IMHO#2

Some American conservative commentators are criticizing President Barack Obama’s deep bow to Japan’s emperor on November 14th, a second day of his Asia tour, accusing the US commander in chief of groveling to a foreign leader.

Obama greeted Emperor Akihito, whose father ruled when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, with a simultaneous handshake and nearly 90-degree bow.

Los Angels Times compares Obama’s unusual greeting to the past presidents’ ways of greeting for other nations’ leaders. Pointing out the differences between them with a history of Japan and the U.S., the author gets at his “inappropriate” action as the U.S. leader. Basically it says, “Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference to a superior,” so the U.S. leader should not act like this because his position (the U.S.) is superior to other countries.

When I found out about this news, I was like “so what?” I seriously couldn’t believe that American media made a big deal out of Obama being polite to Japanese emperor. It’s really not that unusual for people in public office to observe the cultures of other people these days. For me, it's always been my policy to respect the cultures of countries I visit.

Bowing is actually a common social gesture in Japan. That’s just how they formally greet each other. The writer of this article seems to be confused with respect/courtesy and submission. Asians actually differentiate between the two clearly. When one wants to submit him to another person, he goes down on his knees and spreads his arm unto the ground (an act called kowtowing). American media should know the real meaning of body languages in other cultures and cultural difference.

I’m not saying that Obama should bow to Japanese people or to any other Asian people who have this culture. Japanese people know that shaking hands is the American way of greeting and they don’t even expect him to practice it as they do. But I’m sure that his behavior reflected his positive attitude to make the relationship between Japan and the U.S. works and that made a favorable impression on Japanese people.

Fish out of water

I attended a Bible study of the International Friendship Group, which is organized by a multi-ethnic, community-based group of people who enjoy helping international students. They have some kind of event every Friday night at their Church in San Jose. Although Christian people run this group, they help students of all religious backgrounds (or not at all). However, they occasionally have a Bible study that provides students with knowledge about the Bible. You can attend this meeting whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian. Since I know nothing about the Bible or Christian, I thought that it would be a good cultural experience for me to know about it.

The topic of that day was the existence of God. We started off with expressing our opinions about this topic. Most of the attendees were Christian and there were couple of people who were not, including me. During this session, I saw some people who were passionately telling their personal experiences with God and I felt awkward to see that. I’m a Buddhist but I don’t practice it much. I even avoided involving religious activity since it seems suspicious to me, so I never had an opportunity to deeply think about this stuff before. Although I’ve been to church several times since I came to the U.S. to see how it’s like and enjoyed their music, I wasn’t interested enough to go there again. Thus, it was quite strange experience for me to discuss about this topic without any knowledge about a religion. And it was really uncomfortable for me to tell my experience and my feeling about Christianity in that situation.

Trying not to be offensive as much as possible, I told them that I’m not sure whether God exists or not. I also told them that believing in God itself is not troubling me, but I don’t like to see people having argument over what they believe and causing hatred. Although they seemed not very happy to hear what I told them, they still enjoyed sharing opinions with non-Christian people.

It was first time for me to officially express my feeling about a religion and I didn’t like that experience. I think people should believe what they believe and you don’t have to show your disagreement on their faces. But it was still nice to know more about what Christianity is, and I noticed that the bible had some parts that I could agree on.

The word of this week#10

(1)The word of the week:discernment

(2)Source: article "The Intuitive Genius of Your Being" by Lynn Scheurell in divine caroline.

(3)The entire sentence in which I found this word:

That’s exactly the point … when you rely on the intuitive genius of your being, you will have greater discernment about who to share your time and energy with and what to spend it on as well as being aware of who is in best vibrational resonance with you.

(4) Dictionary definition of the word:

noun: the ability to judge well

(5)It is important to exercise discernment when choosing a lawyer.

(2)Source: The Japanese Today Change and Continuity

(3)The entire sentence in which I found this word:

The Japanese have strong aversion to most open displays of feelings, whether of anger or love, though like most rules this has its exception in their toleration of maudlin drunkenness and their unabashed sentimentality.

(4) Dictionary definition of the word:

noun: a strong dislike or distinction

(5)They made plain their aversion to the use of force.

Japanese Interment Memorial

To be honest, I didn’t know much about Japanese immigrant in California and history behind it until I researched for this assignment. Of course I learned about World War II when I was in Japan, but I never had chance to get to know about Japanese immigrants who were kept in concentration camps in the U.S. around that time. Reading about the history of Japanese interment, I felt sorry for them as same Japanese, and I appreciate the city of San Jose for reserving the memorial like this to remind people the cruelty of such history.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.”

^{However, key U.S. leaders claimed that all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast of the U.S. posed a risk to national security without evidence. A year earlier, Roosevelt had authorized incarcerating more than 110,000 innocent people based on their ancestry, in what he called “concentration camps.” Although two-thirds were U.S. citizens, they were targeted because of their ancestry and the way they looked.}

Justifying it as a “military necessity,” the government forced U.S. citizens and their immigrant elders to leave their homes and live in camps under armed guard. The United States government feared that Japanese Americans would commit acts of sabotage against their country. Although Japanese Americans never committed such act, some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in the Western United States were removed from their homes and made to live in internment camps. Of these, almost 80,000 were United States citizens; 40,000 were children. Ruth Asawa, the artist who made the memorial in San Jose downtown, was one of these citizen children.

Ruth was only 16 when she and her family were interned. It was upheaval experience for her and other Japanese people to lose everything— most importantly their right to freedom and a private, family life— that caused irreparable harm. For Ruth, the internment was the first step on a journey to a world of art that profoundly changed that she was and what she thought was possible in life. In 1994, when she was 68 years old, she reflected on the experience, “I hold no hostilities for what happened; I blame no one. Sometimes good comes through adversity. I would not be who I am today had it not been for the Internment, and I like who I am,” she said.

The memorial contains two sides of extremely detailed vignettes in a sort of time line layout portraying Japanese American life. One side of the panel depicts their peaceful life doing agriculture while the other shows their painful experiences being kept in concentrate camps. Each vignette tells story with emotion that reflects their suffer and power to live for their future. The one sight that really grabbed my attention is Japanese guys sitting in the circle in front of graveyards. I’m not exactly sure why so many people died there, but thinking about their life ended up dying in the camp makes me grieve.

Walking around the SJSU campus, I noticed that there is a building whose name is Japanese and was wondering the story behind it. According to Spartan Daily, San Jose State University's Yoshihiro Uchida Hall served as a midpoint for evacuating residents from San Jose and Santa Clara.

In December of 1944 the Japanese internment policy was revoked. By 1947, 40 businesses and 100 families had re-established themselves in this area.

As a Japanese, it was a great opportunity for me to know other Japanese people who experienced that hard period of time in California. Knowing that there are many Japanese people around this area, I’ve never thought about their backgrounds and history. I really hope this extreme tragedy will never happen again, and we should keep this memory in our minds that this unbelievable thing actually happened at the place we live not long ago.

Word of the Week#9

(1)The word of the week:aversion

(2)Source: The Japanese Today Change and Continuity

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(3)The entire sentence in which I found this word:

The Japanese have strong aversion to most open displays of feelings, whether of anger or love, though like most rules this has its exception in their toleration of maudlin drunkenness and their unabashed sentimentality.

(4) Dictionary definition of the word:

noun: a strong dislike or distinction

(5)They made plain their aversion to the use of force.