World cultures

The family life in the two cultures differs widely .Like in Japanese culture, the members of the family are governedby tradition, while in American culture, the family structure is much freer where the family members have the choice over roles depending on what a member likes or desires. Hence a child from the united state does the chores he/she likes while in Japan, it is the traditions that governs which chores to be done and by who. Also with family setting, the roles of the husband and wife in a family differ in these two cultures.

While the wife in the Japanese family is supposed to take care of her husband, the American culture will take that notion as an insult to the wife. In Japanese family, the man is viewed as the head and all his wants must be attended to first, while in the united state, the husband and wife are the same and their place and role in the family is not defined. This greatly affects child’s position. Like in America, a male child and the female child are somehow equal and attend to the same chores while in Japan; a male child is raised compared to the girl child. A girl child in a Japanese culture is supposed to do all the house chores (Suzuki 2000).

 The routine at home is also different in the two cultures. A child in America wakes up and may spend a day watching television or going out to friends while a Japanese child does duties assigned to him/her. The American child is not that much given chores reason been the parents can hire people to do the job to attend to while the Japanese child has to attend to them. In education, the difference between two cultures, Japanese and American, is the emphasis put on education in the two cultures. Although both the American and the Japanese cultures place education on the forefront, the effort and seriousness in education may be the point of differentiation.

In addition, the structures of the American and Japanese school differ in another way. The first, and most important way, is that schools in Japan use a national curriculum made by the Ministry of Education (Suzuki 2000). Thus, differs the American educational system, in which the curriculum, the federal government decides on what each school must teach, how to teach it, is determined by each state and even what books to teach it with. Another difference is on recent studies, which show that Japanese families want their children to get education from a tender age, and shows their kids the good education is the way to a successful life.

As in parents somehow play a major role in promoting excellence in academics. Also in Japan, the child is made to believe that failure in school is not only to themselves, but also to their parents. In addition, it is seen that extra-curricular activities have secondary significance to a student and their parents’ approval can do a great deal in encouraging a child to do better even in class and therefore parents putting their effort into such activities is futile (Suzuki 2000). Because of this, a cultural emphasis placed on Japanese children to be the best academic students they can be, they spend more time studying and finishing their homework rather than their American counterparts. Thus, American students who spend less time concentrating on academic study, also saves less time after school to finish their homework (Suzuki 2000).

 The quality of education in Japan as compared to that of America is low. This is due to minimum resources per child and the population is somehow higher than that of America.Both cultures have a wide range of cultural differences. In addition, definitely, these cultures affect the children. The culture of an American and Japanese child reveals numerous variations. Like the Japanese and as well the American culture is influenced heavily by the kind of people living in either country. Like for instance, the society living in Japan is largely middle class and has mostly one ethnicity, whereas the American society is heavily heterogeneous, owing to the increased immigration. Due to these, children living in America adapt to new culture. Also in the way of parenting,Japanese mothers expect their children to have competency while dealing with adult authority.

 They mostly use methods like creating a climate of expectations, which gives the child more need to do what is needed or fostering close emotional ties and putting a sense of responsibility to the child thus preparing him/her for the future. On the other hand, mothers from America tend to use rewards and direct instruction, emphasizing their adult authority in a direct sense to the child. In addition, the games that the children engage in are different. In Japan, games played are outdoor games while those played in America are mostly computer or indoor games.      

Therefore, it is evident that there is a difference in the life of the Japanese and the American kid. The American children have a kind of exposure that offers them the chance of exploring new things in life. This is seen through the aspiration that some of the Japanese children have of going to America. This is because; America is refered to be full of opportunities than Japan.

Conclusively, other bad influences do not support the life of the child in America. These bad influences are also present in Japan but not as much as in America.