Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
Pretending to be someone you`re not just to fit in is one thing, being aware of the norms in the country you`re in and not doing things that go totally against them is another.
Do you do the exact same things even when it would go against the cultural and social norms of Japan? This is fine - if you`re prepared to be treated as if you`re doing something weird, as it is weird according to Japanese standards. But if you were to just act exactly as you did outside Japan and then expect to be treated as if your behavior was entirely normal... That is a problem.
I`m not saying this is what you do, but it`s pretty common. Foreigners come to Japan, act exactly as they did back home, and then get extremely irritated and frustrated by a) the weird habits of Japanese people, and b) being treated as if they`re doing something weird... Without ever realizing that they are the ones doing something odd from the Japanese perspective, and that all the "weird" habits of the Japanese people are normal.
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As I said I'm not disrepectful or arrogant so if in a situation that requires you to act in a certain way to be respectful I'm happy to do it. I certainly don't just say stuff you I never did that in my home country so I won't do it here! (well there are some things where I might draw a line). But I haven't changed the clothing I wear or have little dangly cute crap hanging off my keitai or had my hair buffed up to look like some character out of some anime.
I come from Melbourne in Australia which is one of the most multicultural cities anywhere. Australia as a whole is a nation that has grown almost solely from immigration. When you walk down a main street in the city you'll likely see people from just about every race on the planet. At times you'll be lucky to hear english spoken. You'll see people dressed in all kinds of clothing similar to what they wore in their home country. And yet no one really walks around thinking look at that foreigner, wow they're weird. Most are not foreigners at all but Australian citizens. All these immigrants recent or otherwise seem to feel little pressure to change the way they look or act to fit in. Many live very similarly to the way they did in their home countries. Sure there's some racism and some interacial tensions but on the whole most get along just fine.
Personally I would love to one day see a Japan where people are accepted in a similar way. Where not being Japanese doesn't automatically label you as gaijin. Where our differences in appearance virtually mean nothing in how we are percieved or treated. Where my daughter who was born here won't have to struggle to be accepted just because of her skin colour.
Of course I don't think I'll be alive in the thousand or so years it'll probably take for this to occur. If it ever does!
