Cultural universals and variabilities in romantic relationships
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Institution of Affiliation
Cultural universals and variabilities in the romantic relationships of the Japanese
Japanese culture is one of the cultural groups that is non-western. This culture is known to have some differences and similarities in regard to romantic relationships with those of the west such as the American culture. One of the main differences between the two cultures is in terms of group dating. In this case, it is noted that it is not common in the American culture for people to do things in a group to include dating. In most instances, the Americans go for a date in pairs. This is as opposed to the Japanese culture where group culture is valued thus enhancing group dating, an aspect that is referred to as goukon. The reason as to why the latter stated culture prefer group dating is because they believe that such can help in gaining mutual interest and also provides a platform where individuals can mix with friends of their potential partners, thus increasing the likelihood of knowing their partner better.
Apart from that, the other difference between the Japanese culture and other cultures on matters romantic relationships is that the declaration of love can come quite early in the non-western Japanese culture. The dating process in Japan usually starts with the declaration of love where the dating partners show interest for each other. This makes things much simpler according to their culture as one is not left wondering if he or she is interested in you as a love prospect. However, it should be noted that this move can be made by either the man or the woman.
The other point of disparity in romantic relationships between the people from the Japanese culture and the westerners is in regard to the manner in which the dating partners express their emotions. The people from western cultures embrace a more direct verbal expression along with physical contact, while the people from the Japanese culture do not feel comfortable expressing themselves in such a manner (Ratner, 2008). To this effect, the use of non-verbal communication is mostly used by partners in expressing themselves.
Apart from that, the other aspect that shows the differences in dating between Japanese culture and western cultures is how the first date is handled. For people in the American cultures, there is a range of physical possibilities for couples on the first date and this may include holding hands, kissing and even hugging. In a nutshell, the people who have an interest in each other have various options to explore. This is unlike the people from the Japanese culture who tend to be conservative in their setting with very minimal options to explore.
Public display affection is the other feature that can be used to differentiate between people from the Japanese and Western cultures. For instance, couples who were initially dating and are now exes can hold hands and even hug in public in the American culture. This is quite awkward in the Japanese culture where a person may take offence for being hugged or for even being touched by his or her ex.
Conversely, besides the various cultural variabilities as highlighted above, there are also some cultural similarities as far as romantic relationships are concerned in both the western cultures and the non-western cultures. One of these similarities is that online dating has taken a center stage in dating among couples especially when they are geographically separated apart. With the introduction of the various social networking platforms, couples have resorted to taking their relationship to the next level, and this is by using technology to enhance interconnectedness, and this case applies to both the non-American and the American cultures.
The other cultural similarity in romantic relations in both the western and the non-western cultures is that getting a new person may be a challenge (Ma-Kellams, 2019). When it comes to creating a romantic relationship, it is usually hard to start it off from scratch. This is because people must know each other for a while before they may resort to dating. As a result, this may be time-consuming to the extent that it may even take years for people who know each other, regardless of the culture that they come from, to start dating.
Last but not least, the other point of similarities in romantic relationships in both the western and the non-western cultures is the societal expectations. In both cultures, it is expected for a man in the relationship to assume a higher responsibility such as protecting the lady and taking care of the lady. Apart from that, it is also expected of a man to sort bills if any. However, this similarity has some exceptions in that this depends on the agreement between the dating partners where you may find the man jobless or lacking any source of income, thus prompting the woman to chip in.
References
Ma-Kellams, C. (2019). Cultural psychology: Cross cultural and multicultural perspectives.
Ratner, C. (2008). Cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and indigenous
psychology. New York: Nova Science Publishers.