Many of us, if not everyone, have heard about Japan through various means. Perhaps through popular films such as Godzilla or the famous horror films produced by the country. Perhaps through the various animated television shows dubbed into English, creating a huge fan base here in the United States, or through the massive Nintendo franchise that has filled our childhood memories with countless hours spent in front of a screen playing Mario or Pokémon. In one way or another, the Japanese have shared their culture with a wide audience, but that only scratches the surface of Japanese culture. Japan was not always the islands we see there today, island formation occurred during 50,000 BC and ended in 10,000 BC after the end of the later period glacial. This is when we find the first signs of civilization in Japan, but they are nowhere near the modern Japanese culture of today. The beginnings of present-day Japanese culture date back to the year 538 AD, with several periods slowly building up to the present day. Today's Japanese culture shares some aspects with our familiar American culture: both cultures love baseball, we both have representative democracies as a form of government, and the two cultures do not label foreigners differently and do not accept them in the same way. Even though we share some aspects of our culture with the Japanese, our cultures can no longer be different from each other. Japanese culture is based on its long and rich history and change is not welcome, things are done as they were hundreds of years ago. People also don't tend to express their opinions like we do here in the United States. Anyone who speaks out usually doesn't get much attention and falls back into place, which suits the majority of the population. Everyone fits in well and personal opinion is not expressed out loud most of the time. There are multiple practices that are part of Japanese culture that are not found in American culture. Some of them bowing instead of shaking hands when addressing someone, sipping or making loud noises is considered polite and enjoying your food, and tipping is considered an insult. These practices are somewhat opposed in American culture, we are much more different than some tend to believe..