Originally Posted by
Little_Orca
This thread in part reminds me of a video that I found some time ago, but first some back story...
Over a year back, I decided I was going to try to learn Japanese. Personal goal, so I went for it. In the process of learning the language, I have learned about the culture so that I had a better understanding of words and phrases and why things are said the way they are and where new words and slang come from and beliefs and so on. I started to get a lot of negative attention from this. People were assuming I just liked anime (which I do) and that I didn't care at all about what I was learning. I even had people 'test' me to see if I knew what I was talking about. It felt that I was being punished for learning another language and about another culture.
Interestingly, none of this happened when I was learning Spanish or when I was a folklorico dancer for three years. All of the pale girls, Hispanic/Latina/or not, got called Gringa or other terms, but it was all water off a duck's back. Somehow, too, my in-laws from a previous marriage of my aunt's being Hispanic gave me street cred in the dance community (which is just BS). (Spoiler alter, I left that community in high school.)
Back to Japanese culture, sure there are things I see as unusual, but there are other things that I quite enjoy and have integrated into my own life. Simple things in terms of how I speak to people and things I had been doing similarly in my life anyways. Then I got the other labels... Otaku (meh, I'm ok with that one) and Weebo and Gaijin (which just means foreigner and is not meant in a derogatory way in Japan usually, but meh. It all depends on how it's used in the moment, hmm?). I really felt discouraged for a bit and stopped learning. After all, why try to learn new things if I was going to be harassed about it? Why? Because learning friggen rocks, man.
Part of why I like to learn about other cultures is I'm white. I'm so friggen white, and I have no culture I can look to and be like "That is me." I know where my heritage comes from: Italy and some other Euromutt-ness, but Italy is the primary one. There was no Italian upbringing for me, the blonde girl in Southern California in the 80s. With how chaotic my childhood was, I don't blame my mother for not looking into our own heritage: she has to focus on raising two children alone, but she always encouraged me to learn about others so that I could understand them.
When I don things upon my person (usually in my hair) that are representative of other cultures, I do so not out of "lol look at me guys, I'm Asian today! rofl!" that some people have accused me of, but because I like said ornament. Ironically, in terms of the Japanese things I have worn or own (like a randoseru backpack,) the women at the Asian market laugh and giggle and talk to me about my belongings. They share with me memories of their childhood back in Japan with similar items. We have a great cultural exchange! Yet... to others who just see a white girl wearing 'funny asian things' I am offensive.
This brings me to this video I found. I think it echos some of the things I have gone through trying to learn about cultures (though I've not put on a kimono) and its puts a good perspective on how different views can be on different things.
Bookmarks