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I wouldn't argue against some Japanese people being really really smart, but they have a rather shortish history (in Old World standard): recorded history begin
by yongjik 11y ago
I wouldn't argue against some Japanese people being really really smart, but they have a rather shortish history (in Old World standard): recorded history begins around ~250 AD. By that time Egypt had fallen and Rome was past its prime.
- nmnmnmnmnm001 11y agoRoman culture is gone. Ancient Egyptian culture is gone.
- mc32 11y agoSo is ancient Japanese culture.
- digitalengineer 11y agoOf course not. New cultures were build up on their remains. Such is Europe.
- colechristensen 11y agoThe western world is largely a direct descendant of the Roman Empire. Language, architecture, cultural ideas, religion, science, just about everything around you shares Roman origins or influence. If you think Roman culture is gone, you might consider the Pope, head of the religion started in and promoted by the state whose seat is in Rome (ok, Vatican City is it's own thing, but the Pantheon is like a mile away), who conducts mass in Latin, the language of the empire ... might I go on? ~15% of the world population are Catholic.
- jessaustin 11y agoIt's interesting to think about how much more "gone" ancient Egypt is than ancient Rome. Sure, much of ancient Egypt was really ancient, but the present culture of Egypt owes very little even to the Ptolemies.
- apalmer 11y agoit is pretty interesting... I think there are many reasons but a large part is the religious aspect... pre approximately 500 AD Egyptian Culture was more or less wiped out during the spread of islam. I dont know how much pre common era egyptian culture was related to ancient egypt culture... Meanwhile on the european side catholocisms spread only increased the influence of (certain parts of) roman culture. The renaissance which was significantly due to 'italian' culture further served to increase the influence of roman culture (especially in architecture and the arts)
- lmm 11y ago> Language, architecture, cultural ideas, religion, science, just about everything around you shares Roman origins or influence. Roman influence, sure. Also Arabic, Indic and Chinese influence. Every experience affects us. But would we really be so different without the Roman influence? E.g. Roman sewer systems were used to argue for the design of London's sewers... but only for about 20 years, after which modern sewer design surpassed anything the Romans had done. > you might consider the Pope, head of the religion started in and promoted by the state whose seat is in Rome But only adopted in the fading years of the Empire, well after 250AD, and not really a reflection of Roman culture. > who conducts mass in Latin, the language of the empire Rarely, and getting rarer. > ~15% of the world population are Catholic. Sure. But how many of them know Latin? How many of them have any real influence of the Roman empire?
- somerandomness 11y agoIf you're going to use Rome+Egypt for the West, you should probably include Ancient China in Japan's history. Japan didn't suddenly emerge out of the woods in 250AD.
- level3 11y agoWhy would you reach for ancient China instead of, you know, ancient Japan? Are you under the impression that Japanese civilization started with China?
- jpatokal 11y agoWell, actually Korea deserves most of the credit, that's where Japan got eg. tea, pottery, Buddhism and, most likely, its Imperial family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan%E2%80%93Korea_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan%E2%80%93Korea...
- level3 11y agoSure, Korea and China both had their cultural influence on Japan, but neither is comparable to the influence of Roman conquest in the West.
- jpatokal 11y agoAre you serious? Can you name a single aspect of Japanese culture that can be considered indigenously Japanese, without Chinese/Korean influence?
- level3 11y agoArt, music, dance, much of the spoken language, for example. Or do you mean completely devoid of outside influence? I think that's probably hard to find anywhere in the world today. My main point is that there's a significant difference between a civilization adopting parts of other cultures, as opposed to other civilizations suddenly forcing it upon you through conquest. The original thread I responded to seemed to argue that Japan had no history (read: civilization) before the adoption of kanji.