LEARN THE JAPANESE CULTURE AND WAY OF LIFE
Nominal Duration: 30 hours
LO2: Gain Knowledge on the culture of Japan
LO3: Adapt on the Japanese way of life
LO1: Gain Knowledge on the history of Japan
Japan also has around 1100 national treasures and 13000 items of cultural significance.
During Japan’s history since its establishment around 3000 years ago, there have been many different cultures within Japan that have been born, flourished and perished over time. In particular, there have been particular aspects of Japanese culture such as “Samurai”, “Ninja” and “Tea Ceremony” that are well known throughout the world.

Jomon period (Around 14000 years until the 4th century): Jomon Culture

Yayoi period (4th century BC to 3rd century BC): Yayoi Culture

Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries): Kofun culture

Asuka period (6th century - 710 years): Asuka culture

Nara period (710 - 794): Hakuho culture / Tenpyo culture

Heian period (794 - 1185): Konin · Jogan culture / Kokufu culture / Inseiki culture

Kamakura period (1185 - 1333): Kamakura culture

Muromachi period (1334 - 1573): Kitayama Culture / Higashiyama Culture
In addition,for the worship of Ashikaga Yoshimasa(足利義政) who died in 1490, “Ginkaku-ji Temple(銀閣寺: Silver Pavilion)” was built in Higashiyama, Kyoto. Both Ginkaku-ji Temple and Kinkaku-ji Temple were registered as World Heritage sites in 1994.
After this Japan’s three most famous warlords “Oda Nobunaga(織田信長)”, “Toyotomi Hideyoshi(豊臣秀吉)” and “Tokugawa Ieyasu(徳川家康)” rise to power, and Oda Nobunaga, who was the originator of the change of an era defeated the Muromachi Shogunate
HIstory Of Japanese Alphabet
Hiragana is the “glue” of the writing system– it’s used for verb endings, particles, and can be used to write words that you can’t remember (or don’t yet know) the kanji for. Children’s books are often written with a lot of Hiragana since they don’t know how to read or write a lot of kanji yet.
Katakana is used for loanwords from other languages, but can also be used in things like manga to indicate the speaker has an accent.
Kanji is used for words in general and the stems of verbs, though there plenty of words that are usually or can only be written in Hiragana (and of course Katakana in the case of loanwords).
It’s easy to distinguish Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana is the curvy script, Katakana is the angular / jagged script, and Kanji is Chinese Characters.
An example of a sentence using all four writing systems (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, and Roman letters) could be:
“PizzaHutに行ったが信じれれないほどにタバスコやレッドペッパーは置いていなかった。”
PizzaHutにいったがしんじられないほどにタバスコやレッドペッパーはおいていなかった。
PizzaHut ni itta ga shinjirarenai hodo ni tabasuko ya reddopeppaa wa oite inakatta.

Hiragana

Katakana

Kanji
There are some Kanji that were created in Japan and thus won’t be known in China, called “国字” (Kokuji), translating to “national characters”, and other more obscure Kanji used in names alone (人名用漢字; Jinmeiyoukanji), that might not be known unless it is in your name or someone’s name that you know.
LO2: Gain Knowledge on the culture of Japan
LO3: Adapt on the Japanese way of life
Katakana is mainly used to write foreign names and borrowed words from foreign languages. It can also be used to emphasize certain words similar to Italic function.
キャkya |
キュkyu |
キョkyo |
ギャgya |
ギュgyu |
ギョgyo |
ニャnya |
ニュnyu |
ニョnyo |
ヒャhya |
ヒュhyu |
ヒョhyo |
ビャbya |
ビュbyu |
ビョbyo |
ピャpya |
ピュpyu |
ピョpyo |
ミャmya |
ミュmyu |
ミョmyo |
リャrya |
リュryu |
リョryo |
ジャja |
ジュju |
ジェje |
ジョjo |
チャcha |
チュchu |
チェche |
チョcho |
シャsha |
シュshu |
シェshe |
ショsho |