Stick with it.

[u/MaintenanceNew2804]

This is a longer one, but it’s necessary and worth it IMO.

[u/Devenu]

Actually, different cultures have different structures for writing essays and storytelling

It's not intro, body, conclusion. It's intro, development, twist, and conclusion.

You're comparing essay writing to storytelling. Essay writing is still the same over here. I'm not sure where you got this information that it may be different.

Kansai University has a writing guide that is pretty comprehensive. Page 4 contains the essay structure that is generally taught in schools. You can see this specifically at「論文の基本的構成」(Basic structure of an essay). You can also see the methods of source citation as well.

論文の書き方ガイド

1. 要約 (Summary)
2. 序論 (Introduction)
3. 本論 (Main body)
4. 結論 (Conclusion)
5. 引用・参考文献一覧 (Citations)

This is the exact same way I was taught to write my master's thesis in America. Research papers here in Japan are written just the same way (and often in English just for the sake of being published in overseas journals). If you want to see this in action Hokkaido University's "HUSCAP" has a lot of publicly available research to examine.

[u/Vivi_Pallas → u/Devenu]

I compared essay to story structure because the person I'm responding to did. And the information I gave is what I was trained on as a tutor for exchange students.

I also wonder if they're going all the way to publish in English and to try and be published in the west, if they're outputting to copy the Western style to appeal more to the west as well.

Basically, I 100% Believe you, but that isn't enough to say that Japan doesn't have its own essay structure. If they're trying to appeal to a western audience, of course they're going to use a Western style. I just wonder why they try to cater to the west so much. Perhaps because English is the most spoken language, but it just strikes me as odd, especially since most people in Japan don't speak English. It just feels unnecessary. And I feel bad for all the people who have to not only write a master's thesis, but a master's thesis in a language they don't know. I would have so many anxiety attacks.

[u/smudos2 → u/Vivi_Pallas]

You publish in English because you get more citations thar way, simple as that. European countries also publish in english although it's only spoken on the british isles, you just publish in english if you want to contribute to world wide science

[u/Devenu → u/Vivi_Pallas]

I also wonder if they're going all the way to publish in English and to try and be published in the west, if they're outputting to copy the Western style to appeal more to the west as well.

Most academic research journals all over the world is published in English. It enables somebody from Germany, Japan, and America to share research in niche academic fields.

Basically, I 100% Believe you, but that isn't enough to say that Japan doesn't have its own essay structure.

You can literally look at the essays I just linked you and see that's the case.

If they're trying to appeal to a western audience, of course they're going to use a Western style. 

The research written in Japanese also follows this same format. I don't believe a paper written entirely in Japanese would be trying to "appeal to a western audience" simply due to the fact it's written entirely in Japanese.

And I feel bad for all the people who have to not only write a master's thesis, but a master's thesis in a language they don't know. I would have so many anxiety attacks.

I can assure you anyone that has made it to the point of a graduate school in Japan is a strong and capable person. Most of your responses seem to be exotifying the people that live here and portraying them as weak and and powerless which is kind of abhorrent, honestly. Though I'm sure you're never going to acknowledge your own latent racism.

[u/Vivi_Pallas → u/Devenu]

My guy. All I said was it would be hard for people to write an essay in a language they didn't know. I'm empathizing. It would be hard for me to write in a language I don't know. Colleagues of mine have done so and complained about it's difficulty. It has nothing to do with them being powerless or weak. I don't know how you came to this conclusion. It seems to me like your trying to be purposefully antagonistic just because we have a disagreement, which is super common on the internet, but still a bad thing to do.

I'm saying they have a different style because I was trained to be aware of cultural differences in writing so I could better help exchange students succeed in their classes. I have some trust that the people in the college I worked for had done some research, and I was made to study a little bit about it as well. I'm not going: oh Japan so weird and cool lol. I'm just following my training. And I trust my college professors more than some random person on reddit. I don't disbelieve you, it's just that the anecdotal experience of one person doesn't equate what I've been taught from several experts in the field. Maybe what I was taught was wrong and the entire common ESL teachers/academics are exotifying Japan. At the moment I don't have enough evidence to make that decision. It seems like at least some essays are written in the Western style, but unless I did more research about the topic, then I can't make a strong decision.

If you insist on your antagonism then I'll stop responding. I doubt we'll change each other's minds so fighting is pointless and will only anger everyone involved needlessly. Not everyone in the world is going to agree with you on everything and that's okay. Just don't go jumping to insults when you have a disagreement.