Honors tokyo 2017
A Guide to Getting Lost in Tokyo
Reflection on:
As Anderson argues, one of the most important reasons why print capitalism played such a large role in the ‘imagined community’ is due to simultaneity; that is, the community is formed when groups of people can imagine the other people with which they are involved due to the sharing of current events through the print. Hence, a “horizontal comradeship” is formed, creating the idea of commonality in the group of people mutually acknowledged as a “nation” (Anderson 50). Likewise, I argue that holidays/festivals also contribute to the feeling of community that defines a nation. Most notably in the American setting are holidays like Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, etc., where all Americans can celebrate a significant part of American history at the same time... ...The media and the American education system both influence the way these holidays are imagined and celebrated, so in that sense, the backbone behind the impact of holidays on America as a nation lies in the usage of media and education to shape views. In my experience, part of what is so significant about holidays is that most everyone is given a break at the same time; with the grueling schedules of everyday work, holidays provide relief for most people. With media and education spreading images of harmony, continuity, and “horizontal comradeship” through images such as the gathering of friends and family around a dinner table for Thanksgiving, or crowds of ‘Americans’ all gazing at fireworks together, nationhood is created when people can do the same things at once. In Japan, there are many festivals (matsuri- 祭り) such as Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri, or summer firework festivals (花火大会), and even entire weeks of break such as Golden Week. These types of cultural gatherings provide a setting for people to gather in celebration of Japan’s heritage and traditions. Thus, participation in national holidays or festivals builds up a sense of simultaneous community to form the nation, where people of any class, race, religious background, or any type of category, can act together and therefore be able to imagine all other members of the nation in a similar way. Due to portrayals of holidays in this way by the media and in education, the ‘imagined community’ of a nation is enhanced.
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