American Culture
American culture is built on individualism, where citizens value their independence, self-reliance, and the right to pursue individual aspirations without the constraints of community interests or a requirement for harmony. This way of thinking is expressed through different contexts, like the strong demand for civil liberties protection, the privacy issue, and the personal success values celebration. Americans tend to step forward and come up with their perspective on the issues, to be free thinkers, and deeply value independent lives, even if they stand out from the crowd.
The United States is a cultural mosaic, a tapestry made up of the colourful aspects of different ethnic backgrounds, creeds and ancestries, which now all make America home. In addition, communities are tolerant of but actively participate in the continued preservation of their cultural heritage, which collectively constitutes the nation’s rich tapestry. These traditions, although strengthening the feeling of belonging in the locals, tend to sow the seeds of intolerance, separateness, and pluralism among the nation dipping into demographics.
American people appreciate straight and open communication and have high regard for this trait. Americans frequently express their opinions, emotions, and even critique without being careful, which is attributed to their culture, where openness, directness, and honesty are prioritized rather than indirectness or subtlety. Though designed to be clear and direct and, in many ways, promoting transparency, this style may be seen as simply unrefined or lacking in subtleties by cultures which appreciate the indirect style of communication more (Matsumoto et al., 2021).
In American culture, time is considered linear and limited, with productivity, efficiency and the need to accomplish tasks in short time frames as a predominant category. Americans frequently orient themselves along the future-driven path, which leads them to consider work achievements and career progress more than they do the rest, which is leisure and personal. These workaholic manners can easily lead to giving up time for private affairs and make the distinction between private and work affairs not unearthed in the quest for a career (Matsumoto et al., 2021).
Japanese Culture
Extreme social connectedness and group harmony have always been essential features of Japanese culture (Lim et al., 2021). In Japanese society, there is a concrete line between maintaining an excellent relationship and avoiding a conflict of interest. The needs of the group take precedence over the interests of individuals. This group responsibility forms a basis for many aspects of Japanese culture, beginning from a collective approach to decision-making and continuing to work culture regarding social dynamics.
In Japan, a high level of etiquette and tradition underscores hierarchy and social status. Good manners and appropriate behaviour are essential here, with many complicated rules governing a wide range of social interactions and cases (Chen, 2022). Honouring language and formal greetings have been one of the significant features of the Japanese style of communication.
Indirectness and ambiguity play an essential role in Japanese verbal communication, which stands in contrast with the US communication approach, which is primarily direct and to the point. Communication with the Japanese can more often be conducted through non-verbal cues like body language and cultural nuances instead of direct speech (Matsumoto et al., 2021). This kind of indirectness is seen as courteous behaviour that aims to protect harmony and ensure that disputes are maintained on the level of social norms and not escalated.
For the Japanese, time is more circular and revolves around the current instance. Japanese people often cultivate an understanding of nature’s surpassing beauty and ephemeral character and achieve traditions and rituals that unite them with their cultural roots. This time perception may sometimes be inconsistent with the typical view of time in the Western world, such as in America, where time is seen more as linear and future-oriented.
References
Chen, Yifan. Policy Adoption and Implementation in Local Governments: Evidence from Sustainability Policies and Practices. Diss. Arizona State University, 2022. https://keep.lib.asu.edu/system/files/c7/Chen_asu_0010E_22112.pdf
Lim, Velvetina, Maki Rooksby, and Emily S. Cross. “Social robots on a global stage: establishing a role for culture during human–robot interaction.” International Journal of Social Robotics 13.6 (2021): 1307–1333. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12369-020-00710-4.pdf
Matsumoto, David, and Hyisung C. Hwang. “Clusters of nonverbal behaviour differentiate truths and lies about future malicious intent in checkpoint screening interviews.” Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 28.4 (2021): 463–478.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9090363/
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