when different cultures meet...

i was gonna write about what ive done in this past week, but then it somehow transformed into my observations about what happens when different cultures interact with each other... i guess the fact that when i was in primary school, i wanted to be an anthropologist (someone who studies, among other things, differnet cultures) may have something to do with it...

today i went with Ando-san to a lady's house to watch the gospel group shes involved in practise and to help them with pronouncing the english lyrics... they were really good at both english and singing, but of course watching them try to say certain words was bound to be entertaining- like "truths"... hahaha

one thing ive noticed which i find amusing is that ive suddenly become "australia". like everything i do or think or like is representative of every single australian. for example, i eat kiwi fruit with the skin on (which even in australia is pretty weird) and cathy, yuichi and the gospel group presumed that australians all do that. so im trying to be extra careful of if i do or say anything really unconventional (like that) so i dont make people develop inaccurate stereotypes about australia, especially cos i know that people are more likely to develop negative stereotypes rather than positive stereotypes of different cultures...

one thing i learned today from cathy and yuichi is that Star Wars is partly a tribute by George Lucas to a famous Japanese movie director, Akira Kurosawa, who worked from the 1940s to the 1960s. for example, Darth Vaders helmet is based off the samurais helmet and the light sabre is based of a samurai sword (apparently). also apparently in episode 3 (revenge of the sith), yoda often strokes his head which, yuichi tells me, is a famous action from Kurosawa's film, the Seven Samurai.

we had the last lesson at the local primary school where we did english and international understanding yesterday. we made grilled cheese sandwiches (a Western food), using herby margarine so it was delicious, then they also made English-style tea. i sat at one bench-table in the home economics room with a group of girls and they made me laugh so hard, they couldnt stand the taste of the tea (Japanese tea is milder), they kept complaining about how bitter it was, so they filled their tea with sugar. and when i say fill, the girl next to me told me her cup was approximately half sugar. anyway after this, she tasted it and kept shouting "ama sugiru!! ama sugiru!!" (which means "its too sweet!" and she still had half her cup left, so she tried to fish out the sugar with her spoon (i wanted to explain to her that it was dissolved but didnt have the vocab). hahaha

one thing i expected to find when i came to japan was that everyone would be like "aaaargh a foreigner!" but ive been pleasantly surprised to find that this isnt very common. i did catch someone walk past me snatching glimpses at me from the corner of their eyes, then turn around when they walked past me to find them staring back at me- boy did that give them a fright! but yeah overall everyones been pretty good...
the kids at the local primary school make me laugh so hard though- when u go indoors anywhere in japan (including school), you take off your shoes and wear slippers. when cathy and me arrived yesterday, a crowd of year 1-2s surrounded us, offering to take our shoes and asking us questions like what nationality we were etc. then we had the opposite reaction, when we were leaving, cathy said "konnichiwa" to a cute little yr 1 girl and she returned a look of pure terror, before sprinting back behind her. unfortunately for her, she ran into her friend, so she then starting clutching her friends elbow and there were now two 6 year olds looking terrified out of their brains to see me and cathy. we took the hint.

when the gospel ladies heard i was coming over, they panicked cos they presumed i would hate japanese food, so bought bread instead specially for me. i was a bit relieved when ando-san told them that i didnt like japanese bread- i hastily added that i loved Japanese food which i think pleased them. thats another thing ive noticed being here- a lot of people expect you to act like the stereotype of a Westerner overseas- not wanting to try different food, not bothering to learn different languages and expecting everyone to know English... i find that attitude a bit disappointing more than anything i think, because i think its disappointing that you do hear stories about many Western tourists overseas acting like that and then giving the rest of us a bad name, but also disappointing because its frustrating to have someone judge you before youve even said anything cos youre appearance... prejudice in all its forms sucks.

im really enjoying japan though. like it is insanely good.

one of the cultural differences that many Westerners observe when they go to Japan (myself included- this was one of my biggest challenges last time I came) is that Japanese people don't say what they really think, and the result is that it can come across as a bit fake... i know for myself, people thinking one thing and saying another is something i get frustrated by in Australia- so im trying to use this experience as a lesson for me to become more patient...
for example, if you say to a Japanese person "konnichiwa" in the strongest Australian accent you can possibly manage, they are probably likely to still tell you that you are amazingly talented with Japanese... One lesson ive learned so far is to treat this kind of thing as, rather than a compliment, a cultural ritual. Also this way, I feel more comfortable with denying it, cos otherwise I find it really deflating to my self-confidence to be constantly rubbishing myself. But if you view it as a ritual, you dont think much of it, either in a good or bad way, then dont dwell on it afterwards... well its worked for me anyway :)

im hoping all im learning culturally will help me when i get home to Australia too. in a multicultural country like australia, youre always gonna have something to do with people from other cultures, and the things imlearning about japanese culture can often be applied to other cultures that are perhaps more formal than mainstream Australian culture. of course, there will probably still be things that i find frustrating, especially those that are avoidable which isolate and exclude people, but hopefully i'll become more accepting generally thanks to this experience!

talking to cathy and yuichi though, im also becoming so much more aware and stuff about how we should really try to help people in developing countries, and those who are generally in whatever sense, less well-off than us. cathy was saying that feeling sympathy for these people is really important, but its really important as a step, whats even better is to go from there to actually helping those in other countries (eg knitting jumpers for children in Mongolia through Guardian pharmacies, donating money, becoming a member of the ONE campaign which writes petitions to various politicians etc and was started by Bono (www.one.org), joining charities' Facebook groups...)
anyway its really opened my eyes even more and this experience is so far making me want to consider living somewhere overseas at some stage during the rest of my life

yes, there are challenges involved with being overseas, and also moving to other areas in Australia, but taking that first step out of your comfort zone is so insanely worth it.
as we learned so much in yr 11 & 12 English, taking a step out of your comfort zone (in whatever way), or even experiencing adversity is essential if you want to really grow as a human being.

“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”

- Bahá'u'lláh

i thought i understood this quote before i came here, but the longer im here, the more and more i find myself understanding it... culture is something you learn as you get older, but each one of us has so many inherent similarities that transcend any political borders that man has created.


food for thought?

xx