Edit: Wow, first post for Kansai Gaidai since 2020!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before departing for Japan, reflecting on cultural differences or the cultural values that I was raised in feels inevitable. Here in America, one of our large cultural values is individualism. We value the individual\u2019s complete freedom to make choices as they wish, even at the expense of others. The attitude can be summed up as \u2018I am a single unit apart from any group, and I don\u2019t owe anyone anything, and I don\u2019t bear responsibility for anyone else other than me.\u2019 This can, of course, feel freeing when applied to certain realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t feel warmly about the way this cultural value manifests in our society. We see aspects of individualism in the defeating \u2018bootstraps\u2019 mentality that is used to deny aid to marginalized and impoverished people. We see American individualism, and exceptionalism, rear its head during the (ongoing) pandemic when people refuse to take basic safety precautions, like wearing masks, to limit spread of an extremely deadly virus. This kind of individualism lacks compassion. Freedom is when everyone, including disabled folks, can participate in society, not just the most able-bodied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone outside the United States, especially in a nation that values community care, would probably feel baffled when looking at the American individualist attitude. It maybe would even seem selfish and heartless compared to their home culture. What is a society that doesn\u2019t take care of its most vulnerable? When a nation holds \u2018every man for themselves\u2019 above their head like a trophy, just offscreen, below their feet, are the bodies of every person who did not make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This exercise helps me prepare for my time abroad because values differences are one of the most prevalent aspects of entering a new culture. As I study abroad, I may and will notice how certain attitudes I take towards certain topics differ from the common attitude in Japan. This might make me feel upset, or confused. I might start reevaluating the attitude that I hold, and why I hold it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, this exercise starts with identifying a value of the culture that I\u2019m used to; it makes the invisible visible. I think American media often is quick to stereotype other nations by their values that differ culturally from America, without turning the eye inward to look at the cultural values we hold. I know that when I go abroad, parts of American culture that I was used to and that seemed invisible to me will become visible by contrast to my new culture. This exercise helps prepare me for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will end this blog post by talking a little bit about how I\u2019m feeling before going abroad. My flight leaves next week, and I feel like I still have so much to do. Right now, I\u2019m sitting on the couch and side-eyeing my cat, who\u2019s sleeping very very cutely on the rug. I\u2019m nervous about the language difference in Japan, even though I\u2019ve been studying Japanese at Rollins for three semesters. I\u2019m really excited to meet new people. I have to decide what clothes I\u2019m going to pack (isn\u2019t that impossible?) and I have some critical reading and writing I need to do before the plane leaves. Waaah! It\u2019s a lot and it\u2019s not? I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m in the Waiting. I\u2019m needing to do things, but I\u2019m also Waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Edit: Wow, first post for Kansai Gaidai since 2020! Before departing for Japan, reflecting on cultural differences or the cultural values that I was raised in feels inevitable. Here in America, one of our large cultural values is individualism. We value the individual\u2019s complete freedom to make choices as they wish, even at the expense…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[369],"class_list":["post-21511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kansai","tag-rollinsabroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21513,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21511\/revisions\/21513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}