...22nd Annual Homestay Program because I have an immense interest in the Japanese culture and I want to learn about the Japanese way of life, Japan has some of the most beautiful geographical lands in the world and I would be very honored to see such a place that is so breathtaking. I have many reasons why I would like to be an ambassador to Japan, but here are three that I am going to discuss: To share my culture while also learning about the Japanese culture, to discern how the Japanese live differently than Americans, and to change my way of thinking and understanding of life. Japan has many varieties of subcultures which purvey to the youth making it an ideal place to visit. By visiting Japan, I hope to gain a better understanding of the world outside of the United States. I have read and researched a lot regarding the Japanese culture in books and on the internet, but I would like to receive first hand experience by...
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...My Experience at Konomi For my ethnic restaurant paper I chose to go to a restaurant called Konomi. Konomi is a Japanese restaurant located in Coralville that is known for its sushi and teppanyaki-style food. For as long as I can remember, Chinese and Japanese foods have been my favorite thing in the world to eat. I love the taste of teriyaki sauce and enjoy sushi, so when it came down to choosing what type of ethnic food to eat for this essay I immediately went searching for a unique Japanese or Chinese restaurant. After a little bit of research online, I found that Konomi had the best reviews in the area so I went to their website and checked out their menu to make sure it seemed ethnic. Along with having a long list of sushi, Konomi has the option of preparing your food teppanyaki style. This means that the food is cooked in front of your table on a hot iron plate by a Japanese chef. I figured that watching the chef’s techniques for preparing the food could be a valuable tool in searching for ethnicity so I decided that I would go to Konomi. Taking a look at what the menu had to offer was my first step at uncovering what made this restaurant ethnic or authentic. As I pulled up the menu online, I looked for clues as to what categorized this menu as ethnic compared to restaurants in the area. The first thing I saw on the menu was the drink section. This page was a collection of various types of sake drinks such as “Sho Chiku Bai Ginjo” along with Japanese beers. I honestly...
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...I am a first generation Japanese American living in Honolulu, Hawaii. My father moved to Honolulu in 1969, at a request of his company’s boss in order to oversee the trading operations of their American branch in Hawaii. My family liked Hawaii so much that they decided to relocate permanently. I was born two years later, in 1971. My parents initially thought that they were eventually going to return to Tokyo (office headquarters located there) that they insisted I get educated in Japanese, so that I can fit in with my peers upon their return. That never materialized, and after attending the private Japanese elementary school I moved to American high school. It is in high school that I started socializing and feeling more as an American, since at home I was only allowed to speak Japanese. In our class about 70% of students were Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. According to the US Census “[e]thnic minorities account for 75 percent of Hawaii's population. Asians make up 55 percent, the largest percentage in the nation. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are 21 percent of the state's population” (Star-Bulletin, 2008). Based on such numbers, it is not a surprise that the majority of students were non-white. About 20% of students in my class are also third or fourth generation Japanese, who cannot speak a word of the language. Apparently their parents cannot speak it either. I was envy in the class, because I could speak fluent Japanese and they could not; even...
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...When the Emperor was Divine is a novel written by Julie Otsuka which tells a story of a Japanese American family during the time of World War II. The novel exemplifies the typical life and actions of Japanese Americans of the time period. The novel is told from five different perspectives, the mother, the girl, the boy, the father, the boy and the girl. The chapters are described by the family members and it is expressed from a third person point of view. At first, the father is arrested by the FBI because of the suspicion as a spy from the government. Therefore, the mother has to take care of her two children. Later the family moved to the internment camp in Utah. After three years and five months, the family is released from the internment...
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...The Wonderful Experience I had when I Attended a Valley of the Heart On February 25, 2016, I attended the play, Valley of the Heart. Thinking that this event wouldn’t be such a pleasurable experience, I did not have high hopes that I would be satisfied, for the theater and the stage were very small. However, I then started to change my mind, for the seats in the theater became completely filled, and everyone was nicely dressed. I was absolutely mesmerized by the acting, for it was outstandingly well done, even though I learned that it could be very difficult to act in front of a close-up audience. In addition, I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout the play, for the story was very realistic, compelling, and powerful. A Valley of...
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...provides information about Japanese Internment Camps in a positive way. Despite its title, Americans of Japanese ancestry or immigrants from Japan seem happy in the film to be relocated inland. They were provided with a proper housing that is twenty by twenty-five feet, with windows, stove, and lumber for the Japanese relocation people to integrate their new home to their liking. Japanese Americans were provided food in a mess hall that was mostly grown at the Internment Camps. Agricultural work was common in these communities and a high wage of fourteen to sixteen dollars a month was given to every worker. In these Japanese Internment Camps, a sense of community was easily made due to their similar background and experience. Among these communities, they created schools, churches for various religion, and a democratic government in order to settle rules and disputes. Some white Americans visited the camps in order to provide aid to the Japanese community. Military personnel surrounded the internment camp, guarding the wired fence to protect these new Japanese communities. Some Japanese relocation camps aided in the military as some went out of the camps...
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...In Asian American literature, or in any genre of literature, silence has often been associated with repression, submission, and an absence of voice. It is often misunderstood as being imposed on a certain group of people. (For the purpose of this class, we will only be focusing on Asians and Asian Americans in the United States.) Many female Asian American writers, however, demonstrate in their work that there can be multiple usage and interpretation of silence. This class hopes to show that silence is not necessarily imposed; it can be voluntary. Silence is not simply a sympathetic characteristic of the victims; it can also be a sign of resistance and, possibly, a threatening force to the inflictor. In the exploration of silence in writings by female Asian American authors, students will consequently consider the relationship between gender, race, and national identity. Silence is more common caused by an intersection of politics, culture, and gender, but the resulting silence can also be a defense or weapon Asian Americans use to protect themselves. They will discuss how silence is an essential part of the process where these authors regain their voice in mainstream politics and enunciate the part of their history or culture that has been overlooked or distorted. The first book students will be reading is We, the Dangerous by...
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...stereotypes and racism can be be detrimental against many people. Labeling has the power to discourage and can definitely have long term effects on people. The Japanese americans and immigrants faced a great amount discrimination, segregation, labeling and racism. Jeanne Wakatsuki manages to give a clear image of the things that were faced in this unfortunate time period in American history. There are numerous types of things that can create stereotypes. Racially labeling has been a permanent thing people have been forced to deal with in their lifetimes it is almost part of our human nature. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor many things instantly changed for the worst in the...
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...Interactions between North Americans and Japanese : Considerations of Communication Style The Summary Communication style has a very big impact on the dynamics of face-to-face encounters, that is, whether a conversation proceeds smoothly or by fits and starts, whether both continually interrupt each other or are both able to talk simultaneously without interrupting and whether their style of listening match. Differences in ethnic background coupled with those of communication style probably increase chances that implicit unverbalized matters will be overlooked or misinterpreted. To be able to understand deeper and more sophisticated effects of style differences can take years. In exploring such differences of “the other”, one cannot help but come to understand the cultural factors that have shaped one’s own style. In the communication between Japanese and Non-Japanese there are intercultural communication blocks that have to be considered, which are, problems on direct and indirectness, individuality and groups view, decision making, and discussion. Components of Communication Style According to some experts there are various things included in the components of communication style, such as: topics of discussions, favorite interaction forms -ritual, repartee, argument, and self disclosure- and involvement depth, as well as the channel people rely upon (Dean Barlund) ; behaviors –gesticulation, eye contact, speech and kinetic rhythm, and listening behavior- (Erickson)...
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...Moving from my hometown, in which I believed was a diverse community, to Oregon State University, I came to realize I was not exposed to different cultures and communities besides my own or others who were prevalent within my town. Throughout High School I was exposed to clubs for the Latino community as well as the Japanese Community and this was due to their efforts. My High School was not one to speak or emphasize about social justice or about different communities such as LGBT or the Disabled. The opportunities I did have to learn or experience other cultures I was quick to become involved. Very fascinated with the Japanese Culture, I found an opportunity to study abroad throughout the summer and was selected. My experience in Japan led me to develop a more open mind and see the differences there is between Mexican, American and Japanese culture but also the same values these three countries have....
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...Paper I was chatting with my girlfriend about No-No Boy, which led us to a discussion about whether we saw ourselves as Korean-Americans, American-Koreans, or simply Americans. While we both believe the identities that represent us is a matter of personal choice, my girlfriend used to see herself as an American first Korean second, which amusingly reminded me of the Louisianan Filipinos from My America…or Honk If You Love Buddha, whereas I wholly saw myself as Korean-American, a homogenous blend of two cultures. She explained to me while growing up in Ohio, Asians, as with other ethnic groups, were inescapably compared to whites and had to embrace their cultural norms or risk becoming an outcast. To form an identity that deviated from being “American” was to create a division, which led to ignorance, hatred, and even conflict. Tiffany’s childhood situation resonated with Ichiro Yamada’s situation where Japanese-Americans were viewed as irrevocably alien and antagonistic post-WWII due to their hyphenated identity. However, Ichiro did not have the same freedom to adopt a new status because he was stripped of his birthright as an American, which led him to embark on a quest for self-identity in a fragmented society in the form of a bildungsroman. Tiffany asks why I choose not to associate myself as solely American because unlike her, I am an American citizen and have been immersed in its culture since birth. While I do consider myself an American, my mother’s indoctrination of...
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...and death rites are usually one day affairs with no further rites practiced. In Japan, funeral rites are much more ritualized and not only deal with death, they also deal with life after death. The lack of funeral and death rites in contemporary Western society can lead to disenfranchised grief as they may be insufficient in helping people cope with the loss of a loved one. Japanese culture marks aging with milestone birthdays that are celebrated to map the progression of aging to the final destination of death. In this paper I will be examining funeral and death rites and if they adequately help with the grieving process and the acceptance of death. I will be examining the funeral and death rites in the United States from an etic perspective and contrasting this examination with an emic perspective of the same rituals as they are practiced in Japan, to show that my cultures rituals are lacking in the tools to deal with grief and acceptance of death. I will be examining funeral and death rites in my own culture from an etic perspective. In order to do this I will have to step outside my culture and my belief system. According to Crapo (2013), "An etic description or analysis…..creates a model of a culture by using cross-culturally valid categories, which anthropologists have found to be generally...
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...Henry and I are both scholarship students and we both have to do chores after school which is what brings us closer together. We became fast friends and spent a lot of time together. Me: What did you do with your things before being sent to the internment camp? Keiko: I left my important things in different places. Henry hid my family pictures. I left some things in the basement of the Panama Hotel Before the war started my neighborhood had a bonfire and they burnt most of their valuable things that they couldn’t bring with them to the internment camps. Many of my things were found later on by Henry, from the Panama Hotel. Me: Were you treated unfairly in your everyday life because you were Japanese? Keiko: Even though I was an American citizen I was still treated like a Japanese because my parents were Japanese. The Japanese community was separated from the rest of the town. When I went to buy the Oscar Holden CD they refused to sell it to me because I was Japanese. Henry was also treated unfairly because he looked like a Japanese. Another reason why he got bullied is because he was a friend of mine, an American Japanese. Later on I was sent to an internment camp for a couple of...
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...Andy Vu ETHN 14 PROF Mark 26 November 2015 Japanese Internment Camps during World War II: Sports in the Camps. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941 resulted in President Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 0966 on February 19th 1942, which effected all Japanese ancestry, both citizens and aliens living in America or outside of the Pacific zone. The Executive Order's primary objective were to prevent any espionage and to protect the Japanese people from any harm against Americans who slowly began to become very strong anti-Japanese people who were growing their hate and racial discrimination to the Japanese due to the bombing. With the Executive Order in act, if affected “117,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were native-born citizens of the United States” (as stated through the National Archives.) Evacuation orders were posted in Japanese American communities giving them instructions on what they were to do. This included the Issei who were the first generation Japanese to immigrate to American and also the Nisei who were the second generation Japanese in America. The Japanese were allotted a few days to pack whatever they could and bring it with them. Many families had to sell off their homes, businesses and their belongings at a much lower price they had purchased it for. The 117,000 people of Japanese decent living in the U.S were later removed from their homes and moved to internment camps to prove their loyalty to the United States. During...
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...a culture or a belief and how you will interact with it. Experiences are important to us because it is something that allows society to see both of your identities. My experiences are similar to Beneatha in A Raisin...
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