I wanted to piggy back on the top post in this sub, but I arrived a bit late.
I was just reading about the Japanese premodern-early modern era (Tokugawa Shogunate time period). My book stated something along the lines of the Japanese and Westerners seeing eye to eye relatively well due to similar class structures and other factors. It seems like the existence of castles might strike a chord between the few allowed visitors like the Portuguese/Dutch and the Japanese.
So, were there any large differences between Japanese castles and Western castles in general? Is there any evidence that was a topic of mutual interest among visiting Westerners and the Japanese, or is it pure speculation?
Thanks!
Yes there is. The tactics employed by the Japanese and Western fighters were similar as it seems that knowledge of offensive and defensive war is universal i.e. moats, bows, swords etc. However it can be seen that the difference comes from the building materials used by both cultures. Stone features heavily in European structures to the point where Roman Aqueducts still stand today, hell even stonehenge has survived.
The Japanese on the other hand used wood and paper predominately (i dont know why) to the extent that a majority of Japanese cities during WW2 were made up of wood and paper structures.
This wood and paper influenced tactics and strategies utilized by both sides i.e. the Japanese didnt have trebuchets while the Europeans didnt utilize flame arrows to the extent of the Japanese. So sieges werent about surrounding a "castle" in Japan and bombarding it into submission but rather killing the Lord of the castle and subjugating the population.
Also Japanese and European tourism was rare due to the cultural differences. The Jesuits in Japan were the exception however they were expelled in the 1800/1900s for apparently using their churches to enslave and sell Japanese people to Europeans (or rather that was the excuse used by the rulers at the time). The first real opening of Japan to the wider world occured in the 1860s when Commodore Perry fired a salvo on a Japanese port and forced them to begin trading. This resulted in Japan sending out many many engineers to copy and manufacture Western Industrial innovations in order to never be caught in the same situation.
At the same time Europeans immigrated to Japan to the point where Japanese people were worried about the influence of European culture on Japan. Keep in mind though that by the 1900s castles had generally become obsolete due to advances in war technology.