1. Intro Session Assignment

Part 1. a paragraph relating "Mistake were Made" to your situation in Hiroshima

People usually have their own believes and trust them. If some conceptions they are exposed to contradict with their  thoughts, then instead of treating the problem sensible, they tend to stand for their own ideas. Japanese culture is different or even conflict with American and Chinese culture in many aspects. In my own example, the being polite style in Japan is far from what I learned and experienced before. People bow to each other and keep saying "sorry" or "thank you". At first I was considering these behaviors as useless and wasting time and energy. I feel frustrated for being stared by other people because I am acting weired. My situation is exactly the same as those people who fight for their own ideas. In rational thinking, people living in other country should follow the rules everyone else do to make their life easier and happier. My own example confirms the theory in "Mistake were Made" about dissonance.

Part 2. a paragraph contrasting the perspectives of Peacock & Kuper on Japan culture

The authors of "Substance" and "Culture" lived in two different places and ended with completely different conclusion about culture. Peacock lived in Surabaya, Indonesia and found that although the people there is poor and hard to survive, they still keep their culture. The Surabaya people did not have enough food or medicine, but they have their traditions and ceremonies. In "Substance", Peacock also says that culture is "learned, rather than inherited" and "social", "shared rather than a property of individual. However, the author of "Culture", Kuper has a different view. He lived in south Africa for several years and came back with the conclusion that south Africa did not have a culture and it is just "two or more 'cultures' interacted". It is even hard to give a specific definition of  culture. Kuper also believes that culture need to be taken care of and civilization is "fragile", which is different from Peacock's view that culture is strong and can survive in harsh environment. They both agree that culture is important for a nation.