Cultural Teleport
Yuki Iwao
Have you been to Tokyo before? Everyone thinks Tokyo is the technologically advanced and marvelled capital of Japan, with cultural icons such as anime and popular games. However, I never viewed it that way. That concrete jungle was a place I could always call home. The demanding cultural norms and the room for little error were just aspects of Japan. Cultural norms and manners were ingrained in my mind since I could remember. It was always like second nature to me. This very thing allowed the place to flow so well and stay organized. Those were the aspects that I always loved about the country. It was the city I thought I would always live in. But that thought came crashing down when my father took a job in the United States. I didn’t even know where it was or what Washington was like, but that didn’t matter. Within a year, I was thrown into a completely different culture in a country on the other side of the world.
I was born and raised for 14 years in various cities in Tokyo, moving every four years due to my father’s job and changes in my schooling. I always had a nice, large apartment with everything I could ever want. I attended an elite international school, went on vacations every year, and celebrated holidays with family and friends. We were never in a financially precarious situation and always lived worry-free. Being Japanese, my parents were strict about manners and organization. I learned manners due to Japan’s stringent social norms, which were a daily reminder. However, I was never as organized as I would have liked. My dad always reminded me to put things away or keep my desk clean, but my parents were always kind and logical in their reminders, which I trusted. Living in Tokyo was always challenging. The bustling city and societal expectations were both a pro and a con. It was excellent for keeping people well-mannered and respectful, but it left no room for mistakes; teachers would call out any errors, and strangers would stare at you for the slightest misstep. However, everything changed two years ago when I moved to Redmond. The United States is completely different from Japan. Strangers started talking to me, people had more freedom of speech, and schools had a much wider range of people. Compared to Japan’s perfectionist, robot-like society, the U.S. had much more leeway for mistakes, allowing people to be more free and friendly. The combination of my life in Japan and my move to the U.S. has been the most important part of my life. Faiza (2017) discusses in her research paper “The Role of the Family in Forming Children’s Social Identity” from the State Islamic University Abdurrahman Wahid Pekalongan, Indonesia, how family and friends play a key role in shaping a person’s identity through social experiences, norms, and beliefs. Friends I made in the U.S. impacted my life by helping me become more friendly and open to mistakes. This allowed me to incorporate great aspects from both cultures into my life: manners and politeness.
Growing up in Japan, I always felt comfortable in my society. I never really felt like the odd one out or disconnected. It always felt like home. Being a boy born and raised in Japan with a very gifted and comfortable way of life, things always fell into place for me. My education, housing, and family were always perfect. I was always able to get anything I wanted and go wherever we wanted. When I came to the U.S., nothing really changed at first. I got everything I wanted, lived in a nice house, and my family was with me. The first thing I came to realize was how different the people were. I knew that Japan had an extremely mannered, disciplined society, but I never expected the things people do in the U.S. Just sitting in class, I would see no one listening to the teacher. Most people were just sleeping or looking at their phones, which would be seen as extreme disrespect and often came with a harsh punishment in Japan. I also realized how littered the streets were. As someone who had always walked on well-maintained streets, it was something that always frustrated me. It always made me say, “Why can’t they just simply throw it into a bin? It’s not that hard.” This was not the only thing I realized. I was so much shorter compared to everyone else, people acted so much differently, and the biggest change of all was that I was a minority. “Who I am (or say I am) is a product of these and many other factors” (Tatum, 2000, p.1). The most significant thing I have realized after moving from Japan is the factors that define who we are. Despite having the same factors in Japan and the U.S., my social identity changed vastly between the two countries. In Japan, I was seen as a “normal boy” from an upper-class family. But in the U.S., I am always seen as an immigrant from an Asian country. I had always been mislabeled as the short, smart Chinese kid and judged before people even got to know me. People always asked me for help on their math assignments and tests. However, these things were only minor and happened occasionally, and living in Redmond has been a large help in that. Due to the accepting nature of the people in Washington, fitting in has never been a big issue. My upbringing has always taught me to be respectful and mannerly. This allowed me to adapt quickly to American life and has enabled me to make many friends over the years. In my situation, social identity has never been a major problem for me. Despite some hardships in the U.S., only a few were caused by my social identity. Living in a place like Washington, where people are accepting, makes your social identity less relevant.
Everyone knows that moving to a different country is hard, and running into some bumps in the road is expected. Getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing something different is extremely important. Moving to the U.S. was one of the most important events of my life. It opened a brand-new door to a vastly different culture and lifestyle. Looking back, learning and dealing with those hard experiences wasn’t a setback but a realization in my life, whether it was a new discovery about the world or a way to learn from others’ mistakes. However, my biggest lesson was being able to incorporate the best aspects of both cultures. Learning the good and the bad of both worlds, then incorporating the good aspects into my life has been an ongoing goal for my life. I believe that the most important thing in anything is to be able to take every mistake and every success as a learning Lego piece. You can always remove or add aspects of what you learned to your life, creating the best form of yourself.
References
Shoviana, N.F. (2017). The role of the family in forming children’s social
Identity family sociological perspective. https://lwtech.instructure.com/courses/2500170/assignments/33820881?return_to=https%3A%2F%2Flwtech.instructure.com%2Fcalendar%23view_name%3Dmonth%26view_start%3D2024-07-25
Tatum, B. D. (2000). The complexity of identity: “Who am I?.” In Adams, M.,
Blumenfeld, W. J., Hackman, H. W., Zuniga, X., Peters, M. L. (Eds.),
Readings for diversity and social justice: An anthology on racism, sexism,
anti-semitism, heterosexism, classism and ableism (pp. 9-14). New York:
