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Cultural Influences in Japan
By
Julia Hursh
Japan is a country of little human diversity. As I traveled
through
different cities I looked for signs of migrations and it was a very
difficult task to find people of different ethnicity. I did, however,
see signs of western influence frequently throughout my travels.
Tokyo reminded me of an Asian version of New York City. It is very
populated and fast moving; there are skyscrapers and trendy stores. I
felt as if I was on Fifth Ave when I was shopping in Harajuku because
all of the stores are the same. Prada, Gucci, and Gap are just a few
that I noticed. When I decided to stop for food my choices were also
the same as in America. McDonalds and Starbucks are located on every
street corner. This was an interesting sight to see, especially because
as I entered the stores, I saw that they were run by Japanese people
(as expected) but none of whom spoke English. The language barrier made
it very difficult to communicate. It was exciting to be in a land that
at first looks familiar, but then is culturally different and difficult
to explore.
Another sign of migration that I noticed was on my way to
Kyoto. I ate
at a restaurant in the Tokyo train station and I ordered a noodle dish,
but was given silverware to eat it with. As I looked around the
restaurant everyone was using silverware, not just us Americans. I
speculated that this is because a train station is a high traffic area
with many foreigners, so the restaurant was catering to our
needs.
The only human migrations signs that I truly noticed was that of the
Koreans. I saw quite a few Korean restaurants in Tokyo, in the train
stations and Kyoto. It makes sense that this would be the most common
group of people to come across other than Japanese. According to the
Port-to-Port guide for global studies class, Japan’s ethnicity is made
up of 99% Japanese and 1% other (mostly Korean). The article titled
“Dys-appearing Tongues and Bodily Memories: The Aging of First
Generation Resident Koreans in Japan” by Sandra Soo-Jin Lee suggests
that ‘Korean food played a critical role in the practice of Korean
identity in Japan.’ As Koreans are the largest minority group in Japan,
it is understandable that I would have seen a few signs of their
migration. At the same time I thought I would have seen more signs of
Korean migration.
Japan didn’t have many migrations of foreigners to observe, but it is a
country very rich in its own culture. The beauty and cleanliness
throughout the entire country is something to be admired by all and
from which other countries, including the U.S., could really learn
from. They have obviously been influenced by our culture in their
country and we should do the same in ours.
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