...Japan has been blending foreign elements into its culture for several thousand years (and that culture has many different facets): Buddhist thought and arts from India, China, and Korea; Christianity from the Middle East via Europe; literature and a writing system from China and Europe; medicine from Germany; parliamentary government from Europe; modern business and manufacturing practices from the U.S.; public school education from Europe and the U.S.; school uniforms from Prussia; sports from the U.S. (baseball and football) and Europe (the "other" kind of football and rugby); and more recently, hamburgers, Starbucks, and KFC, also from the U.S.
These various social components have continually merged into the Japanese way of life, resulting in the country's diverse contemporary culture. Which things are "western" and which are "Japanese"? For children growing up among all these resources, none of this seems foreign at all--just Japanese. After all, they've met Mickey Mouse at Tokyo Disneyland, and he was Japanese. Contradictions only appear when viewed from the outside. Though you may initially experience many unexpected or even curious events when you arrive in Japan, don't worry. Soon, eating curried rice with a soup spoon and ice cream with chopsticks (just kidding!) and bowing while talking on the phone will become second nature to you, too.
(excerpt from p.34)