INTRODUCTION Japan is an island nation in East Asia. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents. A major economic power, Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous, composed of 98.5% ethnic Japanese, with small populations of foreign workers. Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Malaysia is a megadiverse country with a high number of species and high levels of endemism. It is estimated to contain 20 per cent of the world's animal species. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a large role
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INTRODUCTION
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. The characters that make up Japan's name mean
"sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō,
Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area.
Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater
Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding
prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents. A
major economic power, Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and
fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest
exporter and fourth-largest importer. Japanese society is linguistically and culturally
homogeneous, composed of 98.5% ethnic Japanese, with small populations of foreign
workers.
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen
states and three federal territories separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized
regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Malaysia is a megadiverse country with
a high number of species and high levels of endemism. It is estimated to contain 20 per cent
of the world's animal species. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a
large role in politics. As of the 2010 census, the population of Malaysia was 28,334,135
making it the 43rd most populated country. The population of Malaysia consists of many
ethnic groups. Malays make up 50.4 per cent of the population, while other Bumiputra make
up another 11 per cent. 23.7 per cent of the population is of Chinese descent, while those of
Indian descent comprise 7.1 per cent of the population.
Obviously, Japan and Malaysia are two countries that vary in terms of geography,
history and demography. Therefore, there would difference between the Malaysian culture
and the Japanese culture in terms of beliefs, language, clothing, food and many more. The
following pages will show comparisons of some aspects of Japanese and Malaysian culture.
LANGUAGE
More than 99 percent of the Japanese population speaks Japanese as their first
language. Besides Japanese, the Ryukyuan languages, also part of the Japonic language
family, are spoken in Okinawa; however, few children learn these languages. The Ainu
language, which is unrelated to Japanese or any other known language, is moribund, with
only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido. Most public and private schools
require students to take courses in both Japanese and English.
The Japanese language is written with a combination of three scripts: Chinese
characters called kanji and two syllabic (or moraic) scripts of characters, hiragana (used to
write native words for which there are no kanji) and katakana (used for transcription of
foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words). The Latin script,
rōmaji, is also often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names and logos,
advertising, Romanization of Japanese characters, and when entering Japanese text into a
computer. Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino-Japanese
numerals are also commonplace.
The official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia, a standardized form of the
Malay language. Historically English was the de facto administrative language and remains
an active second language. Many other languages are used in Malaysia since Unlike Japan,
Malaysia is a multi-racial country. The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own
languages which are related to, but easily distinguishable from, Malay. Iban is the main tribal
language in Sarawak while Dusunic languages are spoken by the natives in Sabah. Chinese
Malaysians predominately speak Chinese dialects from the southern provinces of China. The
more common dialects in the country are Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainanese,
and Fuzhou. Tamil is used predominantly by Tamils, who form a majority of Malaysian
Indians. Other south Asian languages are also widely spoken in Malaysia, such as Thai. A
small number of Malaysians have Caucasian ancestry and speak creole languages, such as the
Portuguese based Malaccan Creoles and the Spanish based Chavacano language.
Malay is a member of the Austronesian family of languages and is now written using
the Latin script (Rumi), although an Arabic alphabet called Jawi also exists. Rumi is official
in Malaysia.
BELIEFS
Upper estimates suggest that 84–96 percent of the Japanese population subscribe to
Buddhism or Shinto, including a large number of followers of a syncretism of both religions.
Japan enjoys full religious freedom and minority religions such as Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism and Sikhism are practiced. Figures that state 84% to 96% of Japanese adhere to
Shinto and Buddhism are not based on self-identification but come primarily from birth
records, following a longstanding practice of officially associating a family line with a local
Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine. According to Johnstone (1993:323), 84% of the Japanese
claim no personal religion. Nevertheless the level of participation remains high, especially
during festivals and occasions such as the first shrine visit of the New Year. Taoism and
Confucianism from China have also influenced Japanese beliefs and customs.
Beyond the two traditional types of religions, a great variety of popular religious
movements exists in modern Japan. These movements are normally lumped together under
the name "New Religions". These religions draw on concepts from Shinto, Buddhism, and
folk superstition. The officially recognized new religions number in the hundreds and total
membership is reportedly in the tens of millions. The largest new religion is Sōka Gakkai, a
Buddhist sect founded in 1930, which has about 10 million members in Japan.
Malaysia on the other hand is multicultural and multiconfessional. The dominant
religion in Malaysia is Islam, whose followers make up 61 per cent of the population. Islam is
recognized as the state religion of Malaysia, although the country has a secular constitution.
Religion often follows ethnic lines, with most Muslims being Malays. The government
promotes a moderate form of Islam known as Islam Hadhari. The country has both civil and
Shariah courts, with all Muslims having to follow Shariah laws.
Many Malaysian Chinese practice a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, and
Daoism. The majority of the Indians who make up 7 per cent of Malaysia's population
practice Hinduism. About 10 per cent of the population of Malaysia is Christians, including
Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indian minorities. The most common denominations are
Anglican, Methodist, and Roman Catholic. Most Christians are found in East Malaysia,
where Good Friday is a public holiday in the states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Relations between different religious groups are generally quite tolerant. Christmas,
Chinese New Year, and Deepavali have been declared national holidays alongside Islamic
holidays. Various groups have been set up to try to promote religious understanding among
the different groups, with religious harmony seen as a priority by Malaysian politicians.
Typical Shinto shrine with paper streamers made out of unprocessed hemp fibre
The Tōshōdai-ji was an early Buddhist temple in Nara
The Lord Murugan Temple in Batu The Putra Mosque located in Putrajaya
Kek Lok Si Temple, a Buddhist temple in Penang
St. John's Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur
FOOD
Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods, typically rice or noodles, with a
soup and okazu dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like to add flavor to the
staple food. These are typically flavored with dashi, miso, and soy sauce and are usually low
in fat and high in salt. A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several different okazu
accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice (gohan), a bowl of soup and some
tsukemono (pickles). The most standard meal comprises three okazu and is termed ichijū-
sansai. Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three okazu; they may be raw
(sashimi), grilled, simmered (sometimes called boiled), steamed, deep-fried, vinegared, or
dressed.
As Japan is an island nation, its people eat a lot of seafood. Meat-eating has been rare
until fairly recently due to restrictions of Buddhism. However, strictly vegetarian food is rare
since even vegetable dishes are flavored with the ubiquitous dashi stock, usually made with
katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes). An exception is shōjin ryōri, vegetarian dishes
developed by Buddhist monks. Noodles are an essential part of Japanese cuisine usually as an
alternative to a rice-based meal. Soba (thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat
flour) and udon (thick wheat noodles) are the main traditional noodles and are served hot or
cold with soy-dashi flavorings. Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth
known as ramen have become extremely popular over the last century.
Malaysian cuisine reflects the multicultural aspects of Malaysia. Various ethnic
groups in Malaysia have their own dishes, but many dishes in Malaysia are derived from
multiple ethnic influences. Food preparation differs from place to place, although many of the
foods used are alike. Spices, aromatic herbs and roots are all used in Malaysian cuisine. Like
Japan, rice tends to be a staple food in Malaysia as in most countries in the region. The rice
eaten in Malaysia tends to be the local variety of rice or fragrant rice from Thailand, its
northern neighbour. Quality Indian basmati is used in biryani dishes due to its long grained
shape, fragrance and delicate flavour. Japanese short grain rice and others are slowly entering
the Malaysian diet as Malaysians expand their culinary tastes to new areas. Noodles such as
bi hoon, kuay teow, yellow noodles, ho fun and mee suah are popular food, particularly in
Malaysian Chinese cuisine, but used by other groups as well.