Kerstin MedardI’m boarding a flight heading back to Japan after a short vacation in Taiwan. A passenger is already seated in the aisle seat of my row and I need to get over to the window seat. So I politely said excuse me to him in Japanese and he moves over so I could get to my seat. After I settle down into my seat, he turns to me, smiles and says. “Ummmmm…I’m from Taiwan.” I smile and apologize in English (a little embarrassed that I just assumed he was Japanese) and he laughs and says “It’s okay.” Then we just both crack up laughing at our little awkward interaction.
That little awkward interaction brought up something that has kinda bothered me since moving here, so instead of taking a nap like I planned, I decided to write this blog instead.
You know, coming from the Western part of the world we have this notion that all Asians are just the same. They look the same, talk the same, walk the same. We are under this notion (an ignorant one if I’m being honest) that Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese (to name a few) are just the same and we don’t realize how offensive that is! And some of us are quite flippant about it, “who cares, they’re all just the same” I cannot tell you how many times since I moved to Japan that people have asked me something about the Chinese culture and when I respond that I am not in China but Japan, they would say, with slight irritation, “so, that’s not the same thing?!”
Yet if the same narrative was applied to us we would certainly want no parts of it. If people from the East said that Americans, West Indians and Brits are the SAME we would FOR SURE be quick to reprimand that person. Closer to home, as Saint Lucians we get frustrated when people just assume we’re from one of the bigger islands like Jamaica. I know I surely do. The Caribbean has so many islands, a little geography check on Google can fix that opinion that Caribbean does not equal Jamaica.
But that is what we are essentially implying about Asians. And why? Because we don’t care to use Google to read a little about the other side of the world? Or is it because we don’t think it is important enough to gain knowledge about places that we don’t live in? Or is it because we simply have this air of arrogance that “these far away places” don’t matter? Well, whichever it is, we need to wake up and smell the geography and put some respect on their cultural differences and uniqueness!
Yes, there are similarities between some of the Asian countries just as there are similarities in the western world. But please understand that similarities are NOT sameness. Each country no matter which hemisphere, has its own unique blend of culture, history, food and traditions etc. Disregarding this is like disregarding the people itself, and I KNOW that NOT A SINGLE LIVING ENTITY likes to be disregarded. I have always been interested in foreign culture so I take time to learn about as many as I can, but you don’t have to be so deeply interested to learn or read about things on the other side of the world. I’m not saying to make it your life’s mission but you can start by reading a little or just watching a Youtube video. I don’t need to tell you that the internet has an enormous amount of information available for FREE.
The human race to which we all belong to is beautiful in its diversity and rooted in many commonalities. We should be able to come together with our sameness and also celebrate our differences. We should never disregard another’s culture simply because it’s different from ours. Instead, we can make a commitment to learn, even if it’s just a little, about others. As we expect others to respect us, understand us and not judge our culture let us also keep that same energy with others no matter how far, wide or “different.”
As a teacher in Japan, I interact not only with Japanese students but people from all over Asia and the world in general. The stories they tell me, their experiences and their countries are most times different than they are similar. I enjoy relishing in their stories of differences and similarities, and I enjoy traveling to different parts of Asia to experience it myself. I have just returned from a trip to Taiwan and I experienced just that!
Here’s hoping we can all broaden our horizons some more, if not physically, at least mentally.
Look out for next week’s blog which will detail my trip to Taiwan!
Peace, love, light
– Kers
