http://culturesmarttravel.com A web site where cultural insights and cross-cultural understanding are shared and exchanged. Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:02:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en See as Comment:  Argentineans Make the Most from Life http://culturesmarttravel.com/archives/30 Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world with a population of 38 million of which nearly half live in Buenos Aires.  It can be characterized as an urban population that has managed to coexist with the well-to-do and the working class in a state of "live and let ... http://culturesmarttravel.com/archives/27 Belgium is a relatively new nation.  It achieved its nationhood in 1830, after centuries of occupation and invasion by the Romans, the French, the Burgundians, the Spanish, the Austrians and finally the Dutch.  Independence was won through a revolution triggered by an opera.  Not much blood, if any,  was spilled.  ... http://culturesmarttravel.com/archives/25 Buddhism and Shintoism are the two dominant religions, although the latter is actually more a "cult of nature" where supernatural beings are born, live, die and are reborn.  This karmic cycle allows for the explanation of the Sun Goddess as an ancestor of the Imperial family.  Buddhism, Japan's dominant religion, ... http://culturesmarttravel.com/archives/22      If you want to experience a country of social contrasts, then visit Japan.  Or, better still, live for a while in Japan.  I know of no other society that has created for itself so many dualities.  Japanese culture is rife with contradictions and inconsistencies.  To the perceptive observer of ... http://culturesmarttravel.com/archives/20 Israeli culture is a mix of European and Middle Eastern customs, music and food.  In the past 20 years American influences have made significant inroads into the culture.  Although Israel started as a social experiment with collective farms, kibbutzes, and Zionist idealists, it has evolved with strong capitalist organizations and individualism ... http://culturesmarttravel.com/archives/15