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Introduction
Recently, the piety for parents in Japan is
weaker than that of the old days. In the past children were taught to be
obedient to their parents and nice to them, but this precept has been
disappearing.
Also in Korea, the situation is almost similar. However, comparing the
circumstances in both countries, Korean people are often said to have a
deeper-rooted piety for parents than that of Japan. Is it true?
Then I decided to make a research on the piety of parents and its
relations to Confucianism through the Internet and the email exchange
between the students at Cheongseok High School and Nagano Nishi High
School.
Results of the Survey
Both Korea and Japan have the piety for parents. The main reason is that
these countries were influenced a lot by Confucianism in the ancient
times, so that's why there are many values derived from the traditional
Confucian ethics.
Moreover, considering the family relationship, both people have a custom to mourn for the dead of the family. In
Japan, people hold Buddhist memorial services at the first, third and
seven anniversary of their family member's death. We cannot neglect
them. In Korea, the tendency to treasure the memorial service is
stronger than that of Japan. The Korean people should have the
traditional memorial services for the past five generations in their
family. In short, the relationship in the family is even stronger
compared to western countries, which leads to the piety for parents and
elderly people in the family. This is one of the characteristics
of collectivism.
Now in Korea, there are many people who changed their religion
and most of them believe in Christianity. In this way, they
started to lose such traditional customs.
However, even if the circumstances have changed, it is true that they think much about
their family relationship and the piety for parents or
the grandparents is taken over as well.
In Japan we can admit that this Confucian value is fading by the
distortion left from the high economic growth after the World War 2.
During that period, children were treated indulgently because their
parents did not want them to go through the horrible hardships in
wartime. This affected the Japanese identity and caused to change
the values toward the family relationship.
In spite of such situation, many people in Japan came to think much about the importance
of family bond again. Also in Korea, people are likely to review
the ethical meanings of Confucianism. Do you know why?
Conclusion
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