私は西洋の理想に同化さしていたが、
私は日本人の祖先のように人間です。
西と東は、この中心部に集中している。
Romaji transliteration:
Watashi wa seiyō no risō ni dōka sa shite itaga,
watashi wa nihonjin no sosen no yō ni ningendesu.
Nishi to azuma wa, kono chūshin-bu ni shūchū shite iru.
English translation:
(Though) I am assimilated to ideals of the West,
I am only human like my Japanese ancestors.
East and West are one in my heart.
Showing posts with label assimilation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assimilation. Show all posts
20130119
Ancestor Worship Forgotten by Japanese Diasphora
In Japan, ancestor worship shows respect not only to your ancestors and the recently departed, but to the family kami if one's family has one.
A family kami is the first male ancestor in your lineage, or he may be the village kami if you have a home village. If the latter tradition is present, then your first male ancestor is Chinese.
In Canada, this heritage is forgotten. If you mention it amongst your relatives, they either mock you or change the subject.
Ah, we Japanese-canadians are too assimilated! We're so assimilated we blend in.
Yet there's an awkward moment when an Asian person talks to me, and I have to reply in English, "Sorry I don't speak Chinese/Korean/Taiwanese."
Though I can still speak Japanese but badly.
A family kami is the first male ancestor in your lineage, or he may be the village kami if you have a home village. If the latter tradition is present, then your first male ancestor is Chinese.
In Canada, this heritage is forgotten. If you mention it amongst your relatives, they either mock you or change the subject.
Ah, we Japanese-canadians are too assimilated! We're so assimilated we blend in.
Yet there's an awkward moment when an Asian person talks to me, and I have to reply in English, "Sorry I don't speak Chinese/Korean/Taiwanese."
Though I can still speak Japanese but badly.
20070709
The Japanese Way
Out of all the Asians, I feel that Japanese wouldn't do getting psychotherapy from a non-Japanese who doesn't understand the culture.
IMHO it would worsen whatever is bothering the person. It's also a form of colonization, since psychiatry is a European form of social control.
In short, an Asian would become assimilated with all the risks that brings.
In Asia, psychiatry is just a form of social control. In Japan, the average stay in a mental institution is about 407 days. Outpatient service is usually with a psychiatrist and if he finds you are worse for wear, then it's not talk therapy. He will give you a shot of a typical antipsychotic, which will have nasty side effects, all the ones the typical Asian will get, guaranteed.
However, the psychiatrist profession in Japan denies the existence of schizophrenia. In their eyes it is an invention of Americans since American manufactures most of the older antipsychotics.
Japan's answer was to have Otsuka Pharma make Abilify, which is an antypical antipsychotic that appears to relieve most of the psychosis without the side effects. However, therapy with Abilify is expensive. The drug costs about $100-150 a month.
In Canada, your GP and pdoc have to justify its use because other drugs do not work. This means your Pharmacare file has to have a history of prescribing you antipsychotics before you even get Abilify. Some patients don't get lucky, and their lives have been ruined by thorazine. Other patients get seroquel, sleep all the time, and have diabetes.
Otsuka is the same company that makes Pokari Sweat and Calpis. Pokari is the earliest energy drink. Calpis is a flavoured yoghurt drink. Despite my lactose intolerance, I had no problems with it -- though my lactose intolerance is hit or miss. Last night, I had a clam chowder with no side effects. Maybe the wasabi pills are working.
Having told you about psychiatry and its effects on the Japanese, let me get to the meat of today's entry.
It is the Japanese way for the woman to rule the roost because Japanese men are no help in raising kids. So even when they marry white boys, the average Japanese woman will pick a man most like her dad, who is usually not the ruler of the nest at all. YMMV
Anyone who knows the Japanese, whether by birth or by marriage, will confirm this truth. If your family isn't like this, then you're either lying to yourself or you actually were born into or married into a good family. Treasure them, cos other families are run by the mother.
I think it's safe to say that's why the mental health system won't give me therapy. They know the Japanese are generally non-compliant and do not respond well to the big horse pills they tend to give us. We do not need over 300 mg of seroquel. 25-75 mg is enough. And why give us that when 50 mg of Gravol is fine?? Forget benzodiazepines; we get easily hooked on them. As for antidepressants, we need a walking buddy. Exercise is the only cure, along with getting out everyday, rain or shine.
As well, the one best therapy for the typical is Karaoke & sake. I don't mean getting drunk and singing Rollin' Stones tunes. What I mean is going yuppontoi and belting out enka classics. These are classical drinking songs similar to blues. None of those incomprehensible JPOP tunes. This is the real Japanese experience.
Yes, for the average Japanese-American (and Japanese-Canadian), the best therapy is to go back to your roots. Why? Cos that's the Japanese way. We were descended from the gods, you know. This is why Americanization is so hard on us, and our elders are dying off from suicide.
However, while you are out there finding your roots, avoid thinking about how you grew up. Wake up from that nightmare, even if you have to learn to meditate and jiu-jitsu. It may even help to become Buddhist, even if it is Jodo Shinshu. But never ever mention family life. Lie about it. Present the positive, hide the negative. Praise your mother!!
For that is the Japanese way.
IMHO it would worsen whatever is bothering the person. It's also a form of colonization, since psychiatry is a European form of social control.
In short, an Asian would become assimilated with all the risks that brings.
In Asia, psychiatry is just a form of social control. In Japan, the average stay in a mental institution is about 407 days. Outpatient service is usually with a psychiatrist and if he finds you are worse for wear, then it's not talk therapy. He will give you a shot of a typical antipsychotic, which will have nasty side effects, all the ones the typical Asian will get, guaranteed.
However, the psychiatrist profession in Japan denies the existence of schizophrenia. In their eyes it is an invention of Americans since American manufactures most of the older antipsychotics.
Japan's answer was to have Otsuka Pharma make Abilify, which is an antypical antipsychotic that appears to relieve most of the psychosis without the side effects. However, therapy with Abilify is expensive. The drug costs about $100-150 a month.
In Canada, your GP and pdoc have to justify its use because other drugs do not work. This means your Pharmacare file has to have a history of prescribing you antipsychotics before you even get Abilify. Some patients don't get lucky, and their lives have been ruined by thorazine. Other patients get seroquel, sleep all the time, and have diabetes.
Otsuka is the same company that makes Pokari Sweat and Calpis. Pokari is the earliest energy drink. Calpis is a flavoured yoghurt drink. Despite my lactose intolerance, I had no problems with it -- though my lactose intolerance is hit or miss. Last night, I had a clam chowder with no side effects. Maybe the wasabi pills are working.
Having told you about psychiatry and its effects on the Japanese, let me get to the meat of today's entry.
It is the Japanese way for the woman to rule the roost because Japanese men are no help in raising kids. So even when they marry white boys, the average Japanese woman will pick a man most like her dad, who is usually not the ruler of the nest at all. YMMV
Anyone who knows the Japanese, whether by birth or by marriage, will confirm this truth. If your family isn't like this, then you're either lying to yourself or you actually were born into or married into a good family. Treasure them, cos other families are run by the mother.
I think it's safe to say that's why the mental health system won't give me therapy. They know the Japanese are generally non-compliant and do not respond well to the big horse pills they tend to give us. We do not need over 300 mg of seroquel. 25-75 mg is enough. And why give us that when 50 mg of Gravol is fine?? Forget benzodiazepines; we get easily hooked on them. As for antidepressants, we need a walking buddy. Exercise is the only cure, along with getting out everyday, rain or shine.
As well, the one best therapy for the typical is Karaoke & sake. I don't mean getting drunk and singing Rollin' Stones tunes. What I mean is going yuppontoi and belting out enka classics. These are classical drinking songs similar to blues. None of those incomprehensible JPOP tunes. This is the real Japanese experience.
Yes, for the average Japanese-American (and Japanese-Canadian), the best therapy is to go back to your roots. Why? Cos that's the Japanese way. We were descended from the gods, you know. This is why Americanization is so hard on us, and our elders are dying off from suicide.
However, while you are out there finding your roots, avoid thinking about how you grew up. Wake up from that nightmare, even if you have to learn to meditate and jiu-jitsu. It may even help to become Buddhist, even if it is Jodo Shinshu. But never ever mention family life. Lie about it. Present the positive, hide the negative. Praise your mother!!
For that is the Japanese way.
20070618
Han Colonization Impacts Yamiko First Nations of Orchid Island, Taiwan
Orchid Island is a small island situated in the Western Pacific off the south-east coast of Taiwan. It is approximately 45 square kilometers in area and has abundant rainfall. Almost one hundred protected rare plant and animal species live in the island's tropical forest. Of these one, Otus Scops, is threatened with extinction.
Not only has the island rich natural resources, but it is also the area in which the Yami tribe lives. The Yami people's distinctive culture is an even more valuable example of one of the most well preserved ocean cultues. The Yami population numbers about 3,100 people living scattered over the island's low land.
Within the Yami society there are no clearly defined class distinctions. They are a peace-loving, optimistic and gentle people. Among all the original tribes of Taiwan they are the only one that did not practice head-hunting. Their social life is based on the observance of natural principles and is against the use of force. It also includes great respect for elders. This system rests on the strict observance of working together for the mutual benefit of all.
This spirit of working together for the mutual benefit of all is of great advantage to people.
When a Yami person builds his own house, the whole tribe will co-operate in order to help him do this. Everybody works together in the fields to produce food and everybody co-operates in the catching of fish. The economic life of the tribe is the result of joint discussion. The tribe's fate and general affairs are decided by mutual consultation. Thus Yami culture is extremely rich and complex.
After the take-over of Orchid Island by the Taiwan Government in 1946, the island's natural resources and human culture have suffered serious changes. The first intrusion of the Taiwan Government occurred in 1958 when about 2,500 convicts were sent to Orchid Island to serve their sentences. They were guarded by retired servicemen of the KMT (Kuomintang, the Nationalist Party). In order to build accommodation they took the land that the Yami used to produce their principal crop, taro. They were permitted to roam the island and took advantage of this to rape the Yami women and smash the people's possessions. They did not leave until 1979.
In 1960 the Taiwan Government completely cut down Orchid Island's tropical forest, destroying the habitat of many rare species of plants and animals. After this they established schools in all the tribal areas to teach Han Chinese culture, history, language, etc. All of this was in order to influence Yami children, so that they would lose their mother tongue, and cause the transmission of the Yami cultural heritage to come to a halt.
Thus Yami culture was replaced by Han culture and traditional Yami buildings were torn down and replaced by ugly concrete block houses. Within ten years the concrete buildings began to crumble. The beautiful, traditional housing thus disappeared. The traditional celebration on the completion of a new house was also lost in the process. The Yami's proud culture has thus been extensively wiped out by the intense efforts to impose Han culture.
This process of assimilation has also affected the Okinawans, the original people of the Ryukyu Islands and the Ainumushiri, the original people of Japan. Many people of Ainu ancestry migrated to the big cities of Japan such as Tokyo and northern cities, and ashamed of their heritage, presented themselves as Japanese. Since the massacres of the 17th and 18th centuries, most Ainu are only half Japanese, their culture replaced by Japanese culture and their heritage forgotten as they assimilate into Japanese society.
It is even like this among Vietnamese people, with peoples named Nguyen (Gwen) being Han, or Vietnamese. Most people named Nguyen adopted the name for survival and self-preservation due to internecine warfare between Chinese and Vietnamese people over the centuries.
Asia itself shows definite signs of majority peoples assimilating minorities, and thus is a case history of the effects of colonialism over several millennia, especially in mainland China, when the proto-Sinitic people arose to become the dominant people.
Much of the history of China depicts the early Chinese fighting against barbarian nomadic tribes of white Huns, Turks and Mongols, sometimes chasing them away or conquering and assimilating them into the Han culture.
If anything, Asia is a cultural melting pot many thousands of years in the making. Quite possibly, the ancestors of First Nations peoples in the Americas, being nomadic, sought hunting territories far removed from domination by China and other nations of Asia.
Thus, the struggle of Taiwan aboriginals is shared with the struggle of First Nations people of the Americas.
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