On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 12:50 AM, Jim Grisanzio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Japanese-ness comes from being
> born here, living here, speaking/writing Japanese, and doing Japanese
> things.

... and not being of Korean slave labor or Ainu descent...

> Yet, he's an American (of
> Japanese parents) who has only lived in Japan for 10 years. I asked him why
> he's treated differently. He said, "Simple. I /think/ differently. I'm an
> American. I am different." So, here's a case of a guy born to Japanese
> parents in NY, genetically he's Japanese, he's got family in Japan, he talks
> as native Japanese as anyone here, yet he's not really Japanese /culturally/
> because his thinking process was formed when he was a kid living in the US.

I think being brought up or living in a particular cultural milieu
does affect one's values and lifestyle.

> I think it's pretty rare. I look at the
> US and Europe with all their diversity and yet I see basically one culture
> -- western. Sure, it has many shades and distinctions between states in the
> US and countries in Europe, but my goodness it all looks so very similar
> from here because westerners think more alike than they think differently.

How about India? And China? Do Indians think within a narrow band of thoughts?

Thaths
-- 
"I saw this in a movie about a bus that had to SPEED around a city, keeping
 its SPEED over fifty, and if its SPEED dropped, it would explode. I think
 it was called, 'The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down'." -- Homer J. Simpson

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