<p>First off - this question is really broad and its scope could probably fill libraries. I will therefore limit the answer to generalized pointers in answer to your three sub questions.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Is there any place online where I can conduct an interview with Japanese people who reside in Japan and are familiar with their own culture.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://carla.umn.edu/culture/definitions.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>Culture</strong></a> is a difficult concept. What I can say here is that every Japanese person is aware of their culture, because every Japanese is a part of their culture. Japanese culture is created by the Japanese inhabitants; it's what shapes them, it is the very air they breath. Conducting interviews is something that needs to be established and anthropologists often dive into the community of interest and spend considerable amounts of time to familiarize themselves with the culture, build a network and go from there. Understanding people, let alone their culture is not something that can be done easily from behind your computer screen I'm afraid.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>How can I identify actions, activities, and goals of the culture in order to construct a meaning system so as to understand and interpret the relationship between the actors (culture), tools (e.g., appraisal of the child's actions), activities, scripts, and goals?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The first step is to develop a specific <a href="https://www.esc.edu/online-writing-center/resources/research/research-paper-steps/developing-questions/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>research question</strong></a> and subsequently <strong><a href="http://www3.uakron.edu/witt/rmfcs/operationalization.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">operationalize</a></strong> it. I am reading diverse questions and here's just an excerpt from your comments:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...pinpointing some activities and understanding some of their goals. [...] Why is the expression of negative emotions discouraged in a Japanese society? What do mothers do to cultivate their child's cognitive development? Do they encourage verbal communication, eye contact, exploration, etc... Do they breastfeed? How long and why that long? How do they discipline their child? </p>
</blockquote>

<p>You seem to be struggling with a lot of questions lacking the necessary research focus. Especially an undergrad study should be meticulously defined and most of all <strong>restricted</strong> to make it <strong>operable</strong> in the <strong>short time window available</strong>. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Do you have any tips on how to write an ethnography?  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Libraries are filled on this topic. I can refer you to <a href="https://lcst3789.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/clifford-writing-culture.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Clifford &amp; Marcus, 1986</a>.</p>

<p><sub><strong>Reference</strong><br>
<strong>-</strong> <a href="https://lcst3789.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/clifford-writing-culture.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Clifford &amp; Marcus, Writing Culture. The poetics and politics of ethnography. UC Press (1986)</a></sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T20:33:51.147Z
AliceD thanks I appreciate the effort and time you put into this. Yes, I realize anthropologists emerse themselves into a certain society but it's not my field and as I pointed out, its mostly an archival research. I wanted to interview a few people so they could explain or confirm certain things and some of my interpretations. Also I realize Japanese people live and breath Japan but there are certain people who have been so influenced by another culture that they have lost touch with their own. Thanks again for your assistance.
future.shrink
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T20:03:14.023Z
2017-05-05T21:12:52.873Z
2017-05-05T21:12:52.873Z
AliceD
<p>I'm writing a paper for my cultural psychology course. The paper is about Japanese child care, focused on the moral and cognitive development of Japanese children from their own traditional/cultural perspective. It is mostly an archival research on Japanese culture which I am supposed to write up and present as a realist ethnography. </p>

<ol>
<li>Is there any place online where I can conduct an interview with Japanese people who reside in Japan and are familiar with their own culture. </li>
<li>How can I identify actions, activities, and goals of the culture in order to construct a meaning system so as to understand and interpret the relationship between the actors (culture), tools (<em>e.g.</em>, appraisal of the child's actions), activities, scripts, and goals?</li>
<li>Do you have any tips on how to write an ethnography?  </li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-04T05:29:26.207Z
Hi Futureshrink, thanks for the edits but unfortunately question one and three appear to be off topic here. There is a Japanse language stackexchange where you could ask around (in the chat preferably). Regarding the tips, that is rather opinion based and may result in an overflow of answers and discussions.
Robin Kramer-ten Have
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T08:10:05.213Z
@AliceD As you mentioned, there is no section for anthropology nor is there one for cultural psychology(not cross-cultural) and qualitative research methods such as ethnography. But as it has a psychological component I thought it could relate. The paper I'm working on is about Japanese child care, more emphasis placed on the moral and cognitive development of Japanese children from their own traditional/cultural perspective. Please feel free to revert the edit and answer those questions (hoping RobinKramer is ok with it). I would very much like to see your answers.
future.shrink
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T10:10:17.910Z
@RobinKramer thank you, I appreciate it. Here's an example; certain cultures (actors) use praise (tool) as a form of reward for a child's good behavior aiming to cultivate certain useful skills like self motivation/self promotion that allows the child to survive in an individualistic competitive society (goal). Where as others withhold such expressions for fear of enticing conceit. The later may be from a collectivist society where group harmony is more valued. So the actor uses tool and acts to get goal. This is keeping in mind the idea of co-construction as every agent is an active agent.
future.shrink
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T10:16:20.723Z
My problem here is pinpointing some activities and understanding some of their goals. Like for instance, why is the expression of negative emotions discouraged in a Japanese society? What do mothers do to cultivate their child's cognitive development? Do they encourage verbal communication, eye contact, exploration, etc... Do they breastfeed? How long and why that long? How do they discipline their child? With what objective? Etc... I hope this clears it up and I apologize for any ambiguity on my part but it's all new to me.
future.shrink
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T17:10:52.097Z
@AliceD A meaning system is making sense of the goals, strategies and scripts followed by the members of a certain culture. As in the interpretation I made in the above example. Understanding and interpreting the relationship between the actors, tools, activities, scripts, and goals.
future.shrink
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-05T17:34:45.667Z
@AliceD Here's another example, a friend did her paper on a certain culture where mothers put butter on babies and keep them out in the sun. The objective of this practice is the assumption that it will make the infant stronger/hero like. Then you have to ask, why is this their focus? One possible explanation  could be due to fact that they are a nomadic society which is constantly faced with environmental challenges that require physical strength to over come. Weather or not this strategy of coping with the environment works has it's own section in the paper.
future.shrink
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-06T13:40:18.910Z
Looks like you could take a look at [activity theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity_theory) as a starting point of analysis.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-12T15:03:20.840Z
@Steven Jeuris I just submitted the assignment. Thank you for the tip it was really helpful as I had initially overlooked vygosky for some odd reason, when the entire thing is based on his theory.
future.shrink
<methodology><psychology><cross-cultural-psychology><anthropology>
Cultural psychology: Japanese culture and meaning systems
future.shrink
# Cultural psychology: Japanese culture and meaning systems

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-05-03)

I'm writing a paper for my cultural psychology course. The paper is about Japanese child care, focused on the moral and cognitive development of Japanese children from their own traditional/cultural perspective. It is mostly an archival research on Japanese culture which I am supposed to write up and present as a realist ethnography.

1. Is there any place online where I can conduct an interview with Japanese people who reside in Japan and are familiar with their own culture.
2. How can I identify actions, activities, and goals of the culture in order to construct a meaning system so as to understand and interpret the relationship between the actors (culture), tools (*e.g.*, appraisal of the child's actions), activities, scripts, and goals?
3. Do you have any tips on how to write an ethnography?

**Tags:** methodology, psychology, cross-cultural-psychology, anthropology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hi Futureshrink, thanks for the edits but unfortunately question one and three appear to be off topic here. There is a Japanse language stackexchange where you could ask around (in the chat preferably). Regarding the tips, that is rather opinion based and may result in an overflow of answers and discussions.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 As you mentioned, there is no section for anthropology nor is there one for cultural psychology(not cross-cultural) and qualitative research methods such as ethnography. But as it has a psychological component I thought it could relate. The paper I'm working on is about Japanese child care, more emphasis placed on the moral and cognitive development of Japanese children from their own traditional/cultural perspective. Please feel free to revert the edit and answer those questions (hoping RobinKramer is ok with it). I would very much like to see your answers.  
> **username_0**: @RobinKramer thank you, I appreciate it. Here's an example; certain cultures (actors) use praise (tool) as a form of reward for a child's good behavior aiming to cultivate certain useful skills like self motivation/self promotion that allows the child to survive in an individualistic competitive society (goal). Where as others withhold such expressions for fear of enticing conceit. The later may be from a collectivist society where group harmony is more valued. So the actor uses tool and acts to get goal. This is keeping in mind the idea of co-construction as every agent is an active agent.  
> **username_0**: My problem here is pinpointing some activities and understanding some of their goals. Like for instance, why is the expression of negative emotions discouraged in a Japanese society? What do mothers do to cultivate their child's cognitive development? Do they encourage verbal communication, eye contact, exploration, etc... Do they breastfeed? How long and why that long? How do they discipline their child? With what objective? Etc... I hope this clears it up and I apologize for any ambiguity on my part but it's all new to me.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 A meaning system is making sense of the goals, strategies and scripts followed by the members of a certain culture. As in the interpretation I made in the above example. Understanding and interpreting the relationship between the actors, tools, activities, scripts, and goals.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 Here's another example, a friend did her paper on a certain culture where mothers put butter on babies and keep them out in the sun. The objective of this practice is the assumption that it will make the infant stronger/hero like. Then you have to ask, why is this their focus? One possible explanation  could be due to fact that they are a nomadic society which is constantly faced with environmental challenges that require physical strength to over come. Weather or not this strategy of coping with the environment works has it's own section in the paper.  
> **username_2**: Looks like you could take a look at [activity theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity_theory) as a starting point of analysis.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 I just submitted the assignment. Thank you for the tip it was really helpful as I had initially overlooked vygosky for some odd reason, when the entire thing is based on his theory.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-05-05. Score: 1

First off - this question is really broad and its scope could probably fill libraries. I will therefore limit the answer to generalized pointers in answer to your three sub questions.

> Is there any place online where I can conduct an interview with Japanese people who reside in Japan and are familiar with their own culture.

[**Culture**](http://carla.umn.edu/culture/definitions.html) is a difficult concept. What I can say here is that every Japanese person is aware of their culture, because every Japanese is a part of their culture. Japanese culture is created by the Japanese inhabitants; it's what shapes them, it is the very air they breath. Conducting interviews is something that needs to be established and anthropologists often dive into the community of interest and spend considerable amounts of time to familiarize themselves with the culture, build a network and go from there. Understanding people, let alone their culture is not something that can be done easily from behind your computer screen I'm afraid.

> How can I identify actions, activities, and goals of the culture in order to construct a meaning system so as to understand and interpret the relationship between the actors (culture), tools (e.g., appraisal of the child's actions), activities, scripts, and goals?

The first step is to develop a specific [**research question**](https://www.esc.edu/online-writing-center/resources/research/research-paper-steps/developing-questions/) and subsequently **[operationalize](http://www3.uakron.edu/witt/rmfcs/operationalization.htm)** it. I am reading diverse questions and here's just an excerpt from your comments:

> ...pinpointing some activities and understanding some of their goals. [...] Why is the expression of negative emotions discouraged in a Japanese society? What do mothers do to cultivate their child's cognitive development? Do they encourage verbal communication, eye contact, exploration, etc... Do they breastfeed? How long and why that long? How do they discipline their child?

You seem to be struggling with a lot of questions lacking the necessary research focus. Especially an undergrad study should be meticulously defined and most of all **restricted** to make it **operable** in the **short time window available**.

> Do you have any tips on how to write an ethnography?

Libraries are filled on this topic. I can refer you to [Clifford & Marcus, 1986](https://lcst3789.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/clifford-writing-culture.pdf).

**Reference**  
**-** [Clifford & Marcus, Writing Culture. The poetics and politics of ethnography. UC Press (1986)](https://lcst3789.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/clifford-writing-culture.pdf)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: username_3 thanks I appreciate the effort and time you put into this. Yes, I realize anthropologists emerse themselves into a certain society but it's not my field and as I pointed out, its mostly an archival research. I wanted to interview a few people so they could explain or confirm certain things and some of my interpretations. Also I realize Japanese people live and breath Japan but there are certain people who have been so influenced by another culture that they have lost touch with their own. Thanks again for your assistance.  

---

