The culture that I choose is Japanese culture. Intercultural communication occurs when two or more person with different culture meet each other and communicate. Nowadays, intercultural communication is vital for us due to the diversity of human population. It enables us to cope with cultural differences especially in workplace and adapt to a new work environment better by limiting cultural shock. It makes us more easier to integrate into that society.
Japan is an island country in Asia. Japan has a fascinating culture. First, one of the customs of Japan is bowing. In Japan, people greet by bowing to each other. The duration and inclination of the bow is proportional to the status of the person you’re addressing. A deeper, longer bow indicates sincere respect while a small nod is more casual. While in Malaysia, we normally just greet people with saying Hi or Hello.
Secondly, religion in Japan. Shindo and Buddhism are the two major religion in Japan. Shinto is the oldest religion appear in Japan culture while Buddhism was implemented in Japan in the 6th century. However, religion does not play an important role in Japan nowadays. While in Malaysia we got four major religion that are Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.
Thirdly, art of Japan. Shodo is a calligraphy in Japan.Calligraphy is one of the most admired Japanese arts. Along with kanji, adopted logographic Chinese characters, calligraphy was imported from China during the Heian Period. There are many different styles of calligraphy.For examples, sosho, or grass hand style, is commonly used in artistic calligraphy.In Malaysia, we do have calligraphy that found in Islamic art. For examples, Kufic, Naskhi and so on. It was often used in writing Quran, the holy book of Islam.
From the customs, religions and arts of Japan we can see how diverse the culture is. They concerned about manner in their customs, religion in Japan is seldom preached, nor is it a doctrine and calligraphy just reflect the way they living. As we learn and understand other cultures, we can increase our collaborative effort when multicultural groups join forces.We will be more effective in achieving common goals.If we do not learn about each other,we tend to miss out on an accurate view of our society.
