...between two Americans who are married, but lack communication and inadequate attention from their spouses, while staying in Tokyo. Bob Harris is away from his family on a business trip, as he’s going through a mid-life crisis. Charlotte, a woman in her early twenties struggles to find a place in the world. She hoped a trip to Tokyo, with her husband would help conflicted feelings about her two-year-old marriage, her spirit, discovering a purpose and finding a career. These individuals meet and are instantly attracted to one another, because of parallel doubts about their life in contrasting perspectives. Magnetically drawn to one another, they inevitably communicate their problems in marriage, their fears, and insecurities of current circumstances. Bob and Charlotte are scapegoats staying in another country, as well as a foreign society. Their feelings of displacement, isolation and alienation during their stay in Japan, provide an exploration of complex human emotions, such as boredom and loneliness. Bob Harris is an aging movie star beyond his peak years, who is still famous enough to be recognized, but not to be asked to do any more movies. Now in his fifties, he traded his fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle for a wife and family. Harris thinks that he’ll only be in Tokyo for a few days, but his stay is extended, when his agent explains that he couldn’t pass on a deal a prestigious photographer offered. Mr. Harris is making two million dollars from a Japanese whiskey company;...
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...Coppola’s, Lost In Translation presents a relationship between two Americans who are married, but lack communication and e attention from their spouses, while staying in Tokyo. Bob Harris is away from his family on a business trip as he is going through a mid-life crisis. Charlotte, a woman in her early twenties struggles to find a place in the world. She hoped a trip to Tokyo, with her husband would help conflicted feelings about her two-year-old marriage, her spirit, discovering a purpose and finding a career. These individuals meet and are instantly attracted to one another, because of parallel doubts about their life in contrasting perspectives. Magnetically drawn to one another, they inevitably communicate their problems in marriage, their fears, and insecurities of current circumstances. Their feelings of displacement, isolation and alienation during their stay in Japan, provide an exploration of complex human emotions, such as boredom and loneliness. Bob Harris is an aging movie star beyond his peak years, who is still famous enough to be recognized, but not to be asked to do any more movies. Now in his fifties, he traded his fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle for a wife and family. Harris thinks that he’ll only be in Tokyo for a few days, but his stay is extended when his agent explains that he couldn’t pass on a deal a prestigious photographer offered. Mr. Harris is making two million dollars from a Japanese whiskey company working with a director and a production crew whose...
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...Disney’s poor performance during its first year? Europeans failed to “go goofy” over Mickey in part because of the high prices of the theme park and nearby hotels. Families were reluctant to spend the $280 a day needed to enjoy the attractions of the park, including the food. Staying overnight was out of the question for many because prices ranged from $110 to $380 a night, and $340 to $380 a night at better hotels. Other factors that contributed to poor performance were unforeseen transatlantic airfare wars and currency movements, causing visitors to go to Disney World Orlando for vacation. EuroDisney successfully alienated many European visitors with its iconic American feel at EuroDisney. Many Europeans were put off by the Disney characters which they felt reflected only traditional American Disney characters, not European characters. Disney management’s conviction that it knew best what Europeans liked proved insensitive to the local culture. 2. To what degree do you consider that these factors were (a) foreseeable and (b) controllable by EuroDisney, Hong Kong Disney, or the parent company, Disney? The reluctance of visitors to stopover at EuroDisney due to high prices of the theme park and nearby hotels could not be foreseeable, but surely controllable in some aspects. EuroDisney could not control the high prices of nearby hotels unless the hotels were under the Disney name, but they could certainly have lowered the prices of admission and...
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...Orientalism in Films There have been many uses and abuses in Western view of the Eastern cultural and social concept of orientalism. This paper discusses how orientalism relates to the three films namely M. Butterfly, Madame Butterfly, and Lost in Translation. Like the title, "M. Butterfly" basically was playing about transformation. This is the first of the Giacomo Puccini opera metamorphosis that was famous, in which "Madame Butterfly" became the modern geopolitical argument to understand the culture. In this film, through love relations that really did not make sense between a French diplomat and the Chinese opera singer he believed the man became the woman, how could the failure for the wish to be separated from reality result in the deception and the tragedy. Gallimard changed Sole from "only humankind" in the "Perfect Woman". Due to his insecurity about his own masculinity, Gallimard needs to create Song in the image of the perfect Asian woman, which is exotic, sensual, and acquiescent, in order to feel wholly male. Although he seeks to confine Sole within the context of his fantasy, Gallimard poster vulnerability and need actually free Sole by providing her with an outlet to flee the Orientalist representation of Asian people. Gallimard transforms Sole into a butterfly, boots instead of transforming him into one of the butterfly. Whereas Gallimard, is actually the one who eventually ends up trapped by his own fantasy. Through an analysis of Gallimard practice cultural...
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...with rich culture and historical background. The Japanese people, dating back to as early as 4,500 B.C. have deep traditions that have evolved and adapted over the centuries. With ideologies, religion and business strategy’s much different from that in the western world, specific customs and traditions must be understood. Although the Japanese carry a great deal of respect in the business world, they can often be perceived as picky and difficult to deal with. This stereotype tends to cause alienation from companies doing business in Japan, when in reality their “closed off” and distant behavior is due to misinterpretation through a western lens. Being aware of the religion and history of the Japanese can help to not only better understand their culture, but to also strengthen business relationships and allow for a positive interactions between companies. The following paper will include a cultural analysis observing different dimensions of Japanese culture through Hoftede and Hall’s scales relative to other world cultures. The underlying beliefs, attitudes and values of the Japanese culture relative to that of the Western American culture. As well as their evolved and highly functioning socio-economic and political environment. Communication and openness to change can be compared providing information as to why the Japanese conduct business the way they do. The paper will also discuss the work and business practices of the Japanese. Specifically their work ethics, values, and norms...
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...ironically male writers paved many of the pioneering days of shojo manga, many female writers emerged and revolutionized the shojo manga market and further gave women within Japanese society who read Shojo manga a sense of exemplification and ‘an air or authenticity’. This was an important mark within Japanese society, because it very closely related to the rise of femininity within Japan, as there were not many female artists before or after the World War. In came the era of the 1970s, and many female artists appeared to express their opinions by manga; their work met the demands of Japanese girls to read manga written from the female point of view. The development of manga had portrayed reality quite well, and sales within these girls’ magazines skyrocketed. As female artists maintained and developed more individuality within their art, Shojo manga in turn depicted the social roles and reduced responsibility that Japanese women had in society. Many of these magazines ‘pushed the envelope’ within society, as many of the relationships created within the stories were doseiai, or same sex romances. The writing and imagery reinforced a “visual of monotony, as many of the characters had similar facial features, and wore identical school uniforms as they struck similar poses”. These represented young Japanese girls’ close, adoring bonds with their female cohorts within their school life, as artist Jun’ichi Nakahara further wrote that the similarities of the characters emphasized...
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...the blue tone) designs. Julius Caesar described these tattoos in Book V of his Gallic Wars (54 BC). Various other cultures have had their own tattoo traditions, ranging from rubbing cuts and other wounds with ashes, to hand-pricking the skin to insert dyes. Tattooing in the Western world today has its origins in the maritime expeditions, throu the contact with amerindian tribes and Polynesia, by sixteenth - eighteenth century explorers. Especially the Polynesian practice became popular among European sailors, from them they took the Samoan word "tatau", to describe the actual tattoo.[6] As sailors traveled abroad and returned home with tattoos inscribed on their bodies, they began to show up in mainstream European, and eventually North American, figurations.[7] ------------------------------------------------- Associations The Government of Meiji Japan had outlawed tattoos in the 19th century, a prohibition that stood for 70 years before being repealed in...
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...into the new culture have the least amount of risk for experiencing sociocultural and psychological adjustment challenges during their temporary stay (Pedersen, 2011). Many report that they had many challenging experiences that lead to more realistic self-appraisals and helped them to develop more mature characteristics due to their study abroad experience ( Wielkiewicz & Turkowski, 2010) Some report that upon returning home, they experienced “feelings of alienation or estrangement from their home country” (Sussman, 2002). They reported that they felt they were misunderstood by those around them, that they had lack of purpose, and felt that they didn’t belong (Selby, 2009). This is true not only for missionaries, but for overseas workers and study abroad students (Sussman, 2002; Wielkiewicz & Turkowski, 2010; Mumford, 2000). In a study done on the adjustment of Japanese students from living abroad in America, they reported that they felt they were treated differently in social groups, like they were not Japanese or American but somewhere in between (Yoshida et al., 2009). Perspectives had changed about the home culture, and a new culture was integrated in some ways into that. Upon returning, many experience frustrations and other negative feelings towards their home culture, and they have difficulty identifying who they have becomes and where they fit in at home. Many students that have returned home after time spent abroad have had negative experiences dealing with trying to...
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...BME5001 Leadership and Managerial Skills Carlos Ghosn and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd BME5001 Leadership and Managerial Skills 2014 According to Pearce (2012,pp162) *the practical interest in cultures began with a fascination with the power and strength of multinational Japanese corporations. It wasn’t one thing the Japanese did. Rather, management practices, employee perceptions, expectations and social environments all seemed to reinforce and work in concert to create Japanese corporations’ success”1. Hence, it is intriguing to have Nissan Motor Co Ltd (Nissan) as a case study feature; for an absolutely contrasting reason. Equally fascinating was that Nissan was revived by a non-Japanese leader; Chief Operating Officer (COO) - Carlos Ghosn (Ghosn). Many reasons could have brought about Nissan’s dire state. Since “what successful leaders do depends much on their particular situations than it does on matching cultural leadership practices to stereotyped images of another culture”1, this paper would focus on examining Ghosn’s leadership practices which revived Nissan. “Leadership is the guiding of others towards an objective”.1 To do that, “leaders must diagnose and clearly understand the situations in which they find themselves”1. When Ghosn arrived at Nissan, he assumed nothing, hit the ground to observe and listen to everything that was said and practiced by employees working the floor right up to divisional presidents; in order to understand...
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...How far do you agree that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to the ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? The origins of the Cold War cannot be denied as being most obviously and most forefront due to the great ideological differences between the USSR’s communism and the USA’s capitalism, such as their complete opposing beliefs over nationalisation and system of government. However National interests, such as the fight over Poland and leaders personalities, such as Truman’s lack of experience in foreign policy cannot be overlooked as important reasons for growing hostilities between superpowers. The vast difference in ideologies is clearly the underlying factor which caused tensions for the superpowers of the world during the Cold War and the years 1945 to 46; however it cannot be denied that personalities of the leaders running these countries, were a contributing reason for the ever growing hostilities between them. Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR and communist regime, was a figure known for being shrewd, manipulative and ruthless, instantly suggesting that relations with other countries, so different from his, were to be quite strained. Though he was known for these negative traits, he was also commended for his sense of practicality and his skills as an administrator, this suggesting that perhaps his ability to put aside differences, may be better than necessarily believed. It was common knowledge...
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...Shot-by-shot Analysis Life of Pi, a 2012 American 3D adventure drama film that composed of live -action and computer-animated adventure based on Yann Martel's novel. This film is directed by Ang Lee, a movie that tells a story within another story based on one simple truth. In the movie, the narrator pi, who was the only survived young man from the sinking Japanese ship caused by the storm. He made to the lifeboat, yet, he was alone in the center of pacific ocean without any supplies but with a tiger called Richard Parker. However, the theme of this film is not just this exciting adventure but is the implicit conflict between Pi and the tiger; Pi’s rationality of believing in God to the animality aspect of his personality, the animalistic side of human nature that he struggled with. Every scenes have highlighted this meaning of how they survived as a whole. However, I found the sequence of when the main character Pi has his emotional changes from fear tiger to kill tiger to the end of living with the tiger is interesting and it reveals the overall meaning of the theme of the film as well. In this particular sequence, the camera has used long shots repeatedly and frequently to align the audience with the filmed characters and with their feelings. The long shot in the looser framing and the wider angle of vision create sense of negativity between Pi the powerful and isolating environment of the ocean. In a image of this sequence, long shot of Pi catching fishes with his tools while...
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...Through research, there has been a link formed between self-esteem and a number of variables. One of which is alienation (Johnson, 1973). To “esteem” something is to regard it as a prize and to set it as a high rational assessment. Taking this definition and appropriating it to individuals, esteem encompasses compassion, approval, and cordiality. Then, self esteem is the degree in which one sets a high rational assessment and approval of oneself. So now, self-esteem, as viewed by many in the social sciences, is quantified. It is the sum of evaluations across significant traits of an individual’s personality. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale is a widely used self-report instrument for evaluating an individual’s self-esteem. Sociologist Dr. Morris Rosenberg developed the original sample by which the scale was made comprised of high school students. However...
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...Psychological Bulletin 1980, Vol. 88, No. I. 60-77 Work and Nonwork: A Review of Models, Methods, and Findings Boris Kabanoff School of Social Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, South Australia This article examines theory and research in the field of work/nonwork relations. Three different theories of work/leisure relations are examined—compensation, generalization, and segmentation. All three theories have received some support; however, the review indicates that much of the available research evidence is constrained by conceptual and methodological problems. A number of paradigms for describing work/leisure patterns are reviewed, and it is concluded that most of these paradigms are more suitable for classifying leisure definitions than for guiding empirical research. Research in this field requires objective definitions of attributes common across life spheres. A task-based description of work and nonwork is discussed, and its research utility is illustrated. It is recommended that future research be concerned with describing different work/leisure patterns, the processes underlying these patterns, and the life consequences associated with different patterns. The meaning and the relationships between labor and leisure, work and contemplation, or in the most general sense, work and nonwork have been a source of intellectual, political, and religious debate for a considerable period in Western history. However, the view that the interplay...
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...to a complete breakdown of support for the nationalist party from the Chinese people. Chiang never had a “relationship with the common people.”1 From the time he came to power in 1925, he appeared never to understand his people. His obsession with purging the Kuomintang (KMT) of all Communists, his push for a New Life Movement2, making the claim, “first internal pacification, then external resistance”*3, and his use of foreign relationships and criminal organizations to gain superiority and exterminate the communists each played a role in confirming Chiang’s failure. In the fight against the Japanese in World War II, Chiang’s single-minded focus on the Chinese Communists allowed Japan to gain a strong grip in China and occupy parts of the country. It eventually required the help of the United States to defeat and oust the Japanese. Chiang’s repeated military failures against the Japanese caused him to lose support within his own elite KMT group. In an effort to reestablish power, he attacked the Communists, which led to a deterioration of support amongst the Chinese people. It made him appear aggressive and hypocritical to the massive peasant population as he attacked the one Chinese group who was actually intent on helping the poor agrarian workers. By 1945, the Communists were strong enough to defeat Chiang Kai-Shek due to his repeated tactical errors...
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...The Role of Culture in the Workplace Anne Marre S. Bautista The Chicago School of Professional Psychology The Role of Culture in the Workplace Culture is a crucial factor of human behavior. Over the last decade, culture has become a hot topic in organizations because of the explosive rise in the ethnic diversity in work places. This increase in cultural diversity comes with consequences which have resulted in the emergence of a need to build cross-cultural competencies among personnel in order to create work places that allow all employees to perform at the optimal capacity without being marginalized and made to fell incompetent or in adequate based on their cultural background and behavior norms, values and beliefs. Cultural differences within organizations can lead to challenges such as conflict and poor performance. Understanding the role of culture diversity in the workplace is important for organizations searching to build a competitive edge in the global market. This paper addresses the role of culture diversity on motivation and conflict within organizations. These issues were first revealed to me when I was 18 years old, and I got a job as a sales associate. I only worked there for two months. But I only needed two months to witness the role of culture in a workplace. I was one of the very few Asian associates. The other Asian was a Chinese young woman called Stephanie (pseudonym). The workers were predominantly Caucasians as well as were the clients who were...
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