JAPAN and the UK YUKIKO KURITA
There are a number of differences and similarities between Japan and the UK. Both are island countries, but they have developed their own unique cultures. Now, some comparisons can be drawn from looking at three aspects of culture, languages, sports and festivals.
First, both Japan and the UK don’t have any “official” languages. Although Japanese is spoken by major population in Japan, a large number of local dialects are still used. One of the famous dialects is Kansai dialect, which is spoken in the west of Japan. Similarly, there are other native languages, Welsh, Irish, Ulster scots or Gaelic, in the UK. Like English, Japanese has a system of high and low pitch accents. A major difference is Japanese has no stres accent. And while Japanese has three characters, Kanji, Hitagana and Katakana, English has a single character, Alphabet.
People in both countries enjoy sports activities, as participants and as spectators. It is said that Sumo is the most famous and traditional sport in Japan. Japan also had developed its traditional sports called Karate, Kendo, Kyudo and Aikido. Without doubt, football is one of the most popular national sports in the UK. Other traditional sports are rugby, cricket, golf and tennis. In terms of popular sports, football is very popular in both countries. But in Japan baseball is also popular. Baseball supporters really love their team as well as football supporters, and go to the baseball games to cheer their team.
Finally, there are a lot of traditional festivals for religious purpose in both countries. In Japan, almost all shrines celebrate their own gods, called Matsuri, and hold local festivals annualy. Some matsuri are calm and solemn, but most matsuri are energetic and noisy. On the other hand, the UK has lots of christian festivals. Easter, which is one of the famous festivals, is the celebration of the death and coming to life again of Jesus Christ. Similarly, there are also cheerful festivals in the UK, for example, bonfire night, Notting Hill Carnival and Swan Upping.
In conclusion, there are interesting comparisons between Japan and the UK. Both countries have one major national language, but their structure, like grammar, words, characters and pronunciation, is really different. So Japanese people feel it is difficult to study English, and British people also feel it is difficult to study Japanese. In terms of sports, while Japanese traditional sport Sumo is enjoyable only in Japan, people all over the world enjoy football, which is one of the national sports in the UK. Finally, there are traditional and religious festivals in both countries. They celebrate their own gods as a festival and really enjoy it.
