Summary Of Vaporis Argument Of A Shared Culture

While Vaporis’ argument of a shared culture remained relatively strong throughout Tour of Duty, he failed to provide thorough examples that alternate attendance was affective in creating a truly shared cultural experience throughout all social classes. Vaporis’ argument of a shared culture was exact; however, alternate attendance was more of a vehicle which created a shared culture and experience throughout the elite class of Japan. Vaporis provided limited examples of the specific effects of domain processions at the commoner level, such as using commoner inns or homes when the “procession was large or the facilities at a post station underdeveloped.” However, Vaporis also provided a sample list of rules which showed a “concern with order …show more content…
The practice of giving gifts helped to circulate material culture; however, Vaporis stated the “shogunate sold the gifts bequeathed by the daimyo and others to merchant agents who specialized in these goods.” While this illustrated the extent to which gift giving could spread material culture, Vaporis failed to examine how gift giving impacted the lower social classes. Could commoners or peasants afford to purchase a merchant’s specialized or rare goods received from the Shogunate or other daimyo and how would those goods be utilized in a commoner’s day to day life? Furthermore, Vaporis failed to illustrate how foreign goods influenced the commoner population? While Vaporis provided multiple examples of gift giving as a vehicle for a shared culture, he never truly addressed how the facilitation of material goods between daimyo, shogun, merchants, etc., impacted or at least influenced commoner life. If Vaporis addressed more thoroughly, the effects of alternate attendance on the everyday lives of the commoner population, his argument against “isolationism and cultural fragmentation” would have been