Japan

What do you imagine when you think about Japan? Sushi, Tempura, Samurai, Kimonos? Do you think it is a very different country? Yes, Japan is different from other countries. We have old and new culture. We mixed them up and made another new culture.

We closed all our ports until we opened trade in 1868 except only one port for official ships. We kept only old Japanese culture. But after trade opened up, we began to import new culture. It was a big big change. In fact, we didn't eat meat and always wore kimonos before that. After that, Japanese people tried to eat meat, wear dresses or pants. They made up new dishes from new materials brought by European people with Japanese taste. Sukiyaki for example, is a Japanese famous meat dish. I think Japanese are flexible to new things now because of this big change in 1868.