For example, Japan is currently looking at various welfare systems in order to address the unemployment caused by global economic recession. If Japan, or any other developed country for that matter, was not able to identify superior cultural practices from those that are less advanced, would it be a strong a country as it is today?

In Ancient times, Japan learned from China; the Chinese had a powerful writing system and good city planning skills.  Before WWII, Japan learned from Europe as some European countries organized modern political systems and militaries.  After WWII, Japan leaned democratic principles from the U.S.

1) Japan
Japan is the second strongest economic power in the world, but people still suffer due long working hours.  The government’s support for disabled people, the unemployed and single mothers is much less than that in some of European countries.

2) The U.S.
The U.S. is the strongest economic power, but government’s support for vulnerable people is poor and national education scores are not high.

3) China
China has the most foreign money in the world and GDP of China is much greater than that of most European countries.  China also displays dead human bodies in a museum in Beijing and more than 1000 people are executed by the government annually without having had a public and legal trial.

4) India
As the Indian population has become wealthier, the Safi ritual has been performed more often amongst the growing middle class. Apparently they believe embracing older traditions demonstrates status within the higher classes. The Sati involves burning a widow along with the deceased husband against her will.

5) France, Germany and Sweden
GDPs of these countries are much smaller than that of the U.S. and Japan but the living standard in those countries are higher — education is free, medical treatments are inexpensive or free, working hours is shorter, long vacation is available, women’s social position is higher, and disable people have more opportunities to join in the society.

Also see below.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Muslim women: Culture, not poverty, is to blame for violence against Muslim women (The Economist)

http://earideas.com/earideas/explore/show/75643/Ayaan+Hirsi+Ali+on+Muslim+women

To learn about an individual one must consider gender, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status and other life experiences. In my opinion, if these factors are known, it is easy to predict what viewpoints a person may hold.  Furthermore, I believe people are self-interested and will support ideas that serve his or her individual needs and desires.

In some countries, women are killed, injured or treated poorly. How is that some women actually support such cruel cultural practices?  This may be because:

a) they themselves are part of the elite and/or ruling class and support the culture which gives them position

b) many lack of information regarding human rights and other positive cultural norms

c) they think that submission is a virtue; they must obey the dominant values and morals in the culture

Some non-western immigrants dislike the majority of Canadians in their minds.  I believe that later immigrants decided to come to Canada because earlier immigrants established a good modern political framework where people can enjoy their rights and freedom.  So, I think that it is natural that earlier immigrants’ descendents have more advantages than later ones.

Strangely it seems dangerous to discuss religion, ethnic culture, national histories or politics in public because you can be considered a racist.  I think that it is not racist to talk about ethnic cultures or religions, whether the good aspects or bad.  Also it seems that some people do not want to admit to their cultural background such as their religion, ethnicity or nationality because they are judged by it.  I do not understand why.  I think that many people do not respect Japan and I do not like many aspects of Japanese culture but I am fine with admitting my cultural background.

In the meantime, I talked to some immigrants in Toronto and some of them said, “When you respect others’ way of living and thinking, you can be Canadian.”  I agree with “mutual respect.”  However, I wonder how a person can be Canadian when he/she respects later comers’ sexist culture or communal culture but does not celebrate western freedom and human rights which are values of earlier immigrants who came and built Canadian political frameworks.


As a result, it is hard for many Japanese people to imagine what it means to live as an individual.  Most Japanese people probably imagine that living as an individual means living alone in a forest or acting alone without a group.  From my observation, westerners live as individuals even when they get together with their friends or when they are within a group.

It has been nearly two months since I have arrived in Toronto.  Here I have found individual freedom to be yourself; racially or ethnically mixed people, sexual minorities, people with different religions, religious people, unreligious people, interracial marriages, homosexual marriages, common-law partners, those who respect Canadian culture and those who do not migrate into Canadian culture.

In the west, men open the door for ladies.  Does this mean that men open doors because they respect ladies?  No, it is just good manners that a gentleman should do this, isn’t it?  Similarly Japanese peoples’ politeness toward others is not because they respect others but because it is just good manners to act in public in the same manner like a western lady or gentleman.

B) Japanese people are helpful.

Yes, it is true that Japanese people are helpful.  But it comes from a Japanese idea of mutual help rather than volunteering.  Japanese people live in interdependent relationships which are based on the idea that nobody can live their lives alone and people should help each other.  Therefore, when Japanese people help each other, they expect to be helped back.  Some Japanese people volunteer and expect nothing in return.

C) Japanese women are submissive.

Many Japanese women may be more submissive than many western women but many of them believe that their man should take the full burden for the family or the relationship. In contrast to Japanese women, many western women are opinionated and independent but they share the burden for the family or the partnership.

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.

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.”

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?

>> 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

See below for Ainu:

http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/en/study/eng01.html

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?

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 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.

Reference:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/20/britishidentity.socialexclusion

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?

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.

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?

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

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.”

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.

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.

“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.

“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.