To
really understand and appreciate a foreign culture,
it is not adequate simply to read books about the country,
but to go and live there and experience the culture
firsthand. No amount of reading on the subject of Japanese
lifestyle, for example, will foster the same kind of
insight gained by living and working in Japan. Books
written on the subject of culture also tend to focus
on one particular aspect, or derive some kind of conclusion
from what is essentially just a mass of different subjective
experiences. On the other hand, by simply living in
Japan one cannot come to know all the historical influences
and events that may have helped to shape the culture.
For that, one must look to books to provide the answer.(129
words)
