POWER IN BEING OF JAPANESE HERITAGE
10月
4日
JAPANESE CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTONImmigrants 1912 making major contributions to our Seattle community
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She answered, “It gives me energy and I feel more power.”
“Give me an example of when you feel like this,” I implored.
“Well, a couple times when I was with some friends and the subject came up, I said I’m ‘Go-sei’ (5th generation Japanese American) and I felt good.”
This response is thrilling to me. Perhaps our parenting, my husband’s comic strips for the North American Post and our books are resonating. I have a vision for a better Pacific Northwest community because we are sharing our OMOIDE (Memories), a program of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington. The stories of our Japanese in America experience and heritage values have been published in five volumes, written for 5th graders. We have plans for OMOIDE VI.
With the Covid Isolation and the passing of my husband, I am on an added path as I move into the 8th decade of life, I’m excited to share past learning and stories with new technology such as podcasts and cooperating with other venues such as STORIES AT THE PANAMA and EVENING AT THE SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATER.
I am surprised daily with leading scientists around the world citing examples from the Japanese culture as they lecture and talk about their research. This clearly backs up the benefits of passing-on our Japanese Heritage Values, not only for our own decedents, but for the benefit of our neighbors here in America. The following are a couple examples.
Ethologist Frans de Waal, in a recent podcast talked about conflict resolution. His example was about how in Japan, adults and teachers do not intervene in children’s fights. They consider it natural learning and let them work things out for themselves at their level, without adult or community rules. De Waal did a lot of studies with Chimps and Monkeys, citing, “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?”
Psychiatrist, Iain McGilchrist, who researches the difference between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, says, “The Western Culture has been mostly created by left brain activity which deals with numbers and goals for “parts” of our life.” He suggests we incorporate more of the Asian and particularly parts of the Japanese culture into our lives. This would bring the right brain emotions and look at our world as “whole” instead of just parts.
Although it’s not empirical studies sanctioned by a modern University, the Japanese had 200 years of the Edo Period which brought the practices of the arts and cultural expectations to a researched science and social norm.
As a member of the board of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, I am picturing a tour guide, 100 years from now, bringing attention to the strong heritage values like “being honest” and “resilience” shaping our Northwest community along with similar values with other ethnic communities.
The stories and words we share today, 2022, will guide that vision of our future.
