Japanese and Blacks

As the area director of a program that brings Japanese students on a Homestay/English program, I always read with interest your articles on the Japanese people. I have been in this job for 11 years and I get to know Japanese young people on a very intimate level.

I know first-hand that the Japanese are very provincial and xenophobic. They are group thinkers and tend to be copiers not innovators. They have great difficulty in expressing feelings and the society is chauvinistic.

Raspberry talks about the Japanese copying American customs and policies, but I am not so sure that’s an answer to the Japanese way of thinking. After all our racial policies are mediocre at best, we are slowly polluting our land and oceans, the Equal Rights Amendment still doesn’t get all the votes and our homeless are growing by leaps and bounds. We (as they) are far from perfect!

I am seeing huge changes in the young people. A few short years ago the Japanese students would have been very upset at staying in the home of a black, Hispanic or other Asian culture. Now most of our students know that America is a “melting pot,” and they want to experience this aspect of our culture. I see young Japanese willing to talk openly about themselves, question their government’s policies and try and make individual decisions.

Our program stresses that our two cultures are different, we can’t totally change one another, but we can learn from each other and work with the differences. They have a lot of good things to offer us. The world is shrinking every day, Japan is a neighbor to be reckoned with--let’s not put up fences between ourselves. Let’s set a good example for them to follow and clean up our act!

Our slogan is “A hug can change the world.” I’ve seen it happen. It can!

JACKIE SANT-MYERHOFF

Woodland Hills