Multicultural psychology: theories and applications

Multicultural Psychology

Japanese Culture

Culture is commonly understood as a set of shared beliefs, values, goals and other such common ideas practiced by a group. It is an integration of art, architecture, language, food, music, lifestyle, religion and other such facets which are the defining feature of every culture. Amongst the several varying cultures of the world, this paper would focus on the Japanese culture thereby highlighting its practices and also linking it with the traditional psychological theories.

The Japanese culture is a complex system which is seen to go through a number of transformations. The initial establishment had an influence from the Chinese and Korean practices. As a matter of fact, it was the military that actually ruled the country. However, apart from going through several military conquests, instabilities and isolation, the Japanese culture took a new turn under the influence of the Western presence ultimately making Japan the world power.

In this regard, like every other culture, the Japanese culture has several distinct practices and assets which make it different from the rest. From a foreigner's point-of-view, a Samurai warrior with an ancient weapon and a typical Geisha serving sushi would be some of the eye catching activities which define a Japanese culture. The language spoken and written in Japan is known as Japanese which is not seen to overlap with the language of China or Korea. Similarly, the traditional Japanese clothing for men and women is a Kimono which covers the complete body. In addition, despite the advent of the modern fashion, the traditional kimono is still worn especially on big occasions. For this reason, the color and the style of a Kimono varies from season to season which has continued since several years. This shows the importance attached to clothing in Japan because of which the traditional style is still being preserved. Moreover, the Japanese culture attaches great value to the way one presents himself. In other words, Japanese beliefs in adorning a personality mask in order to deal with different situations. However, while talking about a proper behavior, Japanese have defined different appropriate behaviors for public, private and formal and business settings. These include gestures like maintaining a distance while standing or the manner to behave when at home (James B. 2005).

Despite being a collectivist culture and placing high value to group harmony in the Japanese culture, the concept of status and social differences are noticeable in their environment. The discipline of Multicultural Psychology views diversity to exist in every culture. However, it focuses upon the harmony with which different cultures exist and live in one society. Same is the case with Japan. Although, it does entertain the rights of minorities as seen for the number of religions being widely practiced in Japan as evident by 15,073,723 immigrant foreigners in 2005 (Immigration Bureau, 2005), the issue of racism and discrimination is widely prevalent in the society (Ritts, 2000). This can be seen by the limited opportunities given to the minorities in the field of employment, legislation, education and the access to resources or other services (Berg M, 2011).