The automobile is the place I choose to capture the young people and expose them to books that I find interesting. It is usually not the entire book but maybe a chapter or two. It is a captive audience and I take full advantage of the situation.
Today, the topic was from the book “China and Japan Facing History” by Ezra F. Vogel. It is about the cultural and political ties the two countries have together over a span of 1,500 years. I am only on chapter one so I can not give you a synopsis of the book. So far it is interesting and makes me want to research Chinese and Japanese history.
It does answer a question I have had. Why did Japan not have its own writing system? I had no idea China was considered culturally more advanced than Japan and Korean. The Japanese sent missionaries to learn about the religion and cultural of China. The Chinese writing system was adopted to ease communication over vast areas.
Japan also learned from the Chinese how to change from a clan based society into a central government. They even designed their capital cities after the Chinese design.
Well, that is all we were able to do before the young people clearly had enough. I am happy for what they did allow me to share. We will get back to it one day, I hope.