What is Japanese culture?? If you are foreigner, you would imagine Samurai, Sushi, Shinto and such thing, but these things are really old and these cultures are disappearing. Of course there is a lots of traditional cultures like this photo. this is a shrine called "Yamada Jinja" and this shrine is nearby my house in Hirakata. What I want to say about this picture is that Japanese traditional shrine does not exist only with traditional way, but it is more combined with traditional and modern way such as this warehouse for fire equipment. In this shrine, shrine is not only for the place people go for pray their hope but also for the place people gather and maintain their neighborhood community. As I said earlier, this place is just 3minutes from my house by walk, on the way to get here, you will find lots of modern Japanese houses.
This is a temple also placed nearby my house. as you see left side of the photo, you will find a non-traditional house. this house is in the shrine. this shrine is also combined with traditional and modern Japanese culture. This might be weird for Foreigners but this is modern Japan.
Like these pictures, Japanese culture is not only traditional or old style, but also is a combination of traditional and modern culture. nowadays, manga or anime culture is becoming more popular, this might be a good example of modern Japanese culture. As the technology develops really fast, traditional Japanese culture is disappearing, but we (Japanese people) try to keep traditional Japan.
One of the first things that struck me about Japan when I first arrived years ago was the way old and new stood side by side - and so I find your beginning depiction of Japanese culture to be insightful. I look forward to more in future posts.
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