This year's March issue of Shodensha's Feel Young magazine announced on Wednesday that Mari Okazaki's Kashimashi Meshi manga will get a live-action series Okazaki is best known for her workplace romance Suppli, which ran in Shodensha's Feel Young magazine from 2003 to 2009. Tokyopop published five volumes of the series The manga inspired a live-action television series in Japan in 2006 Okazaki launched the A-Un manga in Monthly Big Comic Spirits in May 2014, and ended it in May 2021 Source: Comic Natalie I had several dreams: competing in the German Bundesliga be a member of the German national team and to go to Japan I could fulfill all of these three dreams and was very happy who was also part of this incredible journey a Japanese judo teacher and was with him in Japan several times Regina and I wanted to offer the chance to fulfil a judoka's dream "doing judo in Japan," to other judoka from our judo club The idea is to give our judo people the possibility for a deeper and better understanding of Japan and the Japanese culture I believe that travelling is a huge part of education I always remember what a famous German journalist "Will you recognise the narrow of your home Our goal is really to show our group how Japanese people live and to open their mindset despite the cultural It is a motivation for our students to keep learning judo and to become lifelong judoka There are countless people in many judo clubs all over the world and sometimes they quit after a short time Our idea behind saying that judo is more than a sport is to give motivation and the chance for a wider understanding of what judo really is which took place during the German Easter holiday one composed of young judoka from green to brown belt We had chosen to go to Kashima-Shi in Ibaraki-Ken because we are very close friends with Shigeru Kariya He is the father of Chikara Kariya from the Kodokan Regina met Kariya Sensei 16 years ago when she was in Japan with a German delegation on behalf of the German Ministry of Family We are in regular contact with Kariya Sensei and he came several times in Germany We also decided to go to Ryotokuji University in Urayasu I met him in 2005 during an IJF self-defence seminar in the Dominican Republic He is so friendly and organised a training session and international exchange with his judo group Chikara Kariya advised us and we participated in the judo classes there We added a bit of Japanese culture with visits to Ueno Park A special highlight for Regina and me was the personal invitation from Haruki Uemara He was interested in our common engagement as a 'judo couple' for development In Kashima were were accommodated by Japanese families We had some official meetings with the Mayor of Kashima and the Vice Governor of Ibaraki-Ken with the theme of ‘Judo is a key for international friendship and peace.’ We paid a visit to the police headquarters in Kashima and visited the famous Kashima shrine During our stay we had a really exciting visit to the Nozomi kindergarten as well After the terrible tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 Regina and established a donation platform for our Japanese sister cities Kuji (Iwate Ken) and Kashima (Ibaraki-Ken) We managed to collect quite some money with the support of our police sports club Königsbrunn the police academy Königsbrunn and the city of Königsbrunn We transferred some money to Shigeru Kariya and he gave our donation to Kashima Kindergarten Nozomi This was why Nozomi Kindergarten gave us a touching welcome with German flags and an orchestra Our time in Urayasu with Yamada Sensei and his team was also a great experience We had nice judo training together and one unforgettable judo family training day with children double world champion (2017 and 2021) and Yusuke Kanamaru The barbecue with all the judoka gave us the chance to talk and eat together while enjoying the moment the training session at the Kodokan gathered together 250 judoka International friendship is crucial for mutual understanding and peace The programme helps to open our minds and gives us the chance to interact personally and not via online exchanges It brings deep emotions and become a long lasting experience We received only positive feedback from all the participants our judo students as well as our Japanese friends families and officials were happy about this intensive and direct encounter the judoka communicated with hands and feet and some times they used language translation apps It worked and we were happy to witness that All our students said that they were surprised and they enjoyed the great hospitality and the friendliness of the Japanese people Regina and I are very grateful to all of our Japanese friends and supporters who helped to realise this unique experience We are convinced that our judo club members have learned a lot and we are sure that this unique experience will give them huge motivation for continuing in judo Many thanks to the DSJ (Deutsche Sportjugend) inside the DOSB (German Olympic Sports Confederation) and the German Ministry for Family affairs Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) for supporting this international youth exchange." 2025 / Interviewing an Olympic champion is something special .. 2025 / The draw for the 2025 Baku Grand Slam is imminent and .. 2025 / There is a large Japanese team in Paris but several .. 2024 / As a symbol of the impressive results of the Japanese .. 2024 / Two-time junior world champion (Guayaquil and Odivelas) 2024 / The initial question of the day was clearly answered .. 2024 / With only one known international result It’s been 10 months since Shiina Ringo has released her latest music video, but she’s back with hot vengeance alongside Miyamoto Hiroji (Elephant Kashimashi) who pours his heart into the Kemono Yuku Hosomichi performance This single is out on for digital release on October 2 Kemono Yuku Hosomichi will be the new theme song for Nippon TV’s news program news zero from October 1 so listen out for it if you’re watching Japanese TV Topic Artist Volume 5 - 2014 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01066 This article is part of the Research TopicCultural change: Adapting to it, coping with it, resisting it, and driving it.View all 14 articles Chinese society has experienced transformative changes How are these changes understood among Chinese people Part 1 in this research solicited folk beliefs of cultural change from a group of Chinese participants in an open-ended format and the generated folk beliefs were rated by another group of participants in Part 2 to gage each belief's level of agreement Part 3 plotted the folk beliefs retained in Part 2 using the Google Ngram Viewer in order to infer the amount of intellectual interests that each belief has received cross-temporarily These analyses suggested a few themes in Chinese folk beliefs of cultural change (1) rising perceived importance of materialism and individualism in understanding contemporary Chinese culture and Chinese psychology relative to those of the past (2) rising perceived importance of freedom democracy and human rights and (3) enduring perceived importance of family relations and friendship as well as patriotism findings from Parts 2 and 3 diverged somewhat illuminating possible divergence between folk beliefs and intellectual interests especially for issues related to heritage of Confucianism During the last few decades, Chinese society has experienced a tremendous transformation driven by policy changes and rapid economic growth. The aim of the current research is to examine how Chinese people believe these changes have affected their culture and psychology. That is the current research investigates folk beliefs of cultural changes (Kashima et al., 2009) among Chinese we anticipate that Chinese folk beliefs of cultural changes will also resemble the modernization theory In research, the modernization theory as a theory of cultural change has been challenged (Huntington, 1996; Kashima et al., 2009; Hamamura, 2012). In fact, some research has suggested that traditional cultural systems and their associated beliefs, values, and practices continue even in the face of societal modernization (Inglehart and Baker, 2000; Hamamura, 2012) we also anticipate that Chinese folk beliefs of cultural changes will reflect the theme of traditional cultural influence continuing The aim of this research is to gain an in-depth understanding of how these conflicting themes of cultural change—modernization effect and continuity of historical cultural influence—may shape contemporary Chinese folk beliefs of cultural changes Folk beliefs of cultural changes do not emerge in a vacuum the current investigation necessitates a review of available evidence on cross-temporal changes/continuity in Chinese culture and psychology This review should enable a better understanding of the context within which folk beliefs of cultural changes are formulated in the following sections we first present findings that are broadly consistent with the modernization theory This is followed by a discussion of findings that are broadly inconsistent with the modernization theory and suggest cross-temporal continuity in Chinese culture and psychology The modernization theory has been very influential in shaping the conceptualization of cultural changes, not only within the community of researchers but also among lay people (Kashima et al., 2009, 2011; Cheng et al., 2010) The notion that the rapid modernization of Chinese society has made Chinese culture more individualistic is also prevalent in the literature In one study, Cai et al. (2012) examined whether socio-ecological factors that have become prevalent in recent decades in China—affluence, urbanization, and single-child households—are predictive of one psychological process sometimes associated with individualism, namely narcissism (Twenge et al., 2008) This research revealed that all three socio-ecological factors examined were independently predictive of narcissism—a higher score of narcissism was found among affluent (vs One specific change in Chinese culture that has been well documented is the psychological implications of shyness (Chen et al., 2005) Chen and colleagues have postulated that although shyness in Chinese culture had traditionally been a positively viewed trait seen as reflective of social maturity shyness has been valued less in recent years with a greater emphasis placed on competitiveness in socialization Chen and colleagues assessed three cohorts of 10-year-old children from Shanghai in 1990 The study assessed the children's shyness and indices of their social functioning via peer assessment This research found that whereas shyness was positively associated with peer acceptance and academic achievement in the 1990 cohort these associations were weaker in the 1998 cohort shyness was negatively associated with peer acceptance and with teacher-rated school competence in the 2002 cohort These findings suggest a cross-temporal shift in the psychological implication of shyness in Chinese socialization these findings suggest that changes in the socio-economic-political infrastructure in China have induced changes in Chinese psychology and greater values placed on assertiveness in socialization Not all available findings are consistent with the theme of rising individualism identified in the previous section these findings suggest cross-temporal continuity in Chinese culture and psychology First, for the past few decades, research in cultural psychology has accumulated evidence indicating greater interdependence and collectivism among Chinese and other East Asians (Japanese and Koreans) relative to Westerners. This pattern has continued to emerge in recent years, for example, in comparisons between urban Chinese university students and American university students (Han and Northoff, 2008) These findings suggest that even after taking into account modernization in Chinese society Chinese cultural and psychological processes continue to be relatively more interdependent and collectivistic In earlier work, these differences were articulated based on the considerations of differences in religious and intellectual traditions (e.g., Buddhism and Confucianism in China and Christianity and Greek philosophies in Western societies) (Markus and Kitayama, 1991; Nisbett et al., 2001) Recent work in this area has focused on ecological factors that have induced these cultural differences differences in subsistence practices in particular Talhelm and colleagues examined these predictions with a large number of Han Chinese students from six sites across China using multiple measures of independence-interdependence The findings confirmed the pattern that participants from southern provinces were more interdependent compared with those from northern provinces The implication of these findings is that the influence of historical subsistence practices—rice or wheat farming—continues to exert its influence in shaping modern Chinese culture and psychology findings from these studies suggest that the impact of historical socio-economic practices continues to exert its influence on contemporary Chinese culture and Chinese psychology the purpose of the literature review above was to depict the socio-historical context within which folk beliefs of cultural changes are formulated The review suggests two themes of cross-temporal trends in Chinese culture and psychology: the rise of individualism (decline of collectivism) and the continuity of some traditional cultural influence The study reported below examined whether these two broad themes are evident in Chinese folk beliefs of cultural changes the current research takes a data-driven bottom-up approach and inferences drawn this way are synthesized with the two broad themes discussed above as the framework The current research consists of three parts Part 1 solicited folk beliefs of cultural changes on a wide variety of topics from a small group of Chinese participants in an open-ended format These participants were asked to generate a list of topics and issues that have become more or less important in understanding Chinese people of the past and present these responses were rated by a larger number of participants to gage each belief's prominence in Chinese folk beliefs of cultural changes—this procedure differentiated those folk beliefs that are more agreed upon from those that are more idiosyncratic Based on the folk beliefs retained in this procedure patterns in Chinese folk beliefs on cultural changes were inferred Part 3 of the study attempted to gage intellectual interest in the folk beliefs identified in Part 2 by analyzing them with the Google Ngram database A detailed rationale for this analysis is discussed below the aim of Part 3 was to examine whether there is a correspondence between folk beliefs of cultural changes identified in Part 2 and intellectual interest in a given topic as inferred from the analyses of the Google Ngram database We asked 11 students from Renmin University of China to generate a list of topics that they would associate as capturing similarities and differences between Chinese people of today and 50 years ago in an open-ended format the students were asked to list topics for the following domains: mental health/happiness The students were encouraged to write down as many topics as they could After screening for duplications and for non-sense responses this procedure resulted in 74 unique responses although some of the responses shared a similar meaning we decided not to remove such responses to guard against the possibility that topics with a seemingly similar meaning rated differently in Part 2 We recruited 124 participants (46% female, average age 37.7) via an online company that hosts recruitment notices for surveys and that is used by millions of users in China (sojump.com) The participants were from different regions in China (e.g. All the participants had at least a high school education with 69% with a college degree and 12% with a master's degree This sample is a biased sample of the Chinese population in at least a few ways most notably in terms of high educational attainment the current sample (also the sample in Part 1) has a more articulated understanding of Chinese cultural changes the extent to which the inferences made below are applicable to a more representative sample of Chinese population is an important future question the participants were asked about (1) its perceived importance in understanding similarities and differences between Chinese people of today and 50 years ago and (2) the perceived level of attention the topic has drawn in Chinese society the participants were asked to select one of five options: (a) more important for understanding Chinese people of today (b) more important for understanding Chinese people of the past for the perceived level of attention question the participants selected one of five options: (a) more attention today than in the past (d) not much attention either past or present These two questions resulted in similar ratings Next, we examined the level of agreement among the participants in rating particular topics. There were 20 topics that were rated by 50% or more of the participants as (a) for both questions. That is, these are topics generally seen as more important in understanding Chinese people of today and as drawing more attention in Chinese society today than in the past. We labeled these topics as “Rising” topics. Table 1 lists these topics Folk beliefs of cultural changes identified in Part 2 There were 13 topics that were rated by 40% or more1 of the participants as (b) for both questions these are topics generally seen as more important in understanding Chinese people of the past and as drawing less attention in Chinese society today than in the past We labeled these topics as “Declining” topics There were nine topics that were rated by 40% or more of the participants as (c) for both questions these are topics generally seen as always important in understanding Chinese people and as always drawing much attention in Chinese society These topics were labeled as “Continuing.” Our analysis focused on identifying patterns and commonalities among Rising Inspections of Rising topics suggest a few themes The first theme is the perceived rising importance of wealth and materialism and related topics in understanding Chinese people of today than in the past This theme was inferred from the perceived rising importance of materialism () The second theme may be the rising perceived importance of individualism () and Western cultural influence () These trends may also capture the perceived rising importance of associated issues like divorce () and gender equality () this theme may also capture the perceived rising importance of psychological well-being () the perceived rising emphasis on psychological well-being may reflect the perceived rising importance of stress () The third theme may be the increased perceived importance of freedom () and democracy () and human rights () there has been an increasing knowledge and awareness of these issues among Chinese people stemming from their greater exposures to Western social practices Our interpretation is that this trend may underlie the rising perceived importance of these issues Our interpretation is that perceived increasing importance of openness and diversity in understanding Chinese people today may reflect this trend Another trend may be the impact of historical events that have subsequently faded away like the importance of food and clothing () the Great Chinese Famine in 1960) but might have become less relevant with rising affluence the word “social class” () may carry specific connotations to the Cultural Revolution; hence the declining importance of this topic that was perceived among the participants may reflect a declined influence of policies introduced during the Cultural Revolution although income disparity has become a societal issue in China in recent years it is unlikely that the trend for social class () captures this trend as the contemporary issue of growing gap between rich and poor is usually described by terms such as rich people () or powerful class () Inspections of the Continuing topics suggest a theme that individuals' attachment to nation () and friends () is seen as enduring aspects of Chinese culture Chinese New Year () as the holiday for family reunions has been seen as an always important topic as well as the desire for a stable life and harmonious family relationships () Another theme may be the enduring perceived importance of moral judgment () we plotted the folk beliefs identified in Part 2 in the Google Ngram database The aim of this analysis was to examine whether there was a correspondence between a pattern found for a particular folk belief (i.e. continuing) and the amount of intellectual interest in that topic as inferred from analyses of the Chinese corpus of the Google Ngram database The Google Ngram Viewer (https://books.google.com/ngrams/) plots the usage frequency of words/characters of interest based on Google's digitalized book archive consisting of those books that were given to Google by partner publishers or from partner libraries Google digitalized the contents of these books with optical character recognition technology and compiled them into a dataset that is searchable at the level of single words/characters by entering “psychology” into the Google Ngram Viewer it searches for all instances for which “psychology” is mentioned in the database computes its occurrence for a particular year relative to a total number of all words that were used in all books published in that year that are archived in the database for another usage of Ngram Viewer in inferring cultural changes) As seen from these examples, the Ngram Viewer is a valuable tool for studying cultural changes. However, just as with any other research methods, analyses of Ngram Viewer plots have biases and errors that are currently inherent. Specifically, Michel et al. (2011) discussed issues of biased representations of books archived by Google and limitations of the technology involved in digitalizing books into a searchable database of words and characters the issue is more problematic for the Chinese corpus The second issue is the censorship of book publication in China. For a book to be sold on the open market in China, it requires an approval from a government office, and books that are deemed inappropriate (e.g., those that touch on politically sensitive topics) are banned. In fact, Michel et al. (2011) demonstrated the effect of government censorship on the Chinese corpus whereas the usage of the words “Tiananmen Square” was elevated in the English corpus following the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 the corresponding pattern was not evident in the usage plot for its Chinese characters () suggesting a suppressed usage of these words in Chinese books Ngram plots for topics that are politically sensitive are unlikely to produce a pattern that genuinely reflects intellectual interest in those topics we believe that the current limitations of the Ngram Viewer plots for the Chinese corpus are best addressed by cautious interpretations of any resulting inferences and by acknowledging the tentative nature of any such interpretations The unit of analysis in the Google Ngram Viewer is n-gram, where 1-gram for Chinese is defined as a common semantic boundary (Michel et al., 2011) This means that a string of Chinese characters printed in a book that are scanned are segmented to many 1-grams based on their semantic boundary 1-gram in Chinese can consist of a single character (“”) or multiple characters that from a semantic unit (two-character combinations such as “”) The Ngram Viewer also allows a search of phrases (i.e. two or more grams) by adding a space between 1-grams (e.g. a phrase “” was searched by adding a space between “” and “”) as well as their average usage frequency in the study period In plotting figures and also for conducting all quantitative analyses we used the “smoothing by 1” function This means that a usage value for a given year was obtained by taking the average of a value for that year plus one value each for adjacent years on both sides the usage of “ (open minded)” in 1990 accounted for 0.0254% of the entire corpus for that year This value was summed with the corresponding value for 1989 (0.0257%) and 1991 (0.0288%) and the average of these three values (0.0266%) was the value for 1990 The value for the starting and ending years was obtained by averaging two values the value for that year and the value for the single adjacent year (1980 and 2007 for the starting year and the ending year) We used this method to draw inferences that are close to the raw data yet are somewhat protected from outlying values For each topic that met the inclusion criteria above, we computed a correlation between its usage trend and year. Table 2 reports these correlations To the extent that there is a correspondence between the folk beliefs identified in Part 2 and its usage trend plotted in the Ngram Viewer this correlation should be positive for the Rising topics and negative for the Declining topics We also analyzed the percentage changes in usage frequency between 1980 and 2008 the topics analyzed indicated a large increase in usage frequency (Mean = 497% Because the analyses performed in the Ngram plots (e.g., correlations between frequency and year) are generally very sensitive to cross-temporal changes, the analyses for the Continuing topics are hard to interpret. As such, the analyses of these topics are reported in Table 2 but are not interpreted in detail the correlation between usage frequency and year was positive for 10 topics (83% correspondence) The correlation was negative for two topics: democracy () and spiritual life () the usage frequency of these Rising topics actually indicated a downward trend A plot for democracy () is presented in Figure 1 The plot shows a steep decline in the usage of this word in the early 1990s the years following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 it may be that the declining trend reflects the suppression of intellectual interest in issues pertaining to democracy stemming from censorship democracy was discussed along with freedom () and human rights () as reflecting a rising awareness of these issues in Chinese society the usage frequency of these words indicated rising trends corresponding to the rising pattern identified in Part 2 An Ngram Viewer plot of freedom () and democracy () and human rights () although the Ngram plot indicates a declining usage of this word (r = −0.85) the magnitude of this change (−12%) is small—one of the smallest among the topics analyzed an interpretation that we submit is that intellectual interest in spiritual life has been relatively unchanged the correlation between usage frequency and year was negative for three topics and positive for four topics In terms of the correspondence between Parts 2 and 3 whereas the correspondence rate was 83% for Rising topics Four Declining topics that indicated an upward trend in the Ngram plots were food and clothing () our interpretation is as follow: whereas issues of poverty and survival associated with China in earlier decades have largely been eradicated with rising affluence the pace of economic development has been very uneven leading to a new societal issue of a large inflow of population from rural areas into urban centers seeking a better standard of living The upward trend of food and clothing () may capture intellectual interest in these issues the upward pattern may reflect a rising intellectual interests for the traumatic issue that had affected livelihood of many that had been rectified in recent decades and traditional ethics () showed an upward trend these topics share in common their association with Confucianism Although these topics were seen as declining in their importance in Part 2 patterns from the Ngram plots indicate rising intellectual interest in these topics This pattern is discussed in detail in the General Discussion section This research examined folk beliefs of cultural changes among Chinese using a survey and the Google Ngram Viewer Findings in Part 2 suggested a few trends in Chinese folk belief of cultural changes some of the folk beliefs resembled tenets of the modernization theory suggesting a greater perceived importance of materialism and Westernization in understanding Chinese culture and Chinese psychology today analyses also suggested a declined perceived importance of traditional Chinese/Eastern cultural practices and collectivism in understanding Chinese culture and Chinese psychology the findings also suggested the perceived rising importance of freedom and human rights in understanding contemporary Chinese culture and psychology Our interpretation was that this trend may reflect the increased exposure to and greater awareness of Western social practices among Chinese especially among the population sampled for the current study our analysis also identified a theme of cultural continuity within the Chinese folk beliefs with regards to the importance of family relations and friendships Part 3 cross-examined these trends using the Google Ngram Viewer Analyses of the trends revealed a mixed pattern for those folk beliefs that were seen as increasingly important in understanding Chinese in Part 2 (Rising topics) the Ngram Viewer plots tended to show a corresponding pattern—the rate of correspondence was 83% the correspondence rate was much lower (43%) for those folk beliefs that were seen as declining in their importance in understanding Chinese (Declining topics) analyses of these discrepancies afforded interesting insights the discrepancy identified for the word “democracy” ()—Rising topic in Part 2 that showed a downward trend in the Ngram Viewer plot—seems to reflect the effect of government censorship of politically sensitive topics The increasing usage frequency of words associated with Confucianism identified in Part 3 may reflect a rising intellectual interest in these issues The increasing usage frequency of words associated with family may also reflect the similar dynamics—it may be the case that traditional values surrounding family life are seen as eroding and have stirred intellectual interests in response we interpreted Ngram Viewer plots as reflecting intellectual interests that a given topic has received one way to frame the discrepancies between the findings from Parts 2 and 3 may be that they reflect differences of folk beliefs of cultural change held among lay individuals and intellectuals Another plausible interpretation would be that Ngram Viewer plots capture actual patterns of communication within society Such an interpretation would have to assume some degrees of correspondence between the frequency in which a given topic is communicated within society and the frequency in which that topic is mentioned in book publications the current findings beg the question of why perceptions of cultural changes assessed directly (i.e. Part 2) sometimes diverged from the ways in which those topics are talked about in the society Answer to this question may allude to the issue of inaccuracy in retrospectively judging historical patterns along with the limitations of the current study discussed earlier—issues of sample representativeness in Part 2 and potential errors and biases inherent in analyses of the Chinese corpus of the Google Ngram database—await further considerations in future research The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest 1. ^For Declining and Continuing topics the criteria for consensus was lower than Rising topic because the level of agreement among the raters was generally lower for Declining and Continuing topics than Rising topics if the criteria for consensus were set at 50% we would have only retained 3 out of 13 Declining topics reported here A sociocultural approach to narcissism: the case of modern China CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Little emperors: behavioral impacts of China's one-child policy Social functioning and adjustment in Chinese children: the imprint of historical time The good old days and a better tomorrow: historical representations and future imaginations of China during the 2008 Olympic Games Tuning in to psychological change: linguistic markers of psychological traits and emotions over time in popular US song lyrics Generation cohorts and personal values: a comparison of China and the United States CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A comparative study of personality characteristics between only and nononly children in primary schools in Xian The changing psychology of culture from 1800 through 2000 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A cross-temporal comparison of individualism–collectivism in the United States and Japan and independence-interdependence: the case of Chinese adolescents Culture-sensitive neural substrates of human cognition: a transcultural neuroimaging approach The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Globalization and folk theory of social change: how globalization relates to social perceptions about the past and future “Day care in the People's Republic of China,” in Child Care in Context: Cross Cultural Perspectives Google Scholar Culture and the self: implications for cognition CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books Measuring culture outside the head: a meta-analysis of individualism—collectivism in cultural products Culture of Honor: The Psychology of Violence in the South Culture and systems of thought: holistic versus analytic cognition Concepts of happiness across time and cultures Large-scale psychological differences within China explained by rice versus wheat agriculture Increases in individualistic words and phrases in American books Egos inflating over time: a cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory China's Path to Modernization: A Historical Review From 1800 to the Present Childhood memory and self-description in young Chinese adults: the impact of growing up an only child The impact of Confucianism on interpersonal relationships and communication patterns in East Asia CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar hierarchy and conservatism: a cross-cultural comparison of Confucian values in China Citation: Xu Y and Hamamura T (2014) Folk beliefs of cultural changes in China Received: 06 June 2014; Paper pending published: 06 July 2014; Accepted: 05 September 2014; Published online: 24 September 2014 Copyright © 2014 Xu and Hamamura. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Takeshi Hamamura, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia e-mail:dGFrZXNoaS5oYW1hbXVyYUBjdXJ0aW4uZWR1LmF1 Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Because the world is too small for strangers By Joy Lai Craving a trip to Japan but want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city in popular destinations like Tokyo and Osaka? Make a visit down to the quieter and often overlooked Saga prefecture in Kyushu, located right next to Fukuoka.  The area is rich in history and culture, and is known for its pottery, tea, and sake. It is the ideal destination for those who just want a break from the fast pace of life and immerse themselves in authentic Japanese culture, history and nature.  If you’re thinking of how to get to Saga Prefecture, Changi Airport is directly connected to Fukuoka Airport in Kyushu with direct flights by Singapore Airlines. From Fukuoka, Saga Prefecture is just a 35mins train ride away (from Hakata Station in Fukuoka to Saga Station). Read on for the many things you can see, do and experience in Saga prefecture! The Yutoku Inari Shrine was founded in 1687 and is located in Kashima City in the south of Saga Prefecture. The Yutoku Inari Shrine is the third largest shrine dedicated to Inari, one of the most popular deities in the Shinto religion. Shintoism – Japan’s native belief system – is the polytheistic and animistic belief in spirits that inhabit everything in the natural world. The Japanese garden at the base of the shrine is a perfect photo spot for visitors. The shrine is beautifully surrounded by nature and absolutely picturesque. It’s particularly known for the Japanese garden at its base where seasonal flowers bloom. It’s also famous for its tree peonies in winter and spring. Along with azaleas, wisteria and hydrangeas that bloom in spring. A walking trail from the main hall leads to a small Okunion shrine, with torii gates lining the way. For the best views, take a 10-minute climb up the stairs behind the main hall to reach the top for a higher vantage point. From there, you’ll be able to get stunning views over Kashima City and the Ariake Sea. You’ll find a small Okunoin shrine too. Address: 1855 Otsu, Furueda, Kashima-shi, Saga Prefecture, Japan  Shrine Garden: Opens daily from 9:00am to 4:30pm Shrine Museum: Opens daily from 9:00am to 4:30pm daily The forest is filled with autumn colours of rich and warm tones every November - a sight you should not miss if you are visiting Kyushu. This park is surrounded by a 20-hectare private forest, made up of 10,000 maple trees. It’s sure to take your breath away with its brilliant show of colours in autumn. The forest was created over the span of 30 years by environmental artists who wished to restore the beauty of the forest, previously ruined by human intervention. Fuyusansō - a villa located in Kankyo Geijutsu no Mori Park where you can pause and soak in the best sights. Admire the view of the forest from ceiling-to-glass windows. Another feature to note is the Fuyusansō, a building made up of scrap material from a 100-year-old house. Here, visitors can sit and enjoy a 360-degree view of the trees around them through ceiling-to-glass windows. The park has an entrance fee of 700JPY (S$7) for the general public, and a fee of 300JPY (S$3) for children aged six to 15. Address: 667, Hirano, Kyuragi-machi, Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, Japan Opening hours: Opens daily from 9:00am to 4:00pm The Oouo Shrine, also known as the Floating Torii Gate, is a famous tourist spot. Waters can come up to six metres during high tide and the torii gate can be seen emerging above the waters. The most popular features of Oouo Shrine are the three torii gates stretching into the Ariake Sea. They are famous among photographers for how they look like they’re floating just above the surface of the sea at high tide. At low tide, visitors can walk out onto the seabed to take a look at the gates up close. The town the gates are found in is called “The Town to see the Power of the Moon” because it is where the tide difference is the largest in all of Japan—a whole six metres. That’s taller than a double-decker bus!  Take a stroll under the torii gates during low tide, and it is a great place to catch beautiful sunsets as well. Another photographic spot in the area, also created because of the huge tide difference, is the Tara Undersea Road. This is a path that leads straight into the ocean at low tide and is lined with streetlights. Address: 1874-9 Tara Oaza, Tara, Tara-cho, Fujitsu-gun, Saga Prefecture, Japan The rice fields are filled with water from mid-April to early May, creating a perfect photo opportunity for visitors. Hamanoura Rice Terraces are set into the steep hillside, creating the illusion of giant steps leading straight into the Genkai Sea. The rice fields, located in the northwest corner of Saga, span 11.5 hectares, or 283 small rice fields - a huge area for you to explore and capture photos during sunset! Capture perfect photo memories and selfies at the observatory point of Hamanoura Rice Terraces. The best view of the rice terraces comes in mid-April when they get filled with water till early May when the rice is planted. From the observatory point, you can get a good view of the orange hues of the sky reflected onto the calm waters of the rice terrace. The effect makes them look like brilliantly coloured shards of glass. Address: Hamanoura, Genkai-cho, Higashi Matsuura-gun, Saga Prefecture, Japan The large Yoshinogari Historical Park features elevated store houses, watch towers and dozens of pit dwellings, one of the best places to learn about the Yayoi period of Japanese history. The Yoshinogari Historical Park is where you’ll get your fix of history. It is the largest and most important archaeological site for the Yayoi Period (300 BC to 300 AD) in Japan. For a more immersive experience, visitors can enter the reconstructed villages, explore the exhibitions and even participate in some hands-on activities. Recreational spots in the park makes it a perfect place for families to picnic and enjoy outdoor time. The sprawling historical grounds also include recreational areas like a field where people can have a picnic or play sports. Don’t worry about needing to bring your own equipment because they offer their own playsets for rental! The park also features a Forest of Ancient Plants (where they tried to replicate a forest from the Yayoi Period), an outdoor cooking area for barbeque and a petting zoo. This family-friendly attraction is sure to occupy you for the whole day. The park has an entrance fee of 460JPY (S$4.60) for individuals older than 15, free for students under the age of 15 and a subsidised fee of 200JPY (S$2) for elderly above 65. Address: 1843 Tade Yoshinogari-cho, Kanzaki-gun, Saga Prefecture, Japan Opening hours: Opens daily from 9:00am to 5:00pm (Closed on 31 December, the third Monday of January and the following day every year) A dreamlike scene with a train driving through the flowers from the cherry blossom trees. The small, local Uranosaki Station is home to a row of 80 cherry blossom trees, forming a Sakura tunnel along the train tracks. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom in late March to early April. The scene looks like something straight out of an anime as the train chugs along peacefully under the overarching branches of pale pink flowers.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by 九州観光旅行情報 (@kyushu_tourism_information) For all sakura lovers or photographers, this stop can’t be missed. You can choose to enjoy the sights either at the station or by sitting in the train carriage itself, operated by Matsuura Railway along the Nishi-Kyushu Line. Address: Tachiiwa Yamashirocho, Tachiiwa Yamashirocho, Imari, Saga Prefecture, Japan Catch unique balloon designs taking to the skies at Asia’s largest balloon festival. If you’re travelling to Saga in autumn, don’t miss out on the Saga International Balloon Fiesta!  View this post on Instagram A post shared by ベンリー (Benlly) (@tateyokobenlly) The annual five-day festival takes place along the Kase River just outside Saga City, where over a hundred hot air balloon enthusiasts gather to fly their balloons - happening from 1 November to 5 November in 2023. View this post on Instagram A post shared by りゅう (@ryu_over_rev) participants will take part in flying competitions and tasks A key festival event is the La Montgolfier Nocturne—a night show where hot air balloons are moored and lit up simultaneously to the sound of live music playing visitors can spend their day at the Balloon Plaza or Rest Area where there is a food market and live entertainment but visitors who drive and wish to use their temporary parking lot will have to pay 1,000JPY (S$9.90).  you will see massive floats to celebrate bountiful harvests in autumn - a celebration that started since the Edo period (1603 to 1867) Can’t get enough of the festive vibes after the Saga International Balloon Fiesta Head straight to the Karatsu Kunchi Festival which takes place at the same time in early November every year The three-day cultural festival involves 14 huge floats They would be paraded through Karatsu town and then dragged through the sand at Nishino beach The floats are designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage - featuring mythical sea creatures to dragons and samurai helmets are designed after mythical creatures such as Aka-Jishi (The Red Lion) and Shin-Machi (The Flying Dragon) Float bearers are selected from families living in the fourteen traditional neighbourhoods in Karatsu The festival culturally signifies the celebration for a bountiful harvest and usually gathers large crowds of between 150,000 and 500,000 as spectators.  Not to worry if you can’t make the event though since the tall floats are also put on display year-long at the Hikiyama Float Exhibition Hall Opening hours: Opens daily from 9:am to 5:00pm Enjoy brewed tea in the middle of a tea field with spectacular views at Chatou on an elevated platform The heart of tea culture in Saga is in the city of Ureshino Scattered among the tea plantations in Ureshino are three unique locations where you can witness a traditional sacred tea ceremony The three locations are Tenchadai (or the “heavenly tea table”) decorated by sun umbrellas for visitors to experience the traditional ceremony outdoors in a tea field Watch in awe as the tea master skilfully brews the locally grown tea up close and prepare your tastebuds for an exquisite experience during the tea tasting As a part of the programme to learn more about the tea culture there are cycling or walking tours which allow you to enjoy the city’s unique local tea while exploring the area This will fit into the itinerary of those who are Japanese tea lovers or those who just want to immerse in tranquillity and enjoy a warm Reservations for the experiences are recommended and the tea experience at each location costs about 10,000JPY (S$99). Find out more about the different tea experiences here Address: Otsu-738 Ureshinomachi Oaza Shimojuku finish your relaxing day by visiting Ureshino Onsen a hot spring town home to natural onsen waters rich in minerals the water is often referred to as “bihada no yu” which means “skin-beautifying water” Relax in one of 30 hotels and Japanese-style inns in the town. At Hisago Ryokan a room for three and an Omakase-style dinner and breakfast You even get access to a private bath and full amenities in your hotel room Siebold-no-Yu is one of the most famous onsen public baths at Ureshino with common bathing area and private baths for those looking for a relaxing soak The private baths have full amenities for guests If you’re only there for a day visit with no intention to stay the night you can still visit a public bath house just for a soak a red-roofed gothic-style building—a go-to for tourists and locals alike leading to a unique fusion of the two at Yuzen no Yado Toukai you can soak in private giant onsen teacups for 50 minutes in addition to the price for a one-night stay (6,500JPY Pottery is steeped into the history of Saga - in fact Complete your cultural dive into the area by trying your hand at pottery.  The Hizen Yoshida-Yaki Pottery Hall has a showroom where they sell a wide variation of porcelain products You’ll have much to choose from if you’re looking for a unique souvenir to brighten up your home If you want to try your hand at making pottery the pottery hall also offers pottery workshops where you can paint and hand form your own pottery pieces Opening hours: Opens daily from 8:30am to 4:30pm (Closed on 29 December to 1 January every year) Shop at Kyushu's largest premium outlet mall in Tosu City The Tosu Premium Outlets is Kyushu’s largest premium mall featuring a total of 164 stores—you can be sure to get your shopping fix here accessories and clothes for a steal from popular brands such as Kate Spade there is a direct bus that runs from Nishitetsu Tenjin Expressway Bus Terminal in Fukuoka to Tosu Premium Outlets (approximately 45mins) which makes it a convenient spot for some retail therapy It costs 1,400JPY (S$14) for a round trip ticket and 770JPY (S$7.70) for a one way ticket If you need a break from walking, the outlet mall also has a food court and various restaurants and cafes to fill your stomachs with, like Ippudo Ramen. Check out the full list of shops on Tosu Premium outlets website From March to January: Opens daily from 10:00am to 8:00pm  In February: Opens daily from 10:00am to 7:00pm  Closed on the third Thursday of February every year  It’s a lesser-known tourist destination; a breath of fresh air compared to the usual commotion you’ll find in big cities Saga Prefecture in Kyushu is just a 35 mins train ride away (from Hakata Station in Fukuoka to Saga Station) from Fukuoka - directly connected to Changi Airport with direct flights by Singapore Airlines to Fukuoka Airport This story is brought to you by Saga Prefectural Tourism {{ article.title }} You have reached the limit of 5 saved articles you will need to remove others on My Articles By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy, Conditions of Access and to the placement of cookies on your computer Update 1:30am: Large wave hitting Hawaii again Update 12:48am: Hawaii has been hit by second wave water has receeded out 200ft or so and seems to be rising Update 12:41am: There are reports a train has completely disappeared near Sendai A ship carrying about 100 people was swept away by the huge tsunami that hit Japan on Friday and its fate was unknown The ship was owned by a shipbuilder in Ishinomaki There is also a passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard which is still unaccounted for in the tsunami-hit part of coastal Japan Update 12:34am: Police in Sendai have reportedly found hundreds of bodies Update 12:18am: Fire at the Fukushima nuclear plant is reported as out There currently seems to be little effect at hawaii Update 11:32pm: 2000 people living near Fukushima nuclear have been evacuated So far there is no new news about exactly what is hapenning at the plant itself Update 10:42pm: I am seeing warning notices on Sky News that read “Whole towns in northern Japan have been destroyed” it was obvious from the footage that this was inevitable There is a report of a tourist ship with 100 people on-board has disappeared Update 10:37pm: Hawaiin beach front tourist areas have all been evactuated All tourists have been told to move to at least the 3rd floors of their hotels People are bing told to eveacuate or be arrested Update 9:53pm: Fukushima nuclear reactor is having problems; the authorities seem to be unable to pump coolant into the reactor as the pumps have failed They have shut down the reactor but the loss of coolant supply is a “concern” and experts are saying this “shouldn’t happen” Update 9:10pm AEST: Ocean waves up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) above normal sea level were detected by deep-ocean gauges near Wake island a spokesman for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Update: I just found this at earthquake-report I desperately hope it has been mistranslated As Prince says in the comments Kurihara-shi Tsukidate has 77,000 people Estimate:- $100-500 billion – the largest ever economic loss The following towns have been severely damaged:- Tochige Prefecture and a little bit of Iwate has had major losses At 2:45pm local time a 8.4 magnitude earthquake hit northern japan A tsunami warning now extends to Indonesia Large areas of Japan’s northern Pacific coast have been swamped by a devastating tsunami engulfing entire towns following a major 8.9 offshore quake The meteorological agency issued its top-level evacuation alerts for the entire Japanese coast Towns and farms around Sendai city in northern Japan are being engulfed by a tsunami and a four-metre wave has swamped parts of Kamaishi on the Pacific coast Residents have been ordered to rush to high ground and stay away from the coast as tsunami can strike in several waves Japanese television is broadcasting pictures of a wall of water kilometres wide moving its way across the countryside More waves can be seen approaching the coast I am currently watching the TV news, cities in Sendai have literally disappeared into the sea There are many fires burning including a refinery in Chiba prefecture A wave of 4.5 metres has been reported in many areas and there are reports of buildings collapsing Another story from AP in Japan Japan was struck by a magnitude-8.8 earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday triggering a 13-foot tsunami that washed away cars and tore away buildings along the coast near the epicenter boats and even buildings being carried along by waters A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture according to footage on public broadcaster NHK Officials were trying to assess possible damage from the quake but had no immediate details including a 7.4-magnitude one about 30 minutes later Geological Survey upgraded the strength of the first quake to a magnitude 8.8 The meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for the entire Pacific coast of Japan National broadcaster NHK was warning those near the coast to get to safer ground The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan The May issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday GX magazine published the final chapter of Sukune Inugami's Butter Nut! manga on Saturday The college life romantic comedy follows a female college student named Ryō who goes to college in Tokyo and becomes a member of her school's movie club "Butter Nut!." Ryō's expectations of a dreamlike college life are dashed when she ends up sharing an apartment with a man named Chihiro who Ryō thought was a woman Inugami launched the manga in the same magazine in February 2014 Shogakukan will publish the second compiled book volume in the series on May 19 Inugami previously ended her Renai Distortion manga in Shogakukan's Sunday GX magazine in July 2013 A strong magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean near the coast of  Japan in the morning of Monday The quake had a shallow depth of 50 km (31 mi) and was reported felt by some people near the epicenter A strong magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 113 km (70 mi) from  Japan in the early morning of Tuesday The depth of the quake could not be determined but is assumed to be shallow.The quake was reported felt by some people near the epicenter A moderate magnitude 4.5 earthquake hit 35 km (22 mi) away from Kashima-shi, Ibaraki,  Japan The quake had a very shallow depth of 20 km (13 mi) and was felt widely in the area The shallow depth of the quake caused it to be felt more strongly near the epicenter than a deeper quake of similar magnitude would Chiba has a very high level of seismic activity Based on data from the past 25 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900 there are about 1,700 quakes on average per year in or near Chiba Chiba has had at least 18 quakes above magnitude 7 since 1900 which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently probably on average approximately every 5 to 10 years Chiba has about 178 quakes of magnitude 3 or higher per year (Mag 4+: 67 quakes per year The quake had a very shallow depth of 29 km (18 mi) and was too small to be felt by people Chiba has had 2 quakes of magnitude 2.0 or above There were also 15 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel The strongest earthquake in Chiba in the past 24 hours had a magnitude of 2.0 and occurred 5 hours ago: Mag. 2.0 earthquake Japan: E Off Boso Peninsula - writeAge(1746496740)A light magnitude 2.0 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean near the coast of  Japan in the morning of Tuesday The quake had a very shallow depth of 25 km (16 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so) A moderate magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 142 km (88 mi) from  Japan in the morning of Sunday but is assumed to be shallow.The quake was not felt (or at least not reported so) A moderate magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean near the coast of Ibaraki,  Japan The quake had a shallow depth of 46 km (29 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so) The quake had a shallow depth of 46 km (29 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so).