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Japanese Culture Quotes

Browse 80 quotes about Japanese Culture.

Japanese Culture Quotes

“The Japanese have two words: "uchi" meaning inside and "soto" meaning outside. Uchi refers to their close friends, the people in their inner circle. Soto refers to anyone who is outside that circle. And how they relate and communicate to the two are drastically different. To the soto, they are still polite and they might be outgoing, on the surface, but they will keep them far away, until they are considered considerate and trustworthy enough to slip their way into the uchi category. Once you are uchi, the Japanese version of friendship is entire universes beyond the average American friendship! Uchi friends are for life. Uchi friends represent a sacred duty. A Japanese friend, who has become an uchi friend, is the one who will come to your aid, in your time of need, when all your western "friends" have turned their back and walked away.”

CultureFriendshipFriendsJapanFriendMangaJapaneseWestern CultureCultural DifferencesAnimeJapanese CultureOtakuJapanophile
Book:The Japanophile's Handbook
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“Whereas, in the west, individuality and drive are considered positive qualities, they are not seen the same way, in Japan. In that country, if you are too much of a rugged individualist, it might actually indicate that you are a weak, unreliable character and that you are selfish, in a childish, willful kind of way.”

CultureIndividualityJapanIndividualismJapaneseWestern CultureCultural DifferencesJapanese CultureChildishnessChildishIndividualist
Book:The Japanophile's Handbook
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“The days became for Christina endless preparation. Ceaseless winds tore through her massing battle ranks, the grey cold sun above marking the timeless date. With skies of blue and cloud overhead, driving, uncompromising time stood still, lingering, as if giving Christina precious eons to perfect her shaving straight razor cuts of mind and sword. She worked alone now, forging the essence of herself in the policies and ways of hammer and anvil, pounding away with the classic, living Japanese blade. Her deft hands spun dervishly, wroughting out the iron of her will, fashioning a blade-mind remade unto her. --Brickley, The Lady and the Samurai”

InspirationalPassionComing Of AgeConflict ResolutionEvil ManAction AdventureJapanese CultureFemale HeroFencingMartial Arts Training
Author:douglas laurent
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“According to The History of the Body, edited by Corbin, Courtine, and Vigarello, the "criminalization of the gaze" that took hold around the dawn of the twentieth century had led to the decline of the freak show, which was subsequently replaced in popularity by the Monsters of Hollywood. Now, with costumes serving as an ethical cushion, people could enjoy ogling deformity without guilt or reserve.”

DisabilitySocial IssuesDisabledJapanese LiteratureTranslationJapanese CultureDisability Rights
Book:Hunchback
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“Undoubtedly, you are overwrought from re-wroughting hand-wrought iron out right. But I think in time you will iron things out for yourself. Stay holstered and strapped to your side. It is said, ‘when genius matures it goes into hixibn’–“hiding.” You will know of this wisdom one day. --Thomas Kannon Sword Master, The Lady and the Samurai”

Martial ArtsComing Of AgeWomen EmpowermentLiterary FictionPassionsEvil ManJapanese CultureFemale HeroFencingLust For Power
Author:Douglas m. Laurent
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“As it would crop up so often during the outpouring of one of Christina’s convulsiving tirades of out-of-touch cross-examining razor manias in the Ockham style school of thought, someone would be damn fool enough to interject a thought disrupting her. Whereupon she would turn her head and politely respond, “Do you mind, I’m not through being evil yet,” and logicalmly carry on with giving them generous shafty portions of her mind pieces, unhasped and undisturbed by extenuating circumstances. She had heard in old Europe certain warrior tribes weaned their children by presenting them with food on the tip of a sword, a good custom she continued in spirit. --Christina Brickley, The Lady and the Samurai”

DramaCompetitionMartial ArtsComing Of AgeWomen EmpowermentPopular CulturePassionsEvil ManJapanese CultureFemale Hero
Author:Douglas m. Laurent
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“There are a dozen factors that make Japanese food so special- ingredient obsession, technical precision, thousands of years of meticulous refinement- but chief among them is one simple concept: specialization. In the Western world, where miso-braised short ribs share menu space with white truffle ceviche, restaurants cast massive nets to try to catch as many fish as possible, but in Japan, the secret to success is choosing one thing and doing it fucking well. Forever. There are people who dedicate their entire lives to grilling beef intestines, slicing blowfish, kneading buckwheat into tangles of chewy noodles- microdisciplines with infinite room for improvement. The concept of shokunin, an artisan deeply and singularly dedicated to his or her craft, is at the core of Japanese culture.”

CooksDedicatedTokyoArtisansJapanese CultureDedications
Book:Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture
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“You know of gimu. But have you studied ninjō?" It's hard to think the way he's looking at me. I rack my brain. "Ninjō?" "Ninjō is human emotion, and often conflicts with gimu. A classic example is a samurai who falls for a shogun's daughter. Bound by duty, he cannot act on his feelings." "Or an imperial guard who wishes to change careers but cannot out of familial obligation?”

Japanese CultureExpression Of True FeelingsHuman Emotion
Book:Tokyo Ever After
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“Even adults who were stiffened by the starch of their miserable lives, for whom breaking the stony discipline of austere and judgmental intolerance was usually off the table, melted in the magical luminescence and energetic charm of the pre-pubescent Ruka.”

JapanIntrigueNigeriaTrue CrimeKenyaMystery ThrillerJapanese CultureUgandaDrug CartelsDrug Trafficking
Book:Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun
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“Like any great and good country, Japan has a culture of gathering- weddings, holidays, seasonal celebrations- with food at the core. In the fall, harvest celebrations mark the changing of the guard with roasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes, and skewers of grilled gingko nuts. As the cherry blossoms bloom, festive picnics called hanami usher in the spring with elaborate spreads of miso salmon, mountain vegetables, colorful bento, and fresh mochi turned pink with sakura petals.”

HarvestSpringtimeJapanese CultureCelebrationsCherry BlossomsNoto
Book:Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture
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“I do wish men, when they're taking their leave from a lady at dawn, wouldn't insist on adjusting their clothes to a nicety, or fussily tying their lacquered cap securely into place. After all, who would laugh at a man or criticize him if they happened to catch sight of him on his way home from an assignation in fearful disarray, with his cloak or hunting costume all awry?”

LoversSexualitySocial NormsJapanese CultureHeian PeriodAssignationsDawn DeparturesPalace Life
Book:The pillow book
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“Of all the countries Fairchild had visited, Japan struck him as the most advanced on matters of horticulture. He learned about Japanese miniature gardens, the art of Japanese papermaking, and the superior qualities of Japanese fruits and vegetables that didn't grow anywhere else in the world. Wealthy people introduced him to foods of affluence, like raw fish, seaweed, and a bean cheese they called tofu. He thought it impossible to eat with two narrow sticks held in one hand, but after a few tries, he got the feel for it. It was in Japan that Fairchild picked up a yellow plum known as a loquat and an asparagus-like vegetable called udo. And a so-called puckerless persimmon that turned sweet in sake wine casks. One of the most unrecognized discoveries of Fairchild, a man drawn to edible fruits and vegetables, was zoysia grass, a rich green lawn specimen attractive for the thickness of its blades and its slow growth, which meant it required infrequent cutting. And then there was wasabi, a plant growing along streambeds in the mountains near Osaka. It had edible leaves, but wasabi's stronger quality was its bitter root's uncanny ability to burn one's nose. Wasabi only lasted in America until farmers realized that its close relative the horseradish root grew faster and larger and was more pungent than the delicate wasabi (which tends to stay pungent only fifteen minutes after it's cut). Small American farms still grow Fairchild's wasabi, but most of the accompaniment to modern sushi is in fact horseradish---mashed, colored, and called something it's not.”

JapanJapanese FoodJapanese CultureHorticultureWasabiHorseradish
Book:The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats
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“You can't possibly think you can date a member of the working class." "Sachiko is marrying a commoner." "Sachiko is marrying an heir to a rice empire related to the Takamoris. Ryu can support the life she is accustomed to. Takai, takai, takai." The three words are a well-known cliché, playing off the meanings. Good income, good school, and tall. Ideal characteristics for potential male love interests.”

TitlesInheritanceJapanese CultureEntitlementsMarital Status
Book:Tokyo Ever After
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“C'è anche chi dice: «Il tè è la bellezza formale della vita di un tempo». «E' il culmine delle arti giapponesi», pensano altri. Qualcuno, poi, ha scritto: «E' la religione della bellezza, nella quale si mira al vuoto attraverso la tenace pratica dell'otemae». «Un concentrato di saggezza esistenziale, incentrata sulle stagioni». «Uno stile zen»... Il tè ammette qualsiasi interpretazione. E allora anche alla mia visione corrisponde un mondo del tè. Forse il tè è un riflesso di ciascuno: ci sono tanti tè quante persone.”

TeaJapanese CultureTea Ceremony
Book:Every Day a Good Day: Fifteen lessons I learned about happiness from Japanese tea culture
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“It is not, of course, only the Japanese who find flat sterile surfaces attractive and kirei. Foreign observers, too, are seduced by the crisp borders, sharp corners, neat railings, and machine-polished textures that define the new Japanese landscape, because, consciously or unconsciously, most of us see such things as embodying the very essence of modernism. In short, foreigners very often fall in love with kirei even more than the Japanese do; for one thing, they can have no idea of the mysterious beauty of the old jungle, rice paddies, wood, and stone that was paved over. Smooth industrial finish everywhere, with detailed attention to each cement block and metal joint: it looks ‘modern’; ergo, Japan is supremely modern.”

DesignArchitectureJapanUrban PlanningJapanese Culture
Book:Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan
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