One interesting aspect of Japan is its closer cultural relationship to its nearby neighbor, China, the ultimate origin of practically all major art, science and architecture in Asia and in many ways the “mother culture” of Japan itself (fertilizer in frozen gyoza aside). Many of the foods the Japanese eat every day originally came from China, like those steamed meat buns called nikuman which have been around for more than 2,000 years. The characters that the Japanese use to write with come from China, too, which gives the two countries a special relationship, since Japanese and Chinese can read about 30% of each other’s language right out of the box. One of the most famous stories in China is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (aka Sangokushi), a historical novel written in the 14th century that’s very popular among Japanese boys, who read it in manga form and play video games based on the historical battles. The high-budget film Red Cliff part II is showing in Japan right now, and my son is a huge fan, hooked as he is on all things Sangokushi. Because the movie is shown in Chinese with Japanese subtitles, it’s not the most accessible film for an American like me, but I look forward to finding a version with English that I can watch.
The Chinese tale of Sangokushi is very popular in Japan in general, and in my household in particular.
