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Japanese culture has evolved greatly over the years, from the country's original Jomon culture to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe, and North America.

Traditional Japanese arts include crafts (ikebana, origami, ukiyo-e, dolls, lacquerware, pottery), performances (bunraku, dance, kabuki, noh, rakugo), traditions (games, tea ceremony, budō, architecture, gardens, swords), and cuisine.

Post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European culture which has led to the evolution of popular band music (called J-Pop). The fusion of traditional woodprinting and Western art led to the creation of manga, a typically Japanese comic book format that is now popular in and even outside Japan. Manga-influenced animation for television and film is called anime.

After several waves of immigration from the continent and nearby Pacific islands, followed by a heavy importation of culture from China, the inhabitants of Japan experienced a long period of relative isolation from the outside world under the Tokugawa shogunate until the arrival of the "The Black Ships" and the Meiji era. As a result, a culture distinctively different from other Asian cultures developed, and echoes of this persist in contemporary Japan.

For example, as Ruth Benedict analysed in her classic study The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Japan has a shame culture (external reference standard) rather than the guilt culture (internal reference standard) that is more familiar in the West. In Japan, inter-relationships between people are heavily influenced by concepts of "honor", "obligation", and "duty" in a way that is much less true in the more individualistic and free-wheeling West. Finally, generalized conceptions of morality and desirable behavior are less developed in Japan, where particular and situational obligations to family, school, and friends tend to guide behavior. See: Japanese values.

The Japanese language has always played a significant role in Japanese culture. Nemawashi, for example, indicates consensus achieved through careful preparation. It reflects the harmony that is desired and respected within Japanese culture.

Although the Japanese are better known for their physical comedy outside of Japan, they have intricate humor and jokes. Because this humor relies so heavily on Japanese language, culture, religion, and ethics, it is generally considered to be very difficult to translate.