scholarly journals Repackaging Japanese Culture: The Digitalization of Folktales in the Pokémon Franchise

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-30
Author(s):  
Erika Ann Sumilang-Engracia
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Product Information ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
The World ◽  
Old Japanese ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Individual

Pokémon is arguably one of the most enduring brands in Japanese pop culture. As of March 2014 the Pokémon video game franchise alone has sold more than 260 million units worldwide (Lien, 2014). The Pokémon series has been the most well known game that the Nintendo Game Boy series has ever produced and marketed internationally. This study looks at Pokémon as a cultural product. Information contained in the Pokédex, an electronic encyclopedia of Pokémon found in the game points to the use of Japanese folklore as inspiration for some of the Pokémon released. There is an intricate give and take in the process of telling and retelling of folktales that is argued to be present even in its currently newer forms. This study explores the digitalization of folklore by looking at the incorporation of Japanese folktales into the Pokémon video game. Looking at how folkloric motifs were integrated in the creation of these pocket monsters inhabiting the world of Pokémon points to the importance of the Japanese folklore in the character designs. These folklore motifs infused in the game characters, and the world itself gives the franchise a Japanese cultural flavor which, as pointed out by other authors like Allison, make the experience more enjoyable (2003, p. 384). As such, this study looks at how the Pokémon franchise fuses socio-cultural elements in the creation Pokémon’s individual and unique pocket monsters. In effect, these new game creatures called Pokémon become new conduits by which old Japanese folktales are revisited, revised, and ultimately renewed. More importantly, it becomes one important avenue in the creation and proliferation of a Japanese cultural identity that is marketed abroad. It is argued that Pokémon is indeed a new medium where Japanese folklore has been appropriated and digitalized. According to Iwabuchi, influence of products of different cultures on everyday life cannot be culturally neutral. Instead, they inevitably carry cultural imprints called “cultural odor.” In terms of cultural odor, this makes Pokémon Japanese in fragrance. The creation of these newly formed folklore is a dynamic interaction between Japanese culture, the technology they are coursed through and gameplay as a form of performance by the consumers. The whole franchise now serves as a digital archive for folkloric beings that influenced directly or indirectly their creation. This resulted in enabling participative interaction between folklore and the individual. For international consumers, they also potentially serve as entryway into picking up an interest and learning more about Japanese culture. More than the ukiyo-e paintings and monster catalogs that proliferated during the Edo Period, Pokémon has fleshed out these folklore motifs and has put them at the front and center through their games, allowing for players to interact with and bond with them in an ever expanding virtual space called the Pokémon world.

Behind Japan's Resistant Web: Understanding the Problem of Nihonkyo

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Lundell ◽  
Peter N. Lundell
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Web

When facing the persistent conundrum of evangelical missions in Japan, one pervasive, though largely hidden, factor emerges in the resistance of the Japanese to the gospel: the web-like interconnection of worldview assumptions collectively known as Nihonkyo (“Japanism“), as distinct from Japanese culture per se. Developing sociologically in the Edo Period and ideologically in the Meiji Period, the fabrication of Nihonkyo changed attitudes toward cultural elements such that a nation once very open to the gospel has become very closed. Principles of the problem and its discernment are widely applicable.

scholarly journals Vedic Philosophy and Swami Nigamananda

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Sangram Keshari Mallik ◽  
Dr. Braja Kishore Sahoo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Literary Creation ◽  
Ancient India ◽  
Vedic Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Independent Entity ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Rig Veda ◽  
The Individual

Wonder that is India. India is wonderful because of its abundant and affluent cultural heritage. The cultural heritage of India is prudential of its spiritual richness and classical creativity. Vedic literature is the most wonderful and unparallel literary creation of Ancient India. Vedic literature has made this country worthy of worship. Vedas are without beginning and without end. Veda is author-less. It is Apauruseya. They are considered to be the direct word of the Divine.  Vedic knowledge appeared in the dawn of the cosmos within the heart of Brahma. Brahma imparted this knowledge in the form of sound (Sabda) to his sons who are great sages. They transmitted the Vedic sound heard from Brahma to their disciples all over universe. There are four Vedas. They are the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.  Four Vedas contain four types of texts such as The Samhitas, The Arankayas, The Brahmanas and The Upanishads. Veda is accepted as a code of conduct to Sanatan Dharma. The teaching of Veda is the concept that the individual is not an independent entity, but, rather, a part of the Universal Consciousness.  Upanishads is the manifestation of Vedantic thought. Sada Darshan (Six Systems of Vedanta) is a very important part of Vedic philosophy.  Swami Nigamananda a great Master of Vedic Literature achieved Nirbikalpa Sidhi of Vedanta in the year 1904.  The philosophy of Vedanta is reflected in the creation of Swami Nigamananda. In his writings (Yogi Guru, Jnani Guru, Tantrik Guru, Premik Guru, Brahmacharya Sadhana and Vedanta Viveka) he has explained the main scriptures of Vedas such as The Upanishads, The Bramha Sutras and The Bhagavad Gita. His philosophy teaches us to love and live in a state of eternal freedom. The Philosophy of Swami Nigamananda is a synthesis of Sankar and Gouranga i.e. knowledge and love. Knowledge envisages the path of analysis and Love, the path of synthesis. In this way Nigamananda convincingly reconciled the two apparently contradictory creeds of Adi Shankaracharya and Gauranga Mohapravu. “He advised his disciples to combine Shankara’s view and Gournaga’s way and walk on this path of synthesis. In fact attainment of Jnana through Bhakti is the nucleus of his philosophy. Through his teachings and works, he proclaimed to the world the fundamental harmony of all religions that there are many paths which lead to the same goal”.

scholarly journals The reflection of Ivan Kotlarevsky’s stylistics in Language of Artistic prose of Pavlo Zagrebelny

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
Natalia Holikova
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
Rhetorical Figures ◽  
Creative Personality ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Individual

The article explores the intertextual interaction of stylists, who in the works of I. Kotlyarevsky and P. Zahrebelny represent the concept of «laugh culture». The linguistic and aesthetic signs in the epic burlesque-travesty poem «Aeneid» by I. Kotlyarevsky, which served as a model for the creation of expressive and pictorial means – carriers of humorous axiology in the language of a number of P. Zahrebelny's novels, are revealed. Attention is drawn to the fact that the foundations for the formation of a ridiculous culture as a genre segment of Ukrainian literature are laid in the poem «Aeneid» by I. Kotlyarevsky, which is written in a syllabic-tonic verse (iamb) – the size most appropriate for the Ukrainian language. The linguistic and literary traditions of ridicule are at the heart of the humorously narrative tonality of P. Zahrebelny's two novels – «The Lion's Heart» and «Exile from Paradise», which form the thematic-storyline. It is emphasized that the figure of I. Kotlyarevsky is a significant creative personality for P. Zagrebelny, who often appeals to the creator of the creator of Ukrainian literary language in his prose. The novelist dialogues with the artistic texts of the laughingstock, introducing meaningfully expressive fragments of them into the intersemiotic field of prose works. The intertextual interplay of linguistic components of the individual-linguistic paintings of the world of two writers can be traced in the functional and structural-semantic similarity of a number of style word, which are often the result of stylistic reception of the language game: intertext (linguocultural and ethno-language characters), literary and artistic anthroponyms, as well as words-symbols, which are functionally significant components of the peripheral-evaluative sphere. The individual and authorial rhetorical figures of P. Zahrebelny are comprehensively analyzed within the limits of linguistics, ethno-linguistics, theory of intertextuality, literary onomastics. It has been concluded that the linguistic creation of the prose contains an important humorous-axiological segment of artistic narrative, which is organically incorporated into the context of Ukrainian laugh culture.

Secularization of Buddhism

Buddhism ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Differentiation ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
The World ◽  
Communist China ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Individual

Secularization is a major theoretical concept with its own paradigm in different scholarly fields, including the study of religion. While there are several uses and definitions of the term, it has generally referred to a cultural process in which religious institutions lose authority and religion has declining relevance for the individual. Conceptually, “secular” has been viewed as the opposite of “religious,” and “secularism” as an ideology expressing the idea of separating state from religion. Scholars of religious studies (and scholars of Buddhism) have begun challenging this binary, suggesting processes of secularization to also reinforce the importance of the “religious” within society and culture so that religion is revitalized. Others have underlined the necessity of using the concept as relevant tool in the comparative study of religion. Secularization is typically used as an explanatory concept related to the modernization processes of the 18th–19th centuries, which was a period characterized by Enlightenment thinkers, rationality ideals, functional differentiation, and/or general disenchantment of the world. But the concept also reflects postmodern and global transformations in recent decades, which have had further effects on the continuing decrease of religious authority in some regions. Some of the elements of secularization can be traced much further back in history. Critical reflections on religious assertions, the humanization of cosmologies, and the desacralization of the world were known in early Axial religions, not least Buddhism. As a religion questioning its own epistemological assumptions, Buddhism did not, however, relativize its own institutional importance, but rather established the sangha as a religious organization balancing between monastic religiosity and criticism of (traditional) religion. The reform Buddhism of the 19th century also had elements of proto-secular Buddhism, formulated by important Buddhist figures such as Anagarika Dharmapala (b. 1864–d. 1933), Taixu (b. 1890–d. 1947) and D. T. Suzuki (b. 1870–d. 1966). Spokesmen of this “modern Buddhism” claimed that the religion was convergent with natural physics, Darwinian evolution, humanism, and individualism, seeing modernity as an inspiration for renewal and reformation. Interpretations of Buddhist ideas and practices in the light of modern ideals beyond traditional religious worldviews have been further developed in the transformation of these ideas and practices to Western settings. What has sometimes been called “secular Buddhism” is one such phenomenon, deconstructing what is seen as traditional or cultural elements while at the same time contributing new ideas and practices. Another kind of state-sanctioned and forced secularism can be seen in the policies of Communist China, where Buddhism (and all religion) was previously officially removed from society and in reality banned from the public sphere. In Japan, religious crises have forced Buddhist communities and organizations to rethink their own role in an increasingly secular society. With negative demographic developments in Buddhist Asia, new generations of Buddhists will decline in numbers, and, combined with increased individualization and decreasing religious authority, Buddhism in Asia will probably continue to experience aspects of secularization, even though the Eurocentric connotations of the concept are not directly transferable, the religious and cultural patterns in Asia are diverse, and secularization is not necessarily an irreversible development.

Japanese Soft Power in Indonesia on Anime Entitled Ufo Baby: Study of Popular Culture

IZUMI ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-337
Author(s):  
Risa Yuliani ◽  
R.M. Mulyadi ◽  
M. Adji
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
World Community ◽  
Interpretive Analysis ◽  
The World

Anime as Japanese popular culture has been successfully consumed by mass in many countries. It indicates that Japan's strategy to make anime one of its soft power has been successfully accepted by the world community. In Indonesia, since anime entered the television, the enthusiasm given by the community has been good and positive. Anime is liked by various circles, especially children, even today. Ufo Baby is one of the shows on RCTI, even though it's not as global as Doraemon, for example, but apart from an interesting storyline, this anime also incorporates many elements of Japanese culture. The aim of this study is to explain the soft power of Japan in Indonesia on anime entitled “Ufo Baby”. The research method uses a qualitative approach with interpretive analysis. The researched part is scenes from anime that contain cultural elements. The approach used is John Storey's cultural theory and Nye Joseph's theory of soft power. Data collection was conducted to examine the influence of Japanese culture on Indonesian society by using interview techniques. The results of this study reveal that in the Ufo Baby anime there are elements of soft power culture used by Japan. From the results of research, the culture shown in anime has an influence on Indonesian society marked by the community's participation in celebrating traditional Japanese festivals and the discovery of many typical Japanese goods sold in local shops.

Peace is Everything: An Examination of the Bahá’í Faith’s Concept of Peace

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-259
Author(s):  
Hoda Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Dynamic Effects ◽  
Baha'i Faith ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
The Individual

This paper describes the central role of peace in the Bahá’í Faith. For Bahá’ís, peace begins at the level of the individual and migrates outward to the community, nation, and the world. The article explains how the Bahá’í Faith outlines a covenant – an agreement between Bahá’ís and between Bahá’ís and the world – made manifest in an Administrative Order in which the ascertainment of peaceful principles and the establishment of peaceful practices are developed. The paper explains how concepts like the oneness of humanity, the symbiosis between science and religion, and the unity of religion and God combine with ideals like justice, equality, and consultation to form a Bahá’í approach to the creation and maintenance of peace. Integration and disintegration – broad-structured, dynamic effects that shift societies and the world – will help to usher in two main aspects of a present and future Bahá’í order: the Lesser Peace and the Most Great Peace. The Lesser Peace is defined by the efforts of nations and international actors to form a broad-based, global peace. The Most Great Peace describes the arrival and ascendance of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, which will result in an unprecedented level of global peace and security.

scholarly journals Toward the philosophy of creation: Maximus the confessor

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-155
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
The Core ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Philosophical Argumentation ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The article aims to present the philosophical argumentation in favor of the Christian idea of the creation of the world exposed in the work of the seventh century author Maximus the Confessor. Maximus the Confessor developed his doctrine of creation on the basis of the philosophical arguments of his Christian predecessors, above all, Gregory of Nyssa, Nemesius of Emesa and Dionysius the Areopagite. The core of Maximus? argumentation on the creation of the world is similar to the position of the Alexandrian philosopher John Philoponus (6th century), but it is additionally enriched with ideas deriving from the works of the aforementioned Christian authors. Some of the ideas that form the scaffolding of Maximus? doctrine of creation are: the fivefold division of beings, which has its climax in the division between the created and uncreated nature, the movement of creatures towards God, who alone is the true goal of their movement, the eternal existence of the world in logoi as expressions of divine will, God?s providential care not only for the universal but also for the individual beings and the deification of the entire created world as the initial purpose of creation. Maximus? views on creation are conveyed in a language that combines Aristotelian, Stoic and Neoplatonist philosophical vocabulary.

scholarly journals Universidade e formação de recursos humanos: características culturais básicas na formação das competências e habilidades do administrador

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (199) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Shirley de França Moraes ◽  
João Marcelo Lima
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
Labor Relationship ◽  
Recursos Humanos ◽  
Organizational Activities ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Keywords Education

As efetivas transformações por que passam as sociedades mundiais vêm exigindo mudanças radicais na educação. A natureza das relações escola/trabalho necessita mudar, de sorte que possibilite formar adequadamente a nova força de trabalho. Nesse contexto, merece destaque a educação do administrador, que, na visão atual e futura, precisa ser permanente, em constante aperfeiçoamento, na busca de títulos acadêmicos. Por sua vez, a legislação do ensino superior possibilita a criação de projetos educacionais que se compatibilizem com o objetivo de oferecer propostas pedagógicas realísticas e de qualidade. Assim, discute-se as competências que os trabalhadores da área das ciências sociais de Administração necessitam receber durante o curso de graduação. Contudo, torna-se oportuno alertar para as questões culturais inerentes ao indivíduo, pois são elas os elementos mediadores entre as competências e o desempenho nas atividades organizacionais. Palavras-chave: mudanças; formação; base cultural; administrador. Abstract The effective changes that the world societies have gone through claim for radical changes in education. The nature of the School x Labor relationship has to be transformed so that the new workforce can be adequately educated. In this context, special attention should be given to de worker's education that must be permanent, constantly improving in search for an academic title, according to de present and future view. On the other hand, the law ruling the High Studies is favorable to the creation of educational projects compatible with the objectives to offer real pedagogical and qualified proposes. So, the debate of the competency that the workers in the area of social science of Administration is about what they need to learn during graduation. However, this is an opportune moment to alert to the cultural questions proper of the individual, because it is the mediator elements between the competency and the performance in the organizational activities. Keywords: education changes; professional formation; cultural basis; administrator.

scholarly journals The Epic Mania: Pound’s Response to E. A. Poe and T. Hulme

2021 ◽  
pp. 32-42
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Gon
Keyword(s):  
Modern Poetry ◽  
Specific Component ◽  
Epic Tradition ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Cantos ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Continuum

The article is devoted to the analysis of a specific component in the post-epic artistic picture of the world contextualized in the genre experiments with epic forms that symbolize the search for new ways to express the substantial unity of the individual with a society. It is important that in «The Poetic Principle» (1850) Poe appeals to the epic tradition and expresses an essential thesis about the paradigm of the epic and the lyrical in precedent texts and mentions a significant lyrical inderpinning in Homer's Iliad. In «A Lecture on Modern Poetry» (1908), Hume posits that the very assumption that in modern poetry there will appear an artist capable of synthesizing all the experience of modern peroson in the form of a great epic is an utter misunderstanding of the tendencies in modern poetry. Both Pound and Yuri Klen consider the creation of a modern epic in the coordinates of the continuum of the national poetic canon. The concept of «return» constitutes an omnipresent aesthetic program of the Pound’s epic. The poetics of repetitions in the Cantos is based on the versification models of the European fixed poetic forms that are extensively represented against the background of new emphases and reformatting of the ancient epic forms, making new their conventions and motives. Creative and receptive aspects of the innovative application of specific features in the epic composition (recurrent historical plots, the νόστος topos) deeply correlate with the artistic form of the modern epic.

scholarly journals Vedic Philosophy and Swami Nigamananda

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Sangram Keshari Mallik ◽  
Dr.Braja Kishore Sahoo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Literary Creation ◽  
Ancient India ◽  
Vedic Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Independent Entity ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Rig Veda ◽  
The Individual

Wonder that is India. India is wonderful because of its abundant and affluent cultural heritage. The cultural heritage of India is prudential of its spiritual richness and classical creativity. Vedic literature is the most wonderful and unparallel literary creation of Ancient India. Vedic literature has made this country worthy of worship. Vedas are without beginning and without end. Veda is author-less. It is Apauruseya. They are considered to be the direct word of the Divine.  Vedic knowledge appeared in the dawn of the cosmos within the heart of Brahma. Brahma imparted this knowledge in the form of sound (Sabda) to his sons who are great sages. They transmitted the Vedic sound heard from Brahma to their disciples all over universe. There are four Vedas. They are the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.  Four Vedas contain four types of texts such as The Samhitas, The Arankayas, The Brahmanas and The Upanishads. Veda is accepted as a code of conduct to Sanatan Dharma. The teaching of Veda is the concept that the individual is not an independent entity, but, rather, a part of the Universal Consciousness.  Upanishads is the manifestation of Vedantic thought. Sada Darshan (Six Systems of Vedanta) is a very important part of Vedic philosophy.  Swami Nigamananda a great Master of Vedic Literature achieved Nirbikalpa Sidhi of Vedanta in the year 1904.  The philosophy of Vedanta is reflected in the creation of Swami Nigamananda. In his writings (Yogi Guru, Jnani Guru, Tantrik Guru, Premik Guru, Brahmacharya Sadhana and Vedanta Viveka) he has explained the main scriptures of Vedas such as The Upanishads, The Bramha Sutras and The Bhagavad Gita. His philosophy teaches us to love and live in a state of eternal freedom. The Philosophy of Swami Nigamananda is a synthesis of Sankar and Gouranga i.e. knowledge and love. Knowledge envisages the path of analysis and Love, the path of synthesis. In this way Nigamananda convincingly reconciled the two apparently contradictory creeds of Adi Shankaracharya and Gauranga Mohapravu. “He advised his disciples to combine Shankara’s view and Gournaga’s way and walk on this path of synthesis. In fact attainment of Jnana through Bhakti is the nucleus of his philosophy. Through his teachings and works, he proclaimed to the world the fundamental harmony of all religions that there are many paths which lead to the same goal”.

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