This photo that I took during one of my last trips to Japan is of an O-Jizo-San, a Buddhist deity that’s the guardian of children and travelers.
Growing up in Hawaii I was always a bit envious of those who were a multitude of ethnicities, like my friends who were Hawaiian, Chinese, and haole (white). My own cousins were Japanese, Filipino, and Hawaiian, thus allowing them to go to Kamehameha Schools (a private school where you had to have at least a drop of Hawaiian blood to be eligible to attend). Their participation in multiple cultures made them seem more interesting, and when I was young I thought they also looked more attractive than the average local like myself. I felt my mix of Japanese and Chinese ethnicities was quite boring.
It was only after I came to the “Mainland” U.S. that being a mix of Japanese and Chinese seemed a tad more interesting (at least it was to the nail salon technicians who would always try to guess what kind of '“Asian” I am). And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate being a part of and getting to know several cultures: Japanese, Chinese, and local Hawaii culture (which is not the same as Native Hawaiian culture).
In general I would say outside of the culture I grew up in (the local Hawaii culture) I am most familiar with the Japanese culture, since my mother (born in Shanghai but raised in Japan) spoke Japanese, her primary language, with me at home. My father (born in Tokyo and raised in Hawaii) understood Japanese from his Japanese-speaking mother and he is the one that is ethnically Japanese. And I not only spoke Japanese at home, but I also conversed in Japanese with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (many of them who live in Japan) when I would visit them for several months during the summer. So Japan in a way became a second home (more specifically my aunt’s house in Yokohama), and I still feel nostalgic for those times. Certain things in California like smells (which I think might be pollution) and sounds (mostly of owls and crows, which there are none in Hawaii) remind me of Yokohama.
I wasn’t really in touch with my Chinese side until I came to California. Now many of my friends are Chinese and they are educating me about their (our?) customs and language. I now celebrate Lunar New Year, which I never did before. But even now I mostly identify with being Japanese-American.
And this is all to say that I’ve always thought being multicultural was magic (mostly in other people but I’m starting to appreciate it in myself as well). And it doesn’t even have to be in terms of ethnicity or race. Maybe you grew up in the Midwest culture and then you move to New York. You’ve experienced two different cultures and are well-versed in their differences. There’s a bit of code-switching when you go from one culture to the next (and that’s one indication you can be considered multicultural). I think when you really get to know two different cultures it (hopefully) makes you a more understanding person. You understand things can be different, and people can have different points of view or a different way of doing things, but one is not better than the other. There are good things and bad things about each culture (and there are good people and bad people in both). And at the same time, everyone is human and there are more similarities than differences amongst people.
I think in the past some might have felt being multicultural/multiracial was a detriment (and some people probably still do). It might feel as if they’re not fully in one culture or the other and accepted by neither. But to me these people can be the most beautiful (in mind, in form, and in understanding). They’re the ones that can lead us to a more harmonious compassionate world, especially in the US where there’s a lot of cultures (the good ‘ole melting pot as they say). It’s not a coincidence that one of the best presidents of the US (IMHO) was Black and White, raised in Hawaii, and then lived most of his adult life in the Midwest.
Emi’s current collection of library books that she picked out all on her own-I’m a proud mama
Sometimes I view America as this great experiment: what happens when one race/culture (the White Western culture) takes over a land (after killing most of the Indigenous people), then enslaves and imports another race, and continues to have an influx of other peoples to support low wage jobs. And now we are all Americans. Will it work? Will we get along? If it can be done in the US, then yes maybe all the cultures on this planet can learn to coexist peacefully (because this one planet that we are all share is shrinking thanks to globalization). After almost 250 years this experiment is still ongoing and the verdict is out. But I think the key is to promote/vote multicultural people into leadership rolls (representation matters) and to teach our children that multicultural is magic.