a series of essays about my normal daily life in Tokyo which hopefully reflect Japanese modern culture, common courtesy and philosophy.

Very nice, I look forward to reading another article about Japanese culture.