Culture of Japan? government, jobs, food, appearance ext. help please :)?

All items you are querying about are exactly the same as in North America; the only difference being that Japan has a far richer history than America, and the main religions are Buddist and Shinto. And, technology is about two years ahead of the US. Japan is also known for the first Bullet train(Shinkansen) and the world's first-ever mono-rail.

This is a lot to ask of people. You should probably spend most of your time googling the answers to your questions and only ask people things that you couldn't find on your own.

Appearance: Western style almost about dressing. Some traditional kimono with own fabrics are still available on limited TPO. Body art is considered very savage, rude, unintellectual and/or outlaw in elder generation. Pearl is one of famous local jewelry but they love any jewel as same as others. Belief: Shinto and Buddhism are most common religion but those status are quite different from Western ones. Those two are rather just sort of normative ethics or philosophy out of dogmas. History: It has been more than 1400 years since it was established in small islands Far East Asia. Primitive Chinese are mainly ancestors of Old Japanese long long time ago. It is officially testified by DNA check. Because of its topological fact, island country Japan became to have very isolated and independent culture different from continent. However the culture has been also influenced by many different culture at the same time. Modern Japanese culture: mostly same as other country quite influenced by American culture. One thing significantlyt difference is they speak Japanese, not English. Food culture: Japanese food becomes very popular in Western world such as Shushi, Yakitori, Tenpura, Shabushabu etc Most of Japanese eat anything as Chinese do. They don't have any religious taboo to eat. They use chopsticks like Chinese to eat much more than knife and fork in Western society. Slurping with certain degree to eat noodles is not bad manner for Japanese. They don't eat much sweets to be too fat. There are so many unique food there though. Government: Japan chooses democratic constitutionalism and the separation of the three branches, the administratve one(Cabinet), the legislative one(the Diet) and the jidical one(Court). The Emperor is the symbol of Japanese and attends to or perform severl ceremonies on behalf of the citizen. Poilitical leader of Japan is the Prime minister of the Cabinet. The current prime minister is from LDP(Liveral Democratic Party). Japan is considered a Democratic country affiliated with the anti-communism camp in which USA has its world wide leadership. Housing: Due to limited territory of flat land and huge population in this island country, the price of land especially in big cities are tremendously expensive like Hong Kong and/or Singapore. People who live in big cities tend to survive in condos or apartments than flat houses and each house's rooms are very small and narrow. Japan is a volcano country so that it has so many earthquake. The builings are quite solid but some flat houses are still made by wood. Seldom stone house there. Electoricity, drinking water, drainage, gas, house phone service, cable channnels, internet are quite common. Education: compulsive education period is just 9 years(7 to 15 yo) but most of all students take more 5 to 7 years for HS and college or university. (Primary school 6 years and Junior High 3 years and HS 3 years and college 2 years/university 4 years) The subjects about learning are basically, Japanese, Math, Science, Social studies, English, Arts, PE and some more specified. Jobs and some other social phenomenon: Almost same as Western society. Not so special mattter exists. Japanese are not different from you at all. Environment and others: Four seasons except Okinawa. Raiony season in mid Summer except Hokkaido. Generally modest climate but its Summer is quite humid. Cherry blossoms are splendid in early Spring. Useful precipitation with some typhoon. No critical endemics like dengue or cholera. Very low crime rate. Pets are not allowed to feed in collaborated condos/apartments basically. Crowded trains in the morning rush hours, which may accommodate a wommen-only coach. Dwindling birthrate and very aging society but no immigration policy there. You seldom notice any natural animals in daily life Japan except crows and stray cats. Oh! cockroaches are pretty popular if we call it is animal. Japanese finger foods are too many. Niku-man, Frankfurt-sausage, Kashi-Pan, potatoes snacks, Pocky, Korokke( croquette), Yakitori, Kushi-Dango, Daifuku, Eda-mame, Oden, O-senbei etc. etc. You don't need to cook them but just purchase them at convenience store near you. Pizza is also very unique but it is a bit too expensive.

What do you need this for? This could be a book! It really isn't the same as the US at all. I'll answer briefly but it would really help if we knew what this info is for. Appearance - Traditional clothing is loose with breathable fabric. Modern styles are highly varied. Notable alternative fashions are ko-gal, yamaba, and lolita among others Belief System- Buddhism and Shinto, small Christian population Dates- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_of_Japan Entertainment- This is broad! Noh and Kabuki theater are traditional. the club scene in very active in cities. It starts with the last train at midnight and ends with the first at about 5 am. Baseball is very popular. Sumo wrestling is a traditional sport. The koto and shamisen are traditional instruments. Visual-kei is a uniquely Japanese form of rock music. Prominent bands include X-Japan, Luna Sea and Malice Mizer. Japanese game shows are...different. food- rice, fish, tofu, nori (seaweed) are all common ingredients. Tempura (beaded and deep fryed things) is traditional ind still popular. In big cities you can get any type of food you can imagine though Japan doesn't do pizza very well. Few spices are used and traditional desserts are sweetened with red bean paste instead of sugar. government- This is soooo complicated. I'm a political science major and it hurts my brain. Three letters: LDP. Good luck... housing- mostly urban and suburban. In the city there is no space. The average 1 room apt in Tokyo could be considered a closet to some people. Information- Check CIA world factbook. You have to take a test to get into high school AND to get into college. Students often take extra classes to prepare for these tests. Students do not have to finish high school but many do anyway. Jobs- High tech country, freakishly good public transport (as long as no one jumps in front of it), has a 'planned economy' kind of environment- Check Wikipedia. It's HOT AND HUMID though in the summer. I live much farther south than Japan and I was too hot sometimes. The actual temp isn't not but it feels hot. Leftovers- pets have become a fashion statement. Most people keep small pets because of limited space favorite Japanese finger food- Curry pizza tasty! Anything curry flavored is wildly popular in Japan.