Comparison between Japan and India in terms of Their Cultures, Political Systems - Case Study Example

Institution: Authors names: Study form: Study year and group number: Title of the paper: The program subject: Location (city): Date (year): TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary …………………………………………………… 3 Introduction……………………………………………………………. 4 Theoretical Section…………………………………………………….. 5 Culture………………………………………………………………………… 5 Political System……………………………………………………………….. 6 Technology……………………………………………………………………. 7 Economy………………………………………………………………………. 9 Analytical Section………………………………………………………. 11 Culture…………………………………………………………………………. 11 Political system………………………………………………………………… 12 Technology…………………………………………………………………….. 13 Economy………………………………………………………………………... 14 Conclusion and Recommendations……………………………………. 15 References……………………………………………………………….. 17 Executive summary India and Japan are two countries found on the Asian continent. These countries have similarities and differences based on their cultures, political systems, technology and economies. The cultures of the two countries are different except for few religious similarities. Japan and India are also similar in terms of their conservative nature of dressing. Their political systems are different because Japan is a monarchy while India is a democracy. Both have bi-cameral legislatures. The two countries are technologically different because Japan’s technology more established than that of India. Japan is known for electronics and automobile manufacturing among other technologies while India is known for its agricultural technologies. India is also investing in other technologies as well. In terms of their economies, the economy of Japan is stronger than that of India. Japan began heavy investments in science and technology and other sectors of the economy in the 1950s. Its policy of no investment in the military has been a great boast to its economy. India on the other hand is still growing its economy but it is showing a lot of potential that Japan does not have. Introduction This paper will present a discussion on the comparison between Japan and India in terms of their cultures, political systems, technologies and the economies. It was decided that a comparison between these two countries be carried out because they are major players in the global economy today. They are also rivals in terms of economical, cultural and technological supremacy. A comparison of these two countries will therefore reveal their strengths and weaknesses relative to each other hence their collective importance to one another, to the Asian continent and to the globe. This topic is important because India is emerging as a global power in technological and economical matters. Some observers suggest that it may overtake Japan in the near future. This comparison can be beneficial to economic strategists and stakeholders in both countries because both countries would like to occupy position above each other. The paper will therefore add to the existing pool of knowledge about the two countries, something that will be advantageous to scholars and researchers in economic, technological, political and cultural studies. The paper presents a very deep analysis of theory and practice. It also aims to find out the existing differences and similarities in the cultural, political, technological and economic spheres of Japan and India. Both countries are in Asia and day by day, they are becoming competing powers in the region and on the global scene. The authors will carry out a desk top research using journals, books, and the internet and media reports. They will scrutinize the information obtained based on their relevance to the topic, the credibility of the authors and the date of publication. This will help them to remain with only relevant, credible and up to date information about India and Japan. The authors may find it hard to obtain the most current data on aspects such as technology and the economy. Theoretical Section Many differences exist between the cultures, economic, political systems and technologies of India and Japan. In certain aspects, similarities also exist. Both countries are found on the Asian continent have a shared history in some aspects such as religion. This section will present a review of the scientific literature relevant to the topic under investigation, reveal a range of opinions of different authors on the phenomenon under investigation and define the view point of the authors about the question being discussed with well grounded arguments. Culture The culture of India is among the oldest cultures in the world. It goes back as far as 5000 years. Unlike Japan India is very diverse with many tribes and languages that also practice diverse religions and cultural practices. In India, the national languages are Hindi and English. However, many official languages exist in the 28 states and the whole of India has 400 languages (Gunasekaran, 2013). This is a big contrast with Japan where over 99% of the population speaks only one language known as Japanese which happens to be the only official and primary language in the country (Tabb 1995). The dominant religions in India are Islam and Hindu. In fact 84 percent of the population is Hindu while Muslims make up 13%. On the other hand, Islam is not a major religion in Japan. Most of the people of Japan do not identify with a single religion. Their religious practices are a combination of the teachings of different religions. However, India and Japan are similar in that Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism are practiced in the two countries. Japan is however different because none of these four religions is a major religion (Tabb 1995). Indian cuisine is different from that of the Japanese because it has influences from Turkey, Europe and the Arab world. The only known influence on the Japanese cuisine is that from China. Many Indian are vegetarians although some of them eat chicken and lamb. Japanese eat meat, sea food and other dishes. Meat is not common in India for religious purposes. As a similarity, rice is common in both Japan and India. However, Indian food is prepared with so many spices which are absent in Japanese cuisine (Gunasekaran, 2013). In the arts, India is popular for its film industry. Japan is not known for creation of films but many of its people love performing arts and visual arts such as calligraphy, painting and sculpture among others. Both India and Japan have unique traditional clothing. In India many women put on the saris made of colorful silk while their men dress in the dhoti or kurta. Dhoti is an unstitched piece of cloth tied around the legs and waist. Kurta is a long short goin all the way to the knees. They also wear long coats for special purposes (Gunasekaran, 2013). The Japanese dress in “kimono” while their men put on the “haori” and “hakama” is means a coat and a divided skirt. Political system Both India and Japan have recent constructs. India’s political system started work in 1947 after gaining independence from Britain, while that of Japan dates back to the time it was subdued in the Second World War and occupied by the United States. Both India and Japan are democracies although India is a bigger democracy compared to Japan. In fact India is the largest democracy in the world (Charlton, 2004). The constitutions of both countries came into operation after the Second World War. However, India has a longer constitution than Japan. India’s constitution is different from that of Japan in that it has been amended for over 100 times while that of Japan remains un-amended. Japan has only one dominant party called the Liberal Democratic Party which has been in power almost continuously for over 50 years. Indian is led by a ceremonial president while Japan is a constitutional monarchy led by the Prime Minister. Governments in both countries are led by the Prime Minister. In India, the president is involved in the appointment of the cabinet while in Japan it is the sole responsibility of the Prime Minister. Compared to India, the Japanese political environment is turbulent and a Prime Minister serves for an average of one year although the full term is supposed to be four years. Both countries have a legislature with a bicameral structure (Charlton, 2004). Their lower houses have 480 people in Japan and a maximum of 552 in India although currently there are 545 members. In Japan’s political system, the upper house is called the Sangi-in (House of Councillors) with 242 seats where members serve for six years per term. Contrary to this, India’s upper house or Council of States has 250 seats. India has not been under the leadership of one single party since independence (Charlton, 2004). This is in contrast to Japan whose politics have been dominated by a single party called the Liberal Democratic Party since its occupation by the US. India’s congress party has had some short periods out of power. However, they are similar in that their politics have one party dominating for decades. In both countries, the Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority. India is led by a federal system of government which is not the case in Japan. India and Japan are doing well politically and this has created a suitable environment for economic growth in both countries (Charlton, 2004). Technology In terms of technology, Japan is more technologically developed than India and has been so for a long time (Low, Nakayama ‎& Yoshioka 1999). However, India is rising in technology as its economy grows. Both countries rely on technological development for the growth of their respective economies. They are known to use their technological developments as tools and instruments for national development. Science and Technology in Japan puts a lot of emphasis on consumer electronics, automotive industry and robotics. India on the other hand puts a lot of its emphasis on agriculture, medicine and other areas deemed important to its economy. Unlike Japan, India is making great strides in agricultural research. It is now self sufficient and self reliant in the production of food grains. It is also among the leading countries in the world to master fast breeding technology (Srivathsa & Narasimhan, 2003). The country is able to export food grains and is also making great success in blue and white revolutions. Japan is far much a head in technology compared to India. For example, its electronics industry is well known through out the world and its electronic products form a very big share of the global market. Japan is a head of India because it is among the leading countries in matters of machinery, scientific research, medical research and technology. It boasts of the third largest budget for research and development in the world. In the whole of Asia it is the nation with the largest amount of Science Nobel Prizes (Low, 1999). Unlike India, Japan has some of the biggest electronics companies in the world including Sony, Fuji, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Epson, Canon, Nikon, Sharp and Fujitsu among others. Automotive companies in Japan include Subaru, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Mazda among others. Both India and Japan have investments in nuclear research. However, India lags behind Japan which has 55 nuclear reactors and is the third largest user of nuclear power in the world. India is still in the process of getting to such levels and its Atomic Research Commission established in 1948 is involved in doing meaningful nuclear research. There are only five nuclear reactors in India as opposed to 55 in Japan (Srivathsa & Narasimhan 2003). Both countries also invest in aerospace research. As opposed to India, Japan is more established in this area having developed a number of rockets such as H-IIB, H-IIA/B rockets. India’s investment in aerospace research is still young and recent. The country is yet to make strides in aerospace technology although a lot of investment is going into research. Currently, India boasts of the launching of Polar Space Launching Vehicle (PSLV- D-2). This achievement dated October 1994 was the one that ushered India into the league of the major global space powers (Srivathsa & Narasimhan, 2003). India’s technology is maturing fast because in the recent past it has shown that it is able to fabricate complex systems that can be compared to others made in other parts of the developed world. India has launched the SLV-3 and the SLV and the PSLV which has the capacity of launching a one tone satellite into orbit. India has in the past launched 2 Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (Srivathsa & Narasimhan 2003). Economy Both Japan and India have some of the world’s largest economies. India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. Japan is the third largest in this category. However, Japan is a head of India in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is the fourth largest economy in the world based on GDP (Tabb 1995). Generally the economy of Japan is stronger than that of India. As India’s economy is classified under developing economies Japan is called a developed economy. It is the only developed economy on the Asian continent. India beats Japan in farm output. It is ranked the second in the world in agricultural output (Gunasekaran, 2013). Japan has a very small percent of its land under agricultural cultivation (12%) because the rest of the country is mountainous and volcanic. India exports agricultural produce but Japan imports a lot of it. In fact it is the second largest importer of agricultural products in the world. It imports meat, fodder crops and grain among other products. To the contrary, India exports these products. While India excels in farm output, Japan is more advanced in deep sea fishing. However, it is among the leading global importers of fish and fish products (Tabb, 1995). India’s fishing industry is relatively less developed. Automobile manufacturing is a major contributor to Japan’s economy. It is the third largest manufacturer of automobiles in the whole world. On the other hand, India has not established itself in automobile manufacturing. As India’s economy benefits much from mining, Japan has imports most of its minerals. Mining accounts for a very important section of the economy of India because the country produces 79 different types of minerals other than atomic resources and fuel. India produces iron ore, limestone, gypsum, bauxite, mica and silica among other minerals (Gunasekaran, 2013). Both countries have well developed infrastructure and this is very important to both economies. In Japan, infrastructural development is needed for the manufacturing and processing industries. India needs infrastructure for its robust service and agriculture sectors. The economy of India is reaping heavily from the services sector. In the whole world, India is the 13th country in services output. The rate of growth of the services sector in India is faster than that of Japan. India’s services sector provides employment to 27 percent of the workforce. In India the services sector accounts for the largest share of the country’s GDP which is 57% (Gunasekaran, 2013). Business process outsourcing and information technology are registering the fastest growth in this area. However, Japan’s ICT sector is also a big contributor to the country’s economy. In 2009, seven firms from India featured on the list of the top 15 technology outsourcing companies in the whole world. India also relies heavily on the retail industry. Its retail market is rated among the top five globally in terms of economic value and it is among the fastest growing in the world (Gunasekaran, 2013). On the other hand Japan is known for innovation. It is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative countries and the largest creditor nation in the world. The prospects of the Indian economy are very bright given that a large portion of the countries population is educated and young. The youthful population is expected to provide a workforce that will see the economy surpass that of Japan by 2050. Contrary to this, the Japanese economy may suffer because of its aging population. The bigger percentage of the population is aging and this may not be very good for the future (Tabb, 1995). The Japanese economy was able to grow fast because the country’s policy did not allow investment in the military. Even to date, Japan has a very small budget for the military. A lot of its income has been channeled into economical growth. To the contrary, India spends a huge chunk of money on defense. It is estimated that the defense budget of India will surpass that of Britain in the near future (Gunasekaran, 2013). Analytical Section This section will present an analysis of the question being investigated as well as the individual way chosen by the authors to cover the topic. The theoretical section was organized into four parts covering the culture, political system, technology and the economy. Culture From the research carried out in the theoretical section, the culture of Japan and India were found to be totally different. They differ in terms of food, dressing, languages and religion among other practices. Although the two countries are located in Asia, they have very little in common in terms of culture. The only possible similarities exist in matters of religion. India is the birth place of religions such as Sikhism and Buddhism and Hinduism. These religions also exist in the Japanese society. The reason for this resemblance is that historically, the two countries had interactions that created a way for the transportation of these religions from India to Japan. The diversity in the cultures of India creates a difference between India and Japan because Japan in relatively less diverse in terms of culture. This is explained by the fact that India is a huge country with many states. Its cultural practices have also been influenced by practices from other parts of the world. For example, its interaction with people from other countries made entry for many religions such as Islam and Christianity into the India. The conservative nature of the Japanese society may have proved to be a hindrance for the entry of other cultures into its territory. Its cuisine does not show as much external influence as that of India. In terms of the dress code, both Japan and India are conservative. This could be as a result of their strong cultural orientation which resists the penetration of the western culture. Political System From the views of different authors, the politics of India and Japan are also different in many aspects but similar in others. The fact that India is a democracy and Japan is a monarchy is ironical because India was under British colonial rule for years and Britain is a monarchy. It would make sense if India was a monarchy and Japan a democracy. Although the constitutions of the two nations came into operation at almost the same time, India is governed by a longer constitution than that of Japan (Charlton, 2004). Since India is a massive country with many different states and cultures, this may be the reason for such a long constitution. Japan has a smaller constitution because it may not have many administrative dynamics. As a matter of fact, this could be the reason why India’s constitution has been amended almost 100 times while that of Japan remains un-amended. It is not easy to explain why Japan has a more turbulent political system than that of India. However, this could be explained by the fact that Japan has a powerful Prime Minister while in India; the President gets involved in the running of the country (Charlton, 2004). The political systems of the two countries are stable and this has been a contributing factor to their robust and expanding economies. The federal system of government present in India does not exist in Japan. Again, the gigantic size of India could be the reason why the country has a federal system of government (Charlton, 2004). Technology From the literature reviewed, it is evident that India’s technology and that of Japan are also different. Japan’s developed economy explains why its technology is a head of that of India. The wealthier a country is the more money it has to invest in scientific research and technological innovations. Japan’s stronger economy has given it an advantage over India which is still coming up. The availability of surplus resources to invest in technological development is Japan explains why it is a head of India. Technological advancement in the two countries is different. India has invested a lot in agricultural technology while Japan is excelling in manufacturing and engineering related technology. The reason for this it the climatic and geographical make up of the two countries. India has more agricultural resources than Japan. It has a lot of arable land for farming and also a large part of the country is suitable for animal farming. Contrary to this, Japan is a mountainous volcanic island that does not have a lot of land suitable for farming. Therefore, much of its technology does not lean on the side of agriculture. The two countries rely on technological development to spur growth in their economies. This is a common strategy in the 21st century because the world is becoming more and more technologically oriented. For an economy to flourish in this day and age, it must be industrialized and technologically focused. Agriculture or tourism-based economies are struggling because these two sectors keep fluctuating and they can’t provide any stable foundation for any good economy. Robust size of the Japanese economy compared to that of India can also be explained by the fact that Japan has more established electronics and automobile manufacturing companies which bring it a lot of wealth (Gunasekaran, 2013). Economy This study found out that Japan’s economy is fully developed while that of India is still in the process of growth. This difference may have been created by Japan’s post war miracle. Japan unlike India, has not had a military budget for years. The country decided to pump all its money that would have been spent on defense into the economy (Tabb, 1995). This decision paid off with huge economic success. India on the other hand has had part of its income going into military expenditure all along. This is one of the reasons why its economy has been growing slowly compared to that of Japan. From the time of the occupation of Japan by the US, the country changed its policy to focus on research and economical growth. India’s strategic location in Asia and close to the sea, its huge agricultural resources, its huge population and endowment of mineral resources and oil and the ability to attract foreign investment are major contributory factors to its fast growing economy. Comparatively, Japan’s economy is slower in growth because many of the resources listed for India, are not there in Japan. For example, it does not have a huge youthful population to provide labor force, it is not very well endowed in mineral resources and fossil fuels, and it lacks good land for agriculture. Its huge population is also provided market for its products. India is also improving in research and innovation and therefore, in this area it may be catching up with Japan in the near future (Gunasekaran, 2013). These advantages and many others listed for India mean that India has great potential which Japan is lacking. Therefore, India’s economy could overtake that of Japan in future. The fact that Japan has an aging society while that of India is youthful and well educated could mean that India’s economy has a lot of room for growth which Japan does not have. Conclusion and Recommendations In conclusion, this paper has investigated the existing similarities and differences between Japan and India in terms of culture, political systems, technology and economy. It has been revealed in this paper that the two Asian countries are similar but also different in certain aspects. However, in all the investigated aspects, there are more differences than similarities between the two countries. Japanese and Indian cultures are very much different except in terms of religion. Some religious practices found in India also exist in Japan. However, they are similar in the aspect of their conservative nature. Both have traditional clothing which men and women put on in both countries. In matters of politics, the two nations are politically stable but Japan’s political scene is very dynamic. They are both led by a Prime Minister but Japan has an emperor while India has a president as the supreme leader. Technologically, Japan is ahead of India because it has had many years of stable economic development. Its policy of no military expenditure enabled the country to pump a lot of its resources into technology, research and infrastructural development. India has had a defense budget all along and that could have been a disadvantage on its part. However, India’s is technologically growing and in the future it might be at par or even better than Japan. As Japan excels in innovation, manufacturing and engineering, India is doing better in agricultural technology and services. Japan has a bigger economy than India. The economy of Japan is already developed while that of India is still developing. Both countries are investing a lot in infrastructure and industrialization. Japan has the third largest economy while India remains out of the big three. Japan’s economy grew faster than India in the 1960s into the 70s and 80s because it had a policy that could not allow the government to spend money of the military. This policy was a big boost to the economy because a lot of money was channeled into economical growth. India did not have this opportunity because it has a very huge defense budget that is almost surpassing that of Britain. However, the economy of India has a bigger potential than that of Japan. This is a fact because India is endowed with human resources, mineral resources and oil, arable land, suitable climate for animal keeping and huge population which provides market for its goods. Japan does not have these privileges. It has a lower population than that of India and its society is aging compared to India’s youthful population. Based on the research conducted on Japan and India, this paper recommends that the governments of these two countries should forge stronger bilateral relations because they have more differences than similarities. The two countries stand to learn and gain a lot from each other in terms of politics, economy, culture and technology. This paper recommends that Japan and India should increase the volume of trade between them so that Japan can sell its products in India while India obtains agricultural products and minerals from India. India can also obtain technological know how from Japan. It is also recommend that the two countries should form strong diplomatic ties between them which can foster cooperation that favors academic exchange programs. India has a huge youthful population which could be allowed into Japan to provide labour. References Charlton, S.E. 2004. Comparing Asian Politics: India, China and Japan. Westview Press. Gunasekaran, A. (2013). Indian culture and Business Management. The International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management. Inderscience Publishers. Low, M. ‎Nakayama, S. ‎& Yoshioka (1999). Science, Technology and Society in Contemporary Japan. Cambridge University Press. Srivathsa M & Narasimhan A. (2003). Science and Technology in India through the Ages. Academy of Sanskrit Research. Tabb W.K. (1995). The postwar Japanese System: Cultural Economy and Economic Transformation. Oxford University Press. Read More