Cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but

rather culturaldiversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity” by
Robert Alan. “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop
reading them.” by Ray Bradbury.

Culture Difference: Japan vs Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Every country has its own preserved or adapted cultures. Cultures may differ from many
things, like celebrating certain occasions and/or engaging with our daily lives. But our focus
is the culture of Japan and Philippines. This article might help you a little if you’re a
Japanese citizen planning to visit the Philippines, a Filipino citizen planning to visit Japan
someday or maybe just interested in the topic.

Japan and Philippines are two different countries located in Asia and one of the differences
between them is culture. They culture are different since Japan is a first world country
which explains they preserved culture while Philippines was conquered by different
countries that explains our different cultures that we adapted.

Anyway, enough with the intro and let's start our adventure!

In Japan, Japanese citizens bow to their elders to show respect. Bowing is a sign to show
respect, greetings or to apologise. Another thing is greeting is very important to them they
greet each other depending on the time. They greet each other like ‘I’m home’ and
‘Welcome back!’ when dealing with their families at home.

In the Philippines, close friends hugs and kiss(Beso-beso) when they greet one another while
close male friends may hug each other and tap their backs or just by a handshakes. We
smile and wave at other people whenever we greet them.In greeting our elders here in the
Philippines, we usually lay our forehead in the back of the hand of our elders to show
respect. It is also use when parents arrived home to show respect.

In greeting with names, Japanese citizens call each other with their last names while adding
suffixes like ‘-kun’ and ‘-san’until they are allowed to call them by their first names.

While in the Philippines, we use Mr., Ms., Mrs. + their surname in adressing until they are
allowed to call them by their name or nickname.

After reading and knowing that you must be hungry! So let’s head to the diet section of
Japan and Philippines.
Before you eat, we need utensils. As you can see at the picture above, Japanese uses
chopsticks while Filipinos uses Spoon and fork. Japanese people use chopsticks because it
is considered more lacquer ware friendly than other sharp eating utensils. While we
Filipinos prefer the easy way and use spoon and fork. After the eating, everyone crave for
dessert right? We Filipinos like sweets while Japanese prefer fruits. Lastly, Japanese people
had a maintained diet. They only eat mostly 80% full and continue with their lives compared
to us Filipinos which eat all we can until we are satisfied.

After that delicious part, lets head with the cheesy part of this article which is Marriage!

Now, before Marriage people use to date right? Now let’s talk about that a little. In Japan,
they have group dates. In New Year, they go to shrines, and girls with their kimonos. They
usual date venue are amusement parks, and lastly the couple splits the bill. Compared in
Philippines, we usually have a date or double date. In New Year, the couples visit each
other’s family and eat with them. They usually date at the mall, probably watch a movie,
and the guy would pay for the date.

After dating, It may lead to a messy break up or a beautiful marriage!

In Japanese marriage, they wear Kimono, for the bride, and Hakama, for the groom since
it’s their traditional outfits. The picture of a tea set there signifies the Japanese tea
ceremony, which is also called the ‘Way of Tea, it’s a Japanese cultural activity for newly
married couples. Lastly, Traditional Japanese weddings are held in the Shinto Shrines with
a Shinto priest leading it.

In the Philippines, weddings are held like the modern western style weddings. The bride
and groom wear the common wedding gown and suit. After the wedding, a flock of doves
were released in the sky that signifies peace and harmony for the newly marriage the
bride had a bouquet of flower thrown in the air and according to our traditional beliefs
that whoever catches the thrown flower would be the next in line for marriage. Lastly,
weddings are held in a church lead by a Christian priest since most of the Filipinos are
Christians.

As our journey ends, we come to the conclusion that Japan and Philippines has its own
unique culture and traditional beliefs that made them a country. They both continue their
culture thus preserving them and keeping them alive. We must always remember our own
culture when we visit other countries and we also need to respect the countries culture to
avoid unnecessary conflict that may arise or to keep ourselves from embarrassment.
Remember the things that you've learn and apply it in your life. Until next time, Ciao~