In the same way that the West has commercially invaded Japan with McDonalds and Starbucks at every corner, Japanese culture has rapidly spread throughout the world. In most cases, Japanese culture found outside of Japan is "remixed" and includes everything from sushi with avocados (avocados weren't originally put in sushi in Japan), to kimono-inspired clothing. Since this year's iSummit will be held in Sapporo, we would like to give you a taste of true Japanese culture through the JapaneseCulture Sharing sessions which will take place at different times throughout Day 1 and 2.
Tea CeremonyYou may think that serving tea is just a matter of putting a tea bag in some hot water. Not in Japan! Tea ceremony (sado or chado in Japanese) is a highly structured method of preparing green tea, but it extends past just the preparation. It is a profound art that requires a wide range of knowledge and a delicate sensitivity. Sado also explores the purpose of life and encourages an appreciation of nature. Each movement is carefully thought out and years of practice are needed to perfect the art.
OrigamiOrigami is a traditional Japanese pastime where a single square of paper is folded in different ways to create all sorts of animals, shapes and objects. Japanese school children start learning it from a young age so they are particularly good at folding even the smallest of origami shapes. You may think that if school kids can do it, then any adult can fold a crane with ease, but it is more difficult than it may appear. Are you up for the challenge?
Try out some origami here.
Japanese Calligraphy
Japanese calligraphy (shodo in Japanese) uses a brush and ink to create Chinese kanji and Japanese kana characters artistically. You may think that a character is just a character no matter how you write it, but that would be like comparing an artistic masterpiece to a child's drawing. The beauty of the calligraphy works are based on the way the brush is handled in creating the character, the shading of the ink, and the balanced placement of the characters on the paper. Characters can take all sorts of different forms. What may seem like a simple act of writing is actually a true art and an important facet of Japanese culture. To prepare for the Japanese Culture Sharing sessions in Japan, why not try out some Virtual Calligraphy.Want to learn more about Japanese culture before you come to Sapporo? Check out these sites for anything and everything you would ever want to know.
Pictures: Tea ceremony by , CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, Origami by , CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, Calligraphy by , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
