Looking Past the Surface

同志社国際高等学校１年

榎戸春

日Accept differences and become familiar with the unfamiliar, it’s not easy, but it has
proven itself to change people for the better. Joining hands with a stranger, understanding
differences, and accepting completely new ideas are things we face in our daily lives.
Take this across the comfort of our own borders to something completely alien and new― that is when we experience international relationship.
Born in England, raised in America, but 100 % Japanese, that is my identity.

英語 高校生－raised in America, I knew little about my Japanese culture.

BeingOf course I knew thelanguage, and a vague idea of its culture, but it wasn’t enough for me to live up to myJapanese name.

As much as I knew this, living in America left me indifferent to my lackof culture and more so geared my mind into thinking I was American.
reality hit me.

But soon enoughIt was at a peak in my freshman year: I had passed the audition to get

into the dance team and my school orchestra had won a spot on the national competition
that was to be held the next year.

At such a pinnacle in my freshman year, my parents

told me that we had to move to Japan.
that moment.

There wasn’t a word to describe my shock at

More than half of my life living in America, and almost zero years living

in Japan left me nervous and terrified of the life I was to live.

August 6th, I landed inJapan, my heart broken from leaving America, and my mind still unable to take it in.
For the first few months, I could only think of how much better life would be if I werestill in America.

I could only wonder what I would’ve been doing and I couldn’t accept

the fact I was no longer where I used to be.

It seemed like I was trying to prove myselfthat my life in America was better only because that was what I grew up with.

In thefirst few months, I was comparing everything from the lifestyle, the people, and the foodin Japan to the American culture I grew up with.
of the car rides I used to take in America.

Every time I used the train, I thought

Every time I talked to people at school, I

thought of the conversations I had with my American classmates.
different, and that was what I didn’t like about it.

Everything was so

I was so used to the classes where I

sat on the edge of my chair, nervous to get picked on, where individual values andopinions were greatly respected, and where multiple activities were created to encourage
individuals to speak their own opinions.

Even though I wasn’t always one to speak myopinion, being picked on during class made me pay attention, think about my personal
opinions, and also prepare me for college classes.

In America, children learn at a young

age the importance of speaking their mind and standing up for their own values andbeliefs.

But in Japan, the classes are mostly one way lectures where students just listen

to the teacher and take notes.

In addition, students are only rarely asked for theiropinions, and when the time comes, they are not ready and confident enough to speak
due to the lack of experience.

Unlike American students, Japanese students are moreencouraged to conformity than individuality, and their actions are not a resemblance ofindividuality but actions that satisfy their friends, their teachers, or even their family.
first I could only see the negatives of Japan.

AtIt was only after a couple of months, when

I was finally getting used to the lifestyle, that I could see Japan in a clearer light.

I

could see that this conformity and willingness to satisfy has created people that excel inworking together, keeping order, and also working to bring happiness to others.
Unfamiliarity brings fear and uncertainty.

And there is nothing wrong with feelinga little uncertain, but the important aspect is to stop judging unfamiliar things without awillingness to understand it.

I knew little about my Japanese culture, yet I still judged it

based on the small portion I wished to see: its surface.

I only felt I understood what theculture was, after carelessly criticizing what was unfamiliar to me.

Yet when I dug

America. And that’s when I realized. Many people easily back away from the unfamiliar,
whether it’s a culture or an idea, it is hard for us to accept something different from ourown ideas.

But diversity is necessary, it is what makes our society what it is and iswhat helps improve our society for the better.

Becoming familiar to the unfamiliar iswhat helps us understand a world far beyond the confined views we preserve within
ourselves.

It doesn’t have to be a country; it could also be an interaction of people withdifferent views and morals.

Nevertheless, everything has a hidden gem.

No matter far

you have to dig to get there and no matter how rugged the surface may be, the harder it
is to see, the more worthwhile.
Living in America and Japan, I’ve learned the differences between these countries
both good and bad: what each country lacks in, and what each country excels in.

But I

realized it wasn’t just the countries I learned about; I also learned about myself.

Theperson I am now is a product of the relations I made throughout my life in America andin Japan.

Through international relationship, I have been able to incorporate the assetsof each country into my own morals and values and improve myself as I do so.

I knowthat through future international relationships, I can incorporate a gamut of different
morals and values to widen my perspectives and my network to an international scale.

－英語 高校生

deeper, there was a hidden light, a gem that shined as bright as the gem I found in