Aren't Japanese people afraid of losing their traditions?

[evanny]

totally agree with MMM.
traditions who actually are meaningful and somehow benefit the people will stay.

for example us. we have two traditions that everyone totally attends in our country.
1. singing once in a while when some 50 000 pros get together. 30 sec video
2. drinking during summer solstice where we combine best of 2 worlds. singing and drinking

rest are more or less history.

[File0]

Originally Posted by MMM

I am a little confused by this discussion. It's like arguing whether or not the sun should come up or not. Traditions are like living things. If they a vibrant and healthy, they will live a long time. If not, they die. We cannot decide whether or not a tradition is maintained or not, the culture decides that.

You still gave me your opinion though. :P

Are you sure about traditions are like living things? Than I'm almost certain the traditions I'm speaking of are still 'breathing' because they are kept alive artificially. On the other thread(at JF) I read that 99.9% of the time they don't wear kimono, and although their fashion is world-famous it hasn't got too much in common with their traditional clothes. If I was talking about the manga/anime or the latest things in necktie tying, even I'd think I'm stupid. Of course I was curious about the current situation, but also the ancient customs in it. While it's obvious they maintain beautiful traditions, if you place them into the present time aren't they become strange, as a foreigner who never visited Japan I couldn't possibly know how it is when a festival begins. But sometimes I have the impression (from videos) that those are just some sort of shows, which don't really have other meanings than to remember they had it in the past or to make attraction. I often wander how long can any culture maintain it's unique self? In the case of islands and peninsulas it was tolerably easy before, but now it's totally different. Now there are continents and islands online or we have multinational companies (for example) which affects more and more to 'OUR' civilization, comparing to that old traditions are small. I just wanted to know if they can keep things frozen for some more time, or two generations from now they'll have totally different things called traditions. By the way I basically have my answer in the second post.
And again, thank you for your answers, I'm really grateful.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by File0

You still gave me your opinion though. :P

Did I?

Originally Posted by File0

Are you sure about traditions are like living things?
Than I'm almost certain the traditions I'm speaking of are still 'breathing' because they are kept alive artificially.

What traditions are you speaking of?

Originally Posted by File0

On the other thread(at JF) I read that 99.9% of the time they don't wear kimono, and although their fashion is world-famous it hasn't got too much in common with their traditional clothes. If I was talking about the manga/anime or the latest things in necktie tying, even I'd think I'm stupid. Of course I was curious about the current situation, but also the ancient customs in it. While it's obvious they maintain beautiful traditions, if you place them into the present time aren't they become strange, as a foreigner who never visited Japan I couldn't possibly know how it is when a festival begins.

You are saying a lot of things all at once, so let's try and focus.

These days 99.9% of the time people do not wear kimono, this is true. Is the tradition of the kimono dead? I think you would have a hard time arguing that. It is strange seeing a woman wearing a kimono walking the streets of modern-day Tokyo? No, but it is cool to see.
Now if you were to see a man using a samurai sword to slay his enemy that would be shocking.

Originally Posted by File0

But sometimes I have the impression (from videos) that those are just some sort of shows, which don't really have other meanings than to remember they had it in the past or to make attraction. I often wander how long can any culture maintain it's unique self? In the case of islands and peninsulas it was tolerably easy before, but now it's totally different. Now there are continents and islands online or we have multinational companies (for example) which affects more and more to 'OUR' civilization, comparing to that old traditions are small. I just wanted to know if they can keep things frozen for some more time, or two generations from now they'll have totally different things called traditions. By the way I basically have my answer in the second post.
And again, thank you for your answers, I'm really grateful.

[/quote]

Of course it is impossible to keep things frozen in time. To freeze something is the same as killing it.

And I understand what you are saying about the world getting smaller and cultures mixing together more than in the past. The strong will survive.

[File0]

Originally Posted by MMM

Did I?

I didn't say "answered me", so yes, you did!

Originally Posted by MMM

What traditions are you speaking of?

For example shooting with a bow on horseback, or wearing kimonos as casual dresses and wearing traditional hats, or preparing traditional foods (from whale for instance) or eating with wooden chopsticks, or practicing calligraphy etc.
Do you intend to humiliate me, or that's enough?

Originally Posted by MMM

You are saying a lot of things all at once, so let's try and focus.

These days 99.9% of the time people do not wear kimono, this is true. Is the tradition of the kimono dead? I think you would have a hard time arguing that. It is strange seeing a woman wearing a kimono walking the streets of modern-day Tokyo? No, but it is cool to see.
Now if you were to see a man using a samurai sword to slay his enemy that would be shocking.

I didn't say dead, not at once. I simply asked if it was OK them or not to change things, and don't they become weird after. I used my own experience with my country's ethnography and the people's attitude towards it, I wanted to know how it is there.
You are right though, I'm unsure about this whole thing, so that's why I asked.

Originally Posted by MMM

Of course it is impossible to keep things frozen in time. To freeze something is the same as killing it.

And I understand what you are saying about the world getting smaller and cultures mixing together more than in the past. The strong will survive.

Remembering things won't kill things!! - I consider memories as ways to FREEZE our (past) life. Do you think something bad will come from them? I doubt we could survive without frozen things - we'd ran into the same mistakes over and over - traditions basically the projections of our common memory. - so yes, I hope they can keep things frozen a bit more !!!
I love cultures and the different counties different ways to look at and capture things, I mainly learned about these things through artifacts, books, records - none of them can provide efficient/decent knowledge about the people who live with/in it. I noticed that native Japanese people make posts here, so I asked, in a hope of some of them might tell me something about it. Guess I'd hold it back for a little more, to chisel it...

[MMM]

Originally Posted by File0

I didn't say "answered me", so yes, you did!

I have no idea why you are saying "answered me" in quotes.

Originally Posted by File0

For example shooting with a bow on horseback, or wearing kimonos as casual dresses and wearing traditional hats, or preparing traditional foods (from whale for instance) or eating with wooden chopsticks, or practicing calligraphy etc.

Besides practicing calligraphy and using wooden chopsticks, these traditions have died out. But are not forgotten, for sure.

Originally Posted by File0

Do you intend to humiliate me, or that's enough?

Again, I have no idea what you are talking about. I do not make a practice of intentionally humiliating people here.

Originally Posted by File0

I didn't say dead, not at once. I simply asked if it was OK them or not to change things, and don't they become weird after. I used my own experience with my country's ethnography and the people's attitude towards it, I wanted to know how it is there.
You are right though, I'm unsure about this whole thing, so that's why I asked.

In appropriate situations, wearing a kimono is not only not weird, but expected.

Keep in mind a proper kimono is a dress that requires a staff to help dress. It wasn't like all women wore kimono every day in Japan.

Originally Posted by File0

Remembering things won't kill things!! - I consider memories as ways to FREEZE our (past) life. Do you think something bad will come from them? I doubt we could survive without frozen things - we'd ran into the same mistakes over and over - traditions basically the projections of our common memory. - so yes, I hope they can keep things frozen a bit more !!!
I love cultures and the different counties different ways to look at and capture things, I mainly learned about these things through artifacts, books, records - none of them can provide efficient/decent knowledge about the people who live with/in it. I noticed that native Japanese people make posts here, so I asked, in a hope of some of them might tell me something about it. Guess I'd hold it back for a little more, to chisel it...

This is not what I said. You said "freezing tradition" for the sake of keeping the tradition. This goes back to my first post... this doesn't happen. Traditions either live or they die.

[File0]

Sorry for the accusation.

And thank you for your reply.