Can't we all just get along?

Unity, world peace, everybody just holding hands swaying back and forth with a smile on their face. This is the dream most Japanese people hold especially in the face of a continuing conflict in the middle East. Although practically nobody will say, "No I don't want that to happen," I think most of us realize that the process is a little more complicated than just respecting one another.

Japan is an island nation. And on top of that, a very homogenous island nation. Japanese people born and raised make up at least 95% of the population in this country.

"Everybody is the same" is a saying I hear often. To which I want to say, "Well, yeah in Japan." Language, values, ways of thinking, all pretty much the same in Japan. Obviously this makes it hard for foreigners to get established here, but that's a whole different post. Group think isn't a thing people work towards here, it's a given. Since this is what most know to be "reality," most don't understand why wars and conflict are necessary.

An interesting conversation I had a few months ago... a Japanese friend watched the movie "Remember the Titans." She commented, asking me, "Why is there so much racial segregation and conflict in America? Why can't everybody just get along?" I tried to explain exclusivity, but it just went over her head as well as the others who were listening in on the conversation. Finally, I said, "What would happen if you married a foreigner? What would your family and friends think?" Suddenly, it looked like most everybody understood. But then someone chimed in saying, "Well that's different."

Unity and the such is an easy thing to talk about. It's easy because when most people talk about it, they come in with the thought that everybody thinks like them, holds the same values as they do, and is "normal." But as anybody who lives in foreign countries can attest, that simply isn't the case. Even with the language barrier gone, the cultural barrier proves to be a far formidable force. Simply put, to an American like myself, Japanese people aren't normal. They're weird. Really weird. And conversely, Japanese people think I'm not normal. They think I'm weird. Then again, I am weird. Oh, well. So much for that.