This blog had its 2nd birthday last month.  I started this blog because I missed San Francisco but I couldn’t find a way to return there.  Now, after 2 years, I have a ticket to Toronto, Canada, where I plan to stay for a few years.  I will leave Japan next month.

I was thinking of multiculturalism throughout the first year of this blog.  My interest in multiculturalism made me look closer at different cultures and I feel that cultures are not equal.

http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/ayaanhirsiali/2007/01/ladies_first.html
“Human beings are equal; cultures are not.”

http://earideas.com/earideas/explore/show/75643/Ayaan+Hirsi+Ali+on+Muslim+women
“Culture, not poverty, is to blame for violence” (The Economist)

This is simply because one culture respects almost all of its members while another culture discriminates against disadvantaged members.  When I finished my overview of multiculturalism, I became interested in French culture which I had never been fascinated by before.  Then, I started learning French and French culture.  Now the more I learn about France, the more I like it.

I often hear that Americans and French people do not like each other’s culture but I like both the best simply because I believe in freedom and equality.  Japanese culture does not admire freedom and many Japanese prefer support to freedom but I prefer freedom to support.  On the other hand, I share many things with other Japanese.  Therefore, I think that individual differences are important to consider as well as generalizations

Multiculturalism made me think about immigrants too.  I have encountered both people in ethnic minorities who criticize western people and Europeans who look down on immigrants.  I disagree with both of them.  I think that because world trade systems and wars caused by developed countries prevent some countries from developing, developed countries have some responsibility for the poverty.  But can all responsibility for the poverty and lack of developments in poor countries be placed on developed countries?

And why do some ethnic minorities in western countries insist on their human rights when they do not believe in human rights?  Why do some less developed countries not attempt to learn good aspects of other countries, not only technologies but also other things, to better themselves?

I still have many questions about cultures.  I am hoping to find the answers in Toronto and that I won’t miss San Francisco so much.

It sounds like “I do not believe in human rights but I have human rights.”  I do not understand that why some people in ethnic minorities in western countries blame western people for racism.  Many non-western people treat their disadvantaged people (women, disabled people, poor people) without respect back in their home country.  If they support this social culture, why do they complain when others do not respect their human rights?  Because they are elite back in their home country, do they think that they should be treated with respect?  I think they should do something to make their home country developed if they want to be treated with more respect in western countries.

I have heard that a country in the Middle East limits importing western medicine.  This reminded me of Japan in the past.  In the 17th – 19th century, the Japanese government knew how advanced western medicine was through foreign trade but it kept the information secret from the people because if the people knew that medicine was much more developed in the west, they would stop worshiping the Japanese government.  Today Japan imports western medicine without any limits and Japanese medical treatment is even better than some western countries as far as I know.

Many Chinese people say that the Japanese imported Chinese characters and have used them.  But in modern times Japan coined new words to be translated modern concepts imported from the West using borrowed Chinese characters.  Many of these words were imported back by the Chinese and they are used as if they are native Chinese vocabulary.  (e.g. culture, civilization, science, society, law economy, class, people, philosophy, sense, time, space, subjective, objective, art, thought)  The Chinese government says that they have their way of developing but in fact they have already used western culture to modernize China through made-in-Japan vocabulary.

I think that it is natural that better aspects of higher civilizations are transmitted to less developed civilizations.  And higher civilizations tend to develop in a good natural environment like Europe.  Therefore, non-western countries need not feel shameful but can learn good things from the current higher civilizations and adopt them to their society and culture in suitable ways.  I think that “different and better” is always better than “just different” or “different and worse.”

My Vietnamese Australian teacher said, “The Green Card Lottery is good and it keeps giving hope to people in poor countries.”  I disagree with his opinion.  Actually I have applied to the Green Card Lottery twice and I wished that I would win it, but now I think that the U.S. should choose immigrants like Canada and Australia.

The teacher said “My wife is an American.  How can I dislike the U.S.?” in another lesson.  I am sure that he is not anti-American.  However, I believe that he should be more concerned with America’s future if he is married to an American and his children are half-American.  I believe he should think about what will happen if the U.S becomes full of unskilled, lower-educated or non-English speaking immigrants through the Green Card Lottery.  Why is he only thinking about people in other poor countries?

I do not believe that all unskilled, lower-educated or non-English speaking immigrants ruin developed societies, but it is difficult for them to find a good job or to enjoy their lives and such people tend to be involved in bad things or blame the majority for their own unhappiness.

A white Canadian said that the U.S. needs unskilled workers too.  I disagree with her opinion.  I imagine that if Japan accepts many immigrants and they would do jobs Japanese people do not want to do or blue collar work, immigrants will give a poor image and it would cause racial discrimination.

The Vietnamese Australian teacher immigrated to Australia when he was three years old.  So, his home country is Vietnam and he belongs to the majority there, and he can imagine what would happen if Vietnam starts a Green Card Lottery.  But I feel as if he considers himself nothing but a minority in a western country.  I belong to a minority in the U.S., but I belong to a majority in Japan.  I have points of view from both standpoints.  As a minority, I am happy with the American Green Card Lottery, but as a majority, I disagree with it.  I do not want the Japanese government to start a Japanese Green Card Lottery.  I want the Japanese government to select immigrants like Canada and Australia, not like the U.S.

However, I disagree with the Australian immigration policy too.  I think that Australia should be more tolerant of immigration.  I traveled in Australia and I saw vast beautiful lands near the coast that have a tiny population even though the climate there is good.

The Vietnamese Australian teacher once asked me what I think of Japanese immigration policy.  I answered that it is better for people to immigrate to Australia than to Japan because Australia is a land of immigrants and the population density there is much lower than in Japan.  He replied, “No, in Australia refugees are secluded in certain buildings, so it is better for them to go to Europe.”  It is an unbelievable answer.  Australia is a land of immigrants as is Canada and the U.S., unlike Japan or most European countries which are more homogenous.  Why can’t Australia be more open to immigrants, especially black people from Africa?

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090324zg.html

>> For example, consider the Hiroshi Nozaki Case. In 2000, Nozaki was caught flushing a Filipino woman’s body parts down a public toilet. However, he was not charged with murder — only with “abandoning a corpse” (shitai iki). That got him all of 3 1/2 years in jail. By 2008 he was stowing another dismembered Filipina corpse, that of Honiefaith Ratila Kamiosawa, in a train station locker.

>> We’ve had plenty of cases where Japanese men kill and mutilate Japanese women (e.g. Yoshio Kodaira, Kiyoshi Okubo), and they tend to get the hangman’s noose. Not Nozaki.

** Regardless of whether the victim is Japanese or a foreigner, Japanese law does not punish anyone for murder unless evidence of a murder being commited has been found.  Killing someone is a murder while poorly treating a dead body is another crime under Japanese law.  I think that in this case no one told the truth to the police because they are scared of the Japanese mafia taking revenge.  So, there is no evidence of the murder of the Filipina.

>> Hyperbole? Consider other crimes against non-Japanese women, like those of convicted serial rapist Joji Obara. His connection with the Lucie Blackman murder has been well-reported, particularly the botched police investigation despite ample material evidence — even videotapes of his rapes. Regardless, in 2007 Obara was acquitted of Blackman’s murder due to “lack of evidence.”

>> Obara did get life imprisonment (not death), since he was only charged with “rape leading to death” of nine other women (one of them foreign). But only after strenuous appeals from Blackman’s family was the acquittal overturned in 2008. Obara became guilty of “dismembering and abandoning” her corpse. Again, guilty of crimes to their dead bodies, not of making them dead.

** Joji Obara is Korean, he became a naturalized Japanese citizen in the middle of his life — just like the author of this article, Debito Arudou did.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucie_Blackman

>> Last week I called Chiba police to inquire about Ichihashi’s charges. An investigator entrusted with the case wouldn’t comment on specifics. Asked about the process of determining murder or abandonment, he said if the suspect admits “homicidal intent” (satsu-i), it’s murder. However, it’s unclear how at least one of the crimes shown on the poster is significantly different from Ichihashi’s, or how some suspects indicated their homicidal intent before escaping. Police did not respond to requests for further clarification.

** Some suspects prepared for a murder by buying a knife or making a plan.  And some suspects could be shown to have had a history with the victim involving trouble with money, love, business etc.  This shows that a criminal had homicidal intent.
I feel that this author is somewhat biased.

I had been taught that French people were snobbish over 10 years ago because I had heard such a reputation many times from a wide variety of people and media.

One day I met an Indian-American from New York, who had graduated from a world-famous university and currently works as an economist. He told me that French people were really nice and warm to him when he visited France while German people were very cold to him when he visited Germany. He seemed to be bewildered by the Germans yet without any anger towards German people.

When I heard this, I was astonished because German people were always seemingly friendly, well-mannered and helpful to me when I traveled for 2 weeks in Germany.  I have traveled to many countries and got an impression that German people are one of the nicest people in the world.  But I noticed through the Indian-American’s words that because I am Japanese, German people were so nice to me.  However, over the next 3 years I had kept my image that French people are snobbish.

I had not at all been interested in French culture or language all my life until last winter despite realizing in my world history high school class that French history is significant because modern times, in large part, could not have started without the French revolution. But I finally came to be interested in French culture when I noticed that the society is more tolerant toward change and French people like to think and live with ideals of freedom and individuality.

Now, I have studied French for about a half year and I have been very happy with what I have learned.

There was a time when I thought that all cultures were like artworks — equally beautiful. It was when I really enjoyed the melting pot that is the U.S.  However, I have now come to believe that while human beings are equal, it is cultures that are not, after I learned many things about multiculturalism, which is more likely seen in Canada and Europe.

Is a culture, which discriminates against its disadvantaged people — such as women, disabled people and poor people — and only their family has to bear all the burdens to take care such family members equal to a culture, which has developed a welfare system to support disadvantaged people and its society treats them with respect?

If you are from the U.S. or Canada, you may think that all cultures are equal because you see that people can be sophisticated and intelligent no matter where they are from. But I do not think that ethnic minorities in North America represent the reality of the country or the region which they are originally from.

Many people in ethnic minorities I have met were either from a good or wealthy family or smart enough to go to a university or to get a job in North America. If you were to ask them what they think of their culture, they would say that they are proud of own culture and they are happy with it. However, you should remember that in general, privileged class people are conservative because they take advantage of their society, and those very people are not interested in what is happening to disadvantaged people in their culture or society.

In Japan, every day I listen to news about the West, the East and the rest of the world, which makes me think sometimes of how different the laws and social customs in each country are. At times, they seem barbaric. However, in the U.S. I have seen many intelligent and sincere people from various racial and cultural backgrounds.  That said, I believe that all human beings have the same quality.

However, it is regrettable that many ethnic minorities have an anti-western view.  Historically, Japan has never been colonized and Japan has learned a lot from the west in terms of becoming a modern country. Therefore, many Japanese people respect western culture more than the rest.  Further, Japanese people do not encounter any racism in Japan because Japanese people are the extreme majority in Japan.  Thus, I do not have an anti-western view and I can see cultures without thinking of racism.  But, then I think that cultures are not equal.

Today is the first birthday of my Blog. A year ago I was deeply sad due to the fact that I have not been able to return to San Francisco. After a while, I realized that my sadness would not help me return to San Francisco and the idea of writing a Blog on San Francisco came up to mind. Over the past year I have been thinking about multiculturalism. This was mainly due to the diversity I experienced in San Francisco. As a result I became interested in multiculturalism as soon as I heard the word.

At first I only considered the positive aspects of Multiculturalism. Now I have begun looking at its negative aspects. I would definitely prefer a colorful life much more than a life amongst only Japanese, only British or only French.

I would be happy within this colorful environment as long as nobody suggests that I share anti-western views or forces a certain conservative culture upon me.  I think the reason I was happy in San Francisco is that the city has a diverse population but most of them seem to favor a western life style and American freedoms even though they are able to retain their cultural uniqueness.

On the other hand, I suppose that American integration of peoples could go wrong.  The U.S. has diversity amongst its people. However, many of them do not know that in other advanced countries there is a national insurance and inexpensive or free education as well as secular political system. American people are often disinterested in traveling outside the U.S. because many of them believe that the entire world is to be found in the U.S.  My concern is whether these people from all over the world bring good knowledge and information along with them.

After all my thought about multiculturalism, I have decided to learn French.  French is spoken in France where freedom and equality originated.  It is also one of official languages in Canada where I am thinking of moving to if it is possible.

When I watched a French movie, Les Miserables, which is set in 18th century in France, I saw something similar to current Japanese society in the film – a woman is considered as a degenerate because she has a daughter outside of marriage.  She said something like “why should I be blamed because I slept with a man I loved and had a child while many other women sleep with their husband without love?”

On the other hand, when I was listening to what a Canadian Pakistani girl said about the relationships of women and men in Pakistani culture and in Muslim culture, I found there were some similarities in the Japanese society in the past. For example, if a Pakistani woman marries without her family’s agreement, she will not be supported when the marriage does not go well.  Individual choices based on love are limited.

Thinking of these things, I feel that many of ethnic cultures go the same way but on a different stage. Sure, all ethnic cultures have something good or better than other ethnic cultures. e.g. Chinese cuisine, Indian yoga, etc.  However, the way they treat their own people in most non-western countries is worse than in western cultures.  I think that how they treat their own people is related to their level of civilized development.  I think that ethnic culture means their lifestyle, food, dress, language, architectures, history and so on. However, the way in which they treat their own people is not something I can define as a culture. It is not a feature which makes a culture different and special from the others.  I think that it is what demonstrates the extent to which a culture has developed.

I met an educated Chinese Canadian male who said that the Caste system in India is a part of its religion and culture. One of his friends who is Chinese told him that she suffered discrimination in Sweden. He said that because Swedish people are racist, people do not immigrate to Sweden even though the country had a good welfare system. I think that his opinion is self-righteous. He supports discrimination in the Caste system with the excuse of religion and culture while he insists on his right to be treated as equally as a Swedish person in Sweden. I think that this is one of the reasons why he is discriminated against.  I think that in some cases, internal discrimination (discrimination inside an ethnic group) can result in external discrimination (racism).

Some people from ethnic minorities in the West complain that white people discriminate against minorities and that it is racism.

Why don’t they see that how western countries in Europe treat their own people well?  For example, Germans killed many Jews while Koreans have never invaded any other country.  However, Germany treats their own people well –- women are free, disabled people enjoy their lives just like everyone else, poor people get an education (all education is free in Europe) while Korea treats their own people poorly –- strong sexism, poor public support for disabled people and hierarchical human relationships.

Because Japanese live in a country where 96% of the population is native Japanese, we are more interested in how a social system treats its own people than how the other ethnicities treat Japanese in order to improve Japanese society.  And we often find that some western countries treat their own people better than the rest of world and have a lot of things to learn.  This is why I, probably many other Japanese too, do not agree with the anger from ethnic minorities in the West.

Immigrants built the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and countries in South America.  Both the majority and the minority are immigrants in these countries.  Most people are immigrants there.  I think that is why people in these countries are tolerant of different people and why they criticize discrimination toward foreigners in Japan and strict Japanese immigration policy.

Native people are very few in those countries because immigrants killed many of their ancestors.  However, 96% of the Japanese population is native to Japan like Native Americans in the U.S. and Aborigines in Australia.  The ancestors of modern Japanese people came to Japan in ancient times.  I think that is why many Japanese think that Japan is a land for Japanese people and are not so critical of strict Japanese immigration polices.

I know that all countries should accept political refugees and I agree with the idea.  I think that it is the responsibility of advanced countries.  Also I know that all counties should not have to accept economic refugees.  As I saw immigrants in the U.S., I understood that.  Some of the immigrants who came to the U.S. for wealth and opportunity do not respect its cultural values – human rights, democracy and gender equality.

After I came back to Japan from Vancouver, Canada, I started thinking of this question. “What is freedom?” Vancouver is about 2 hours from Seattle by bus. Its downtown and suburban facades are almost the same as the U.S. The area has the same kind of grocery shops and the same style of shopping malls as in the U.S. But the people are different. They do not say dirty words and do not throw garbage on the street. The majority of people seem to be middle class. There are not a large number of poor people like in the U.S.

One day I was eating at a small Chinese fast-food shop in Vancouver and a nice-looking tall guy came to eat. He left his two small dogs tied to something outside the shop and gave a cheerful greeting to the shop owner when he left. The shop was very clean and well-mannered people with different backgrounds came to eat or get take-out food. A memory from a Chinese fast-food shop in the U.S. flashed back in my mind — I was surrounded by many poor people and a lot of garbage on the floor. I sometimes went to a Chinese fast-food shop merely because I like Asian food but many other people seemed to come there because it was cheap.

I used to believe that Europe had culture while the U.S. had freedom when I was a student. I found out that I was right after I traveled to many countries in Europe and stayed in the U.S for a year. However, a week later after I came back from Canada, I started asking myself, “What is freedom? Can one only get freedom by being surrounded by dirty words, garbage and a large number of poor people?”

A few weeks later after I came back from Canada, I found an old French coin, which came to my hand when I visited Paris long ago. It has the words “LIBERTE, EGALITE, FRATERNITE” (Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood) on it. When I saw those words at that time, they did not impress me so much because I thought that many people in the world cerebrate freedom and equality. But after my exploration in other cultures, I found that many — mostly people in Middle East, Asia and Africa — do not, even some westerners prefer rules or tradition rather than freedom.

My image of French had been that they are conservative and proud of French tradition rather than cerebrating freedom.  However, I have recently come to feel that France has a tradition of freedom and breaking tradition is also a French custom as I see in its history of the French revolution and the profiles of President Sarkozy and his rival in the presidential election, Segolene Royal.

I understand that some people dislike freedom because they think that freedom leads a society into chaos. But I believe that when all people are educated and the society becomes mature, freedom would have no problem. I guess that in developing countries people of higher class prefer governing people by strict rules instead of educating them to maintain their own power and privilege. Thus people do not know about freedom and come to believe that freedom is bad.

I am still pro-American but I do not believe in American capitalism. Many people in the U.S. often talk about money. If a society does not have a culture, should it exercise its freedom to talk about money? If a society preserves tradition and has a culture, does it mean that people should not enjoy freedom?

When I said “the American army did not commit genocide after the U.S. occupied Japan, and instead turned Japan into a democratic country, so Japanese people do not hate the U.S.,” my French-Canadian teacher responded, “Because Douglas MacArthur was a good person and if he were a bad person, things would be different.”

I then remembered what my Taiwanese friend said to me, “Japan colonized Taiwan but the Japanese military in Taiwan treated Taiwanese people nicely, so many Taiwanese people like Japan. On the other hand Chinese people from main land China killed many Taiwanese people.” Actually not only my Taiwanese friend but also many other Taiwanese people I met in the U.S. said to me “I like Japan.” Many foreigners have said, “I like Japan” when they meet me but I feel that Taiwanese people like Japan more than any other foreigners because it seems that they say so from the bottom of their hearts. However, the first time I heard this, I was a little surprised because I knew that Japan colonized Taiwan.

This is in contrast to Korean people who hate Japan because Japan colonized Korea. One of reasons is that the Japanese army in Korea treated Korean people badly. The Japanese government at that time treated its own people poorly as well.

I have heard that because the U.S. was successful in exporting democracy to Japan, they think that they could do the same in Iraq. But I am wondering if things are so simple. First, Japan and Hong Kong are happy with western democracy and freedom while India, Egypt and the Middle East are not happy with western values because they are religious. Japanese people believed in Buddhism, Shinto and Confucianism but all these are more like a philosophy rather than a religion, and Chinese people believe not in a religion but their Chinese values such as Chinocentrism, family ties and Confucianism. I feel that people who are not religious can be more open-minded to new ideas and different cultures. The second reason is that U.S. society has changed much since 1945 and I believe that the U.S. in 1945 was better in many ways. Now I am wondering if current American society can bring something good to Iraq like it did to Japan.

About 15 years ago when I watched “My fair Lady,” I thought that the U.K. was an awful country where people from different classes speak different kinds of English even if they live in the same city. Japanese people living in the same city speak the same Japanese no matter how poor they are.

About a month ago I got very angry when I read an email from my European friend because he looked down on U.S. people while he paid respect to his friend in Australia. (I thought that his friend is Australian but he is not.)

I have met some Australians who look down on U.S. people. I know that many Australians secretly discriminate against black people in their minds even now. I suppose that this comes from the Australia White Policy, which ended not so long ago. How can they look down on U.S. people without feeling shame for their own past and current discrimination?

I wrote this to my European friend and he responded, “Japanese people look down on Chinese and Korean people too. Everyone looks down on someone.” Yes, even now Japanese people tend to look down on Koreans and Chinese because Japan won the war against China and colonized Korea. After all, those who criticize discrimination in another country also look down on some other people.

Now my feelings toward the British class system has changed a little. The U.K. is an island country, which did not have a lot of chances to have many foreigners in the past, and they found another way to discriminate– discriminate against their own people based on class, I think. Japan also had a social class system from the 17th to the 19th century and hardly any foreigners lived in Japan at the time. For a long time I have disliked the U.K. because of its class system but now I realize it is very similar to the old Japanese social system and I no longer have such negative feelings towards the U.K.

However, my feeling regarding Australians, who discriminate against black people and look down on Americans, has not changed. It seems that some Australians dream to go to England and live and work there and are not proud of being Australian. Is this why Australians look down on other people? Because people who cannot be proud of themselves do so to feel superior? Actually I traveled in Australia twice and all the Australians I met there were well-mannered and trustworthy, but this is not enough to get rid of my negative image of Australians. The only Australian I like is Steve, Crocodile hunter.

After having talked to both a French Canadian as well as a Muslim Canadian, I found that my own attitudes towards society were somewhere in the middle, between the two of them. I have an understanding of both Western liberal society and Muslim conservative society because I can see some similarities not only between the lives of Muslim people and the lives of elderly Japanese people in their 90’s, but also some similarities between the lives of westerners and the young Japanese generation in their 20’s. I believe that this big generation gap is caused in a large part by the U.S. occupation just after WWII. I think that the U.S. changed Japanese society in a big way.

I have seen that some Europeans and Australians come to Japan and criticize the U.S. presence in Japan. If you are one of those people please question if you would be able to enjoy the same kind of life in Japan if the U.S. had not brought democracy to Japan after WWII. I know about European history and society from traveling, studying history, movies, magazines and TV, and I respect many aspects of European culture. I understand why many Europeans look down on the U.S. If you are European or Australian my advice to you is to learn how the U.S. changed Japanese people’s lives.

Actually, Japan had already been westernized before the U.S. occupation after WWII. Unlike many other non-western countries, in the 19th Century, the Japanese government sent missions to the U.S. and to Europe in order to carry out research in those societies. After this, the government created a constitution, a cabinet and political parties that all referred to western systems. This is not because western countries forced Japan to do so but because the Japanese people recognised values that were important to them. In addition, some Japanese people introduced the idea of human rights and equality before WWII. I think that this open-minded Japanese attitude is one of reasons why Japan was able to become be a developed country earlier than other non-western countries.

I think that democracy and human rights are not a western tradition but a universal idea which had developed earlier in the West than in other regions because western countries also took a long time to develop their systems of modern democracy and human rights.

I have been to many regions in the world such as East Asia, South East Asia, Europe, Russia, Turkey, North America and Australia. I felt that the natural environment in Europe was the most comfortable excluding the New World (North America and Australia). The summer is cooler, there is not much rain, no earthquakes, vast flat lands, no deserts or rainforests. For me, this is the main reason why democracy and the concept of human rights developed earlier in the West than in other regions.

So, if you are a non-westerner, why don’t you import western democracy and human rights in order to make your people happy and so that finally your country will develop more; like Japan?

I have longed for Cosmopolitanism, which was created by Aleksandros III in ancient times, since I learned it at high school. I have often thought that Multiculturalism is similar to Aleksandros’ Cosmopolitanism. However, as learn more about Multiculturalism, I have come to feel that a “colorful mix” is not always beautiful or lends itself to a world of worldly citizens, especially when I listen to what black or Muslim people in western countries say.

The strangest thing to me is that even some citizens of Canada, where it is said that multiculturalism is most successful, judge other societies by Canadian standards. For example, one Canadian said, “French people are racists.” Another said, “There is too much discrimination against foreigners in Japan.”

In California I used to argue about Asian modern history with my Taiwanese friend, and this argument was endless because the individual schooling on Asian modern history we were given was so different. From this experience, I soon realized that education is not universal and one may not be so accepting of new ideas, regardless of whether your education was liberal or conservative.

I, who grew up in Japan and has traveled in Europe and stayed in the U.S. for a while, understand both intolerant old societies like Japan and Europe and multicultural new societies like the U.S. and Canada. I can change my way of thinking according to where I am if it is needed. By this you may think that I do not have my own belief system or perhaps that I lack sincerity. But both multicultural societies and intolerant old societies have a reason why they became as such, and I cannot change this reality. In the same way I feel that it is not fair to blame Japan and Europe because of how they are now. All I can happily say is that I like multicultural societies much more than mono-cultural and homogeneous ones.

Many Japanese girls like to own brand handbags such as Louis Vuitton, GUCCI, PRADA, etc. You do not see this phenomenon in Europe, the U.S. and China. For example, in Paris French women have their own style of dressing up without a need for brand goods. Why are Japanese girls like that? Some foreigners who live in Japan say that it is because Japanese girls lack self confidence. I disagree with them because I am sure that Japanese girls who love brand bags have more confidence than I do. I guess that they do not have strong identities as to who they really are.

Japanese society itself does not have a strong identity either. While there are many things I do not like about Japan, I like this aspect of Japanese society. I feel because Japanese people do not possess a strong ethnic identity, it has been enabled them to be more open-minded toward foreign cultures and to adapt them positively rather than persisting to cling to only Japanese heritage. This can be seen in institutions like a democratic political system, an advanced school system, printing technology, etc. As a result, we could become a developed country earlier than other neighboring Asian countries and avoided colonization by western countries.

I have heard that French people are very interested in Chinese culture these days and consider Japanese culture boring because Japanese culture is often considered a “copied culture” as it does not retain much of its originality. However, don’t you think that keeping too much tradition tends to victimize people’s happiness? For example, in China or Korea, some women are blamed if they do not conceive a male baby because a male will take over the family lineage. However, in westernized Japanese society women do not have to worry about this and both male and female babies are celebrated. An exception to this would be the importance for the Japanese Imperial family to have a male heir. So which culture do you want to live in, Chinese heritage-oriented culture or Japanese copied culture?

The most beautiful city I have been to. (Prague, Czech)

Isn’t it mysterious that France can be traditional and liberal at the same time? (Paris, France)

Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is here. (Oswiecim, Poland)

Where did all these tourists come from just to see a ten minute show of the Buckingham Palace guards? (London, The U.K.)

A happy giraffe family who loves their beautiful home – no fences in the Berlin zoo! (Berlin, Germany)

An overpass between two buildings, which was destroyed by Allied firebombing during the Second World War, and which remains as a ruin. (Dresden, Germany)

The River Danube, which runs through many countries in Europe. (Budapest, Hungary)

Stars, old symbols of Communism, were removed from the building. (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Another triumphal arch. No, it’s not Paris but Romania! (Bucharest, Romania)

The most beautiful metro station in the world. (Moscow, Russia)

Russian people were selling their goods to make a living. It is strange that they have so much culture but so little to eat. (Moscow, Russia)

Only Muslim country I have been to so far. (Istanbul, Turkey)

Chinese people live in an old building, which was built and housed by Europeans during the colonial period. Perhaps no one may live like this there today as I have heard Shanghai has now become like New York City. I am not surprised because Shanghai was the most cosmopolitan city in the world before the Second World War. (Shanghai, China)

Rabbits and a young chicken in a small cage in front of a restaurant were waiting to be cooked. I remember that the young chicken could not lift up her head when I placed my finger into the cage and touched the head. Was this because the chicken was hungry or had no hope? (Hangzhou, China)

These cherry blossoms were given to the U.S. by the Japanese Government. (Washington, D.C., The U.S.)

Centuries ago, culture was something sophisticated that was primarily enjoyed and supported by the aristocracy. When I could not find any signs of a sophisticated culture in Los Angeles, I used to think there wasn’t any culture there. One day after having spent a few months there, however, I noticed that there was culture there and it was enjoyed by the masses — pop-culture.

I then realized that pop-culture can be an important aspect of society. The way I see it, pop-culture could be one of the factors that made Japanese society modernize earlier than in China.

There is a book on an advanced republic nation and the democratic politics, which was written to put Chinese revolutionist, Sun Yat-sen’s speeches together at the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the general population in China couldn’t read Chinese characters during this time, so his idea lacked support from the people. There was little chance for the Chinese to study, as they were engaged in fighting against Japan, but at the time many Japanese were literate. 60%* of men could read by the end of the 19th century. Apparently it was very difficult for the general population of China to study prior to WWII. I suppose culture was reserved for rulers and other elites at the time because traditional Chinese characters are so complicated that ordinary people need a great amount of time to memorize them. I could not help thinking that this prevented ordinary people from engaging in cultural activity.

On the other hand, before modern times in Japan, even commoners living in the larger cities enjoyed cultural activities like theater and the arts.

*Reference:

http://www.country-studies.com/japan/the-economy—patterns-of-development.html

http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/japan/education_literacy.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Japan

I encountered a British man who was 29 years old and had lived in Japan for more than 5 years. He firmly believed that London is the most multicultural city in the world. When I heard that, I insisted that New York City is the most multicultural city in the world because I could not believe that the U.K. which is a land of British people, not a land of immigrants like the U.S., could welcome different cultures. You can see many different people in London, but it is because the U.K. had a responsibility to accept people from its former colonies and not because the U.K. welcomed cultural diversity, I think. Furthermore I did not feel that people were mixed in London when I stayed there in 1990. However, I have heard that today you can see not only people from former British colonies but also people from other countries. Now I am not sure which city is more multicultural.

A few days later I wrote to him, “Japan is a comfortable place to live but it is difficult to be yourself.”

To which he replied, “Difficult to be yourself? Go to Harajuku (one of the trendiest places in Tokyo where many young people who enjoy counterculture congregate) and see people being themselves. It isn’t difficult. You just have to make sacrifices… just like you do anywhere. If you want to be yourself in the U.K. then you have to live with the consequences… that might mean living on the fringes of society. You can do that in Japan if you don’t want to be a salary-man. You can be something else but you can’t live in the same society the normal salary-man does. That is the compromise you must pay.”

In San Francisco I saw an office worker wearing a red shirt, with a beard and no tie and many office workers sitting on stairs or around a bush near the entrance of a big and modern office building and eating lunch in the Financial District, where many banks are located. You can be yourself without living outside society in San Francisco.

I replied, “I am not expecting the kind of freedom that can be observed in Harajuku. The kind of freedom I want is tiny, such as expressing different opinions from others as well as acting differently. Japanese people think that they have to share the same opinion, and they tend to think that you are not someone who can be a friend if you disagree. If you act differently from others, Japanese people tend to think that you are strange. Imagine that you always agree with others whether or not in your heart you really do, and always act as others do whether or not in your heart you really want to.”

Gender discrimination in Japan became severe when the Edo government regarded Confucianism as an important study during the Edo period (1603 – 1868). This serous gender discrimination continued until WWII and finished when the U.S. established democratic rule in Japan.

However, social position of females in Japan had not always been miserable, traditionally speaking.

During the Muromachi period (1338 – 1573), many Japanese women in big cities started and operated their own business. Also, it is thought that many women had higher social positions and learned more than their husbands.

Prior to that time, during the Kamakura period (1192 – 1333), Japanese women rode horses and took over family land as well as the land of her brothers.

During the Heian period (794 – 1192), we had female authors, whose novels and essays are still a part of Japanese classic literature. So much that all Japanese students read it in Junior and Senior high school.

During the Nara period (710 – 784), we had 8 Empresses, which was 50% of the total number of Emperors and Empresses during this period; and that is including the first empress in East Asia.

Sometimes between the years 200 to 300, Japan was known as Yamataikoku which was led by a female queen. It is thought that Yamataikoku is the oldest country built in Japan.

An African-Canadian man living and working in Japan seemed to believe that Japan has less discrimination against black people because Japan has many fans of black culture and many young Japanese girls are interested in having a black boyfriend. Do you think that this means that Japanese people do not discriminate against black people?

I have seen half African-American and Japanese babies or little children but have never seen a half African-American and Japanese student or adult. Generally speaking, parents decide to raise their child in another one of the parent’s countries such as the U.S. and Africa because they research and know that discrimination against black people in Japan is more than in the U.S. and Africa.

If you are African, you won’t hear this truth from Japanese people because we speak what people want to hear or political correctness.

I found in the United States that many Christians talked to me. I didn’t know why at the time, but thinking about it now, I suppose it may have been because I wore a cross pendant.

Before my trip, my friend had sent me the pendant, and a couple of days before leaving Japan I made the decision to wear it in the United States. The country was known to have a high crime rate, and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to wear the cross. I reasoned that it might help me to survive somehow, perhaps by discouraging a criminal from victimizing me. Furthermore, I couldn’t communicate well in English, and I hoped the cross might indicate that I was a good person. It was only a thought, and I have no idea whether it ever actually helped me, but I did manage to survive.

The fact that many Christians talked to me and helped me opened to me an opportunity I hadn’t expected. I was able to learn a little about Christianity. The chances of doing so in Japan are nearly zero because the population of Japanese Christians is less than one percent, and many Japanese don’t follow any religion at all. If someone is too outward about their religious beliefs, we think they have a psychological problem or that they’re dangerous. Particularly after WWII, people became apprehensive toward religion as many died during the war under the politics, which took advantage of the Shinto religion. Shinto is the native religion in Japan and has many myths such as the Gods created the Japanese islands and the Japanese Emperor is a descendent of the God of Shinto.

As a matter of course, most Japanese people are members of the Buddhist religion because in the 17^th century, a ruler forced his people to decide which denomination of Buddhism they belonged to because he feared Christianity would influence his people. He didn’t want this to happen, since Christianity teaches that God is the only lord to obey and that God is superior to the ruler. Due to this, I couldn’t stop from thinking that Christianity is one of the factors that led Western countries to democracy. This feeling grew stronger when I met many Asian Christians whose attitudes were democratic, not authoritarian although they were from less democratic Asia.

Today in Japan, most people have lost interest in the teachings of Buddhism. Its practice has become a custom observed only on occasions such as funerals and family Buddhist altars in traditional families’ houses. The Japanese believe a dead person becomes Buddha, so we put a mortuary tablet in the home, with the posthumous Buddhist name, given to the family member after death, engraved on it. This family altar is used to pray for deceased family members, rather than for Buddha himself, or to practice the teachings of Buddha. Buddhism is mixed with Ancestor worship, a practice traditionally found in East Asia.

In California my friend told me about a video he’d watched at school in which a Japanese office worker was interviewed.

“It was funny.” He said. “He was able to answer any question about his job, such as his goals, visions, and his aims; but when he was asked, ‘What is your dream?’ he started thinking, said, ‘Hmm …’ and he couldn’t answer. My friend laughed.

In Japan where everyone lives similar, straightforward lives, maintaining harmony with those around them, it would be careless to say that you have a dream. People might doubt your maturity and consider you to be a little childish. So, it’s quite normal that the office worker didn’t have a dream.

(California in 1998)

“In Japan I used to eat different foods every day… Yesterday Italian, today Japanese, tomorrow Chinese… But in this town it’s always Chinese. Even when people from the adult school talked about having dinner together, it was Chinese. Where is my spaghetti?”

I’d already partially become weary of living in an oriental town. Japan is an Asian country, but I was accustomed to the Westernized Japanese lifestyle, so I had difficulty adapting to oriental life. True, within five minutes walk I could get to a big shopping mall, a city library, Cerritos high school, or the event hall, where I could find many non-Asians. But Cerritos itself was full of Korean and Chinese signboards, and the front yards often had Asian plants and trees trimmed in an Asian fashion.

It looked to me like ethnic minorities rented land in Los Angeles in hopes of a richer life or a better political environment and an improved society. Seemingly, many of the minorities weren’t concerned with finding individual freedom since they retained their cultures, which often gave very little room for such autonomy.

An Indian girl told me she couldn’t date without her parents’ permission.

A Korean woman stayed in the kitchen and couldn’t join our dinner at the dinning table.

A Middle Eastern woman claimed she was not able to defy her husband.

These people immigrated to the United States, but they didn’t welcome the country’s idea of individual freedom. They still lived under their own cultural rules. It made me feel that they went to the United States in search of a richer life, or because they had to leave their own countries because of war or political insecurity. The world does not live together as one.

The idea of “human rights” came from the Western world around the end of the 19^th century in Japan, but it was after WWII that the idea began to affect the people’s daily life. Even today, the definition of human rights in Japan is a little different from the Western definition because individual freedom is not basic human right under Japanese understanding. After the United States won the war in 1945 and acquired some control over Japanese politics and economy, Japan created a new constitution under the guidance of the United States government. It was then that the notion of human rights began to influence Japanese thinking. By the time I grew to adulthood, human rights had become a common concept in Japan.

“The Japanese are group animals, and each person belongs to some kind of group. The Chinese gain ground via the family or blood relationships, but they act individually outside them.” Peter’s schoolteacher said. Upon hearing these words, I understood immediately.

A Japanese graduate student I met in San Francisco said, “I got a job, but until I start work I will not belong to any group. That makes me anxious. Up to now, I have always belonged to some group, such as school groups or some other social circle.”

In Japan, maintaining harmony is considered a virtue, so much so that people avoid voicing their opinions. In contrast, the Chinese speak their opinions clearly. I thought the Chinese were strongly assertive, but I also felt they had little individual freedom within the family. One reason might be that their families provide insurance and they take care of each other in cases when the government does not offer appropriate welfare services; the government is traditionally for the ruler, rather than for the people of China.

( The U.S. in 1998 )

During the time I lived in Cerritos and attended the adult school, I began to feel that Japan’s idea of Western culture was much different from that of other Asian countries, which were once colonized by the Western world. Japan welcomed Western culture, introducing it positively and becoming westernized in many ways. Other Asian countries on the other hand, strongly identified with their Asian culture. People from these countries seemed to be very interested in Japan since it was the only economically developed Asian nation, and the only member of the G8 in an Asia. They didn’t seem to realize just how westernized the Japanese lifestyle is. I felt the other Asian people thought Japan had developed some secret means of becoming rich while keeping an Asian identity.

Prior to WWII, Japan adopted the slogan, “Japanese soul and Western technology.” This slogan came to be held as a policy in Japan. I’ve noticed a similar mentality present in other Asian countries today. Nowadays, Japanese try to understand Western mentality in order to excel in business, politics, education, etc. This is reflected in the Japanese language where you can see countless words adapted from the English language, without translation into Japanese. While living in the United States, I felt I was being introduced for the first time to the Asian mindset.

( The U.S. in 1998 )

While in the United States, I met two Korean women who had been forced to marry because they’d reached an age where Korean women were expected to marry. Due to their circumstances in Korea, they had fled to the United States. This made me think prejudicially, that Korea was a poor country, which lacked regard for human rights.

Regardless, I enjoyed Korean food and often went to Korean restaurants. One day I went to one with Peter. The waitress poured tea for Peter and me. Then she placed the teapot with the remaining tea beside me. Her action made me believe she’d presumed it was natural that the woman should pour tea for the man.

When I went to American restaurants, the waitresses always poured drinks for me first because of the Western tradition of putting ladies first. It was a shock to me that the ways of the Korean male-dominated society were practiced even in the United States, where the concept of gender equality was widely accepted and practiced by law. I wondered why the American government didn’t teach American concepts regarding human rights to its entire population.

After a lengthy time, I grew to understand that America had initially attempted to unify its culture and thought. But they failed in their effort and the country eventually changed its ideology. It began to focus its efforts on respecting the individualities of each ethnicity and culture. I came to realize that America, proud of its multiculturalism, might even regard the Korean male-dominated culture as one of its own subcultures.

(The U.S. in 1998)

I heard from many Taiwanese people that the custom that permitted schoolteachers to be violent toward students came from Japan during Japan’s colonial period. Many Taiwanese seemed to be under the impression that even now, Japanese schoolteachers are permitted to be violent toward students. I knew it was true that students were often the targets of violence from their teachers when Japan was a militant nation, and Taiwan became a Japanese colony during that time, but this doesn’t happen in Japan nowadays. I told them that Japanese schoolteachers were no longer permitted to act violently toward their students, and if they did it would be considered a huge social problem and the teacher would likely end up in the newspapers. Hearing this, Taiwanese were surprised and even some looked sad.

When I returned to Japan, I sought and found confirmation that Japanese schoolteachers had not used violent force against students prior to militarism. Today, violence from teachers is a violation of Japanese law.

It was a big surprise for me to learn that Japan and Taiwan don’t know each other well, yet they are within relatively close proximity. I thought it regrettable that I had been so unprepared to discuss cultural variations and misconceptions that first time in the United States. It was the first time I’d encountered people who voiced such opinions.