Traditional culture

Japan has absorbed many ideas from other Countries over the course of its history, including technology, customs, and forms of cultural expression, and has developed its unique culture while integrating these imports. The Japanese lifestyle today is a rich blend of Asian-influenced traditional culture and Western-influenced modern culture.
TRADITIONAL CULTURE: Traditional performing arts that continue to thrive in Japan today include kabuki, noh, kyogen, and bunraku.
Kabuki is a form of classical theater that evolved in the early seventeenth century. It is characterised by the rhythm of the lines spoken by the actors, extravagant costumes, flamboyant makeup (kumadori), and the use of mechanical devices to achieve special effects on stage.
The makeup accentuates the personalities and moods of the characters. Most plays draw on medieval or Edo period themes, and all the actors, even those playing female roles, are men.
Noh is Japan's oldest form of musical theater. The story is told not just through dialogue but also through utai (singing), hayashi (musical accompaniment), and dance.
Another feature is that the leading actor, dressed in a colourful costume of embroidered silk, usually wears a lacquered wooden mask. The masks depict such characters as an old man, a young or old woman, a divine figure, a ghost, and a young boy.
Kyogen is a type of classical comic theater that is performed with highly stylised actions and lines. It is staged between noh performances, although it is now sometimes performed in its own right.
Bunraku, which became popular around the end of the sixteenth century, is a kind of puppet theater that is performed to the accompaniment of narrative singing and music played on the shamisen (a three-stringed instrument). Bunraku is known as one of the world's most refined forms of puppet theater.
Other traditional arts, such as the tea ceremony and ikebana, live on as part of the everyday lives of Japanese people. The tea ceremony (sado or chado) is a highly structured method of preparing green tea. But there is far more to sado than the ritual making and serving of tea.
It is a profound total 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.
Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana), which evolved in Japan over seven centuries, has its origin in early Buddhist flower offerings. This art is distinguished from purely decorative use of flowers by the extreme care taken in choosing every element of each work, including the plant material, the container, where each branch and flower is placed, and how the branches relate to the container and the surrounding space.
MODERN CULTURE: Classical music was brought to Japan from the West and enjoys a broad following, and concerts are held all over the country. Japan has also produced many conductors (such as Ozawa Seiji), pianists, and violinists who perform around the world.
Since Kurosawa Akira won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1951, Japanese cinema has been the focus of global attention, and works by great directors like Mizoguchi Kenji and Ozu Yasujiro have been widely hailed.
More recently, Kitano Takeshi won the Golden Lion Award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival with HANA-BI and the best directors award at the 2003 festival with Zatoichi.
Japanese anime (animated shows), which have been entertaining Japanese children since the 1960s, are now exported all over the world, and series like Astro Boy, Dorameon, Sailor Moon, and Dragonball Z are now global children's favourites. Meanwhile, director Miyazaki Hayao's Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature in 2003.
In literature, Japanese Nobel Prize winners include Kawabata Yasunari and Oe Kenzaburo, while the works of more modern authors like Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana are popular among young Japanese and have been translated into many languages.