It took me roughly twenty one hours to travel from Mesa, Arizona, to Hiroshima, Japan. The path itself would have me go by car to Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport, then a quick hop through the sky to LAX. From Los Angeles it was then onto a 777 to spend over twelve hours chasing the sun, which still beat us and came around behind our jet, leading to the longest sunrise I’ve ever suffered through. Landing in Tokyo, I then had to scurry through Haneda Airport to once again skip through the sky to Hiroshima Airport, staggering off the plane in a complete haze of bleary eyed fatigue mixed with adrenaline, excitement, and fear. Before I could even process my emotions, it was on to a bus to head down from the airport, through Hiroshima proper, and then finally up the mountain to the campus that would be my home for the summer: Hiroshima Shudo University. The course was rigorous, fatigue inducing, and fast paced.
So why bother? Why go through all the vagaries of travel and hardship of study? Why would anyone want to be shoved in an aluminum can and be hurtled halfway across the world at 600 miles per hour with absolutely no room to move inside that tube? Let’s not forget you still have to then do the entire thing in reverse to get back home. The truth is, when I first went, I wasn’t entirely certain why I was going, other than a gut urge that kept driving me to see Japan. What I found was a benefit far beyond what I expected, something that reaped endless benefits for me, something that any traveler can experience when exposed to a new place and a new culture.
Doctor James Ford, one of my stewards on my quest in Japan, summed it up best: you don’t know your own culture until you step outside your own. While I learned many new things while taking courses in language, history, and religion in Japan, that foundation is what has made the greatest impact on me; it is the quintessential point that guides the compass of my world outlook and personal development. That point alone was worth the price of admission to study abroad in Japan, and believe me, that bill was not inexpensive. Living in another culture, not just looking at it from a distance, allows one to then see his or her own culture in a new light, while before the image was so close to the lens that it simply could not be focused on. Traveling thousands of miles really let me understand my home, as well as to become enriched through the culture of Japan.
To briefly dabble in background, my desire to study Japanese language traces back to my involvement in the martial arts, something I’ve touched on in my earlier blog posts. I began as an apprentice of karate, but became enamored with the history of the samurai—the historical Japanese warrior class. This led me to branch out in my martial arts, from karate to kendo and iaido, but still I felt I needed more. I read “Shōgun,” by James Clavell, an eye opening epic novel about Japan written by an Australian. I read books by Japanese authors translated into English, but still felt a step removed. Then I found myself picking courses in college, and I knew I had to study Japanese language. And, as a result of my chosen major, I wound up cursing to myself as I endured the grueling trip that would take me all the way from the Phoenix metro area to Hiroshima Japan, from a massive, continent spanning country of diverse ethnicities to an island nation where the population was almost 100% homogenous Japanese. To say that things were interesting would be an understatement.
From the viewpoint of an American, experiencing Japan is an exercise in contrasts. You can even begin with the language, which is written in a mixture of Chinese characters and native script, and the verb comes at the end of the sentence rather than in the middle. While we as Americans strike out on our own, forming our own small family units, the Japanese retain their ancestral ties, with multiple generations living under one roof. Their history stretches back thousands of years, while America isn’t even 250 years old. In dealing with the Japanese I met, I found them to be reserved, humble, and polite. Their mass transit is a model to be held up to the world, their education system produces fine students with excellent technical skills, and they even distill a mean whisky that will fight any Scotch single malt for top honors. And the food! Seafood obviously features heavily, with fish, crab, shrimp and eel being very common. They consume large quantities of vegetables, drink tea like it’s going out of style, and have one of the highest life expectancies in the entire world. Sounds like things are all figured out in the land of the rising sun, eh?
Of course, as you begin to learn of these contrasts and see how your own nation is different, you also come to appreciate the similarities. The most important fact is that we are all humans, and that is a great linking force, a powerful bond that even a terrible war could not sever. Part of studying in Hiroshima involves visiting the site of the atomic bombing, the “bomb dome” standing in mute testimony to the terrible, grievous wound that was torn open in the fabric of Japanese society when America released atomic weapons on the world. Being in the Peace Park and the museum creates an empathetic connection, making you realize that we’re not so different, that we have many similarities.
Doctor James Ford, one of my stewards on my quest in Japan, summed it up best: you don’t know your own culture until you step outside your own. While I learned many new things while taking courses in language, history, and religion in Japan, that foundation is what has made the greatest impact on me; it is the quintessential point that guides the compass of my world outlook and personal development. That point alone was worth the price of admission to study abroad in Japan, and believe me, that bill was not inexpensive. Living in another culture, not just looking at it from a distance, allows one to then see his or her own culture in a new light, while before the image was so close to the lens that it simply could not be focused on. Traveling thousands of miles really let me understand my home, as well as to become enriched through the culture of Japan.
To briefly dabble in background, my desire to study Japanese language traces back to my involvement in the martial arts, something I’ve touched on in my earlier blog posts. I began as an apprentice of karate, but became enamored with the history of the samurai—the historical Japanese warrior class. This led me to branch out in my martial arts, from karate to kendo and iaido, but still I felt I needed more. I read “Shōgun,” by James Clavell, an eye opening epic novel about Japan written by an Australian. I read books by Japanese authors translated into English, but still felt a step removed. Then I found myself picking courses in college, and I knew I had to study Japanese language. And, as a result of my chosen major, I wound up cursing to myself as I endured the grueling trip that would take me all the way from the Phoenix metro area to Hiroshima Japan, from a massive, continent spanning country of diverse ethnicities to an island nation where the population was almost 100% homogenous Japanese. To say that things were interesting would be an understatement.
From the viewpoint of an American, experiencing Japan is an exercise in contrasts. You can even begin with the language, which is written in a mixture of Chinese characters and native script, and the verb comes at the end of the sentence rather than in the middle. While we as Americans strike out on our own, forming our own small family units, the Japanese retain their ancestral ties, with multiple generations living under one roof. Their history stretches back thousands of years, while America isn’t even 250 years old. In dealing with the Japanese I met, I found them to be reserved, humble, and polite. Their mass transit is a model to be held up to the world, their education system produces fine students with excellent technical skills, and they even distill a mean whisky that will fight any Scotch single malt for top honors. And the food! Seafood obviously features heavily, with fish, crab, shrimp and eel being very common. They consume large quantities of vegetables, drink tea like it’s going out of style, and have one of the highest life expectancies in the entire world. Sounds like things are all figured out in the land of the rising sun, eh?
Of course, as you begin to learn of these contrasts and see how your own nation is different, you also come to appreciate the similarities. The most important fact is that we are all humans, and that is a great linking force, a powerful bond that even a terrible war could not sever. Part of studying in Hiroshima involves visiting the site of the atomic bombing, the “bomb dome” standing in mute testimony to the terrible, grievous wound that was torn open in the fabric of Japanese society when America released atomic weapons on the world. Being in the Peace Park and the museum creates an empathetic connection, making you realize that we’re not so different, that we have many similarities.
Yes, the language is very difficult to master, but not impossible. While the Japanese work cooperatively and American’s tend to view themselves as going and doing things on our own, we still lean on our coworkers, our families, our friends, especially in times of great hardship and distress. We may not have a daily connection with all our family members or fellow citizens, but if there is a threat, we band together in support. Our history is one of a new nation, but it stretches back in time through the ancestors that we trace back to Ireland, Italy, Germany, England, China, and even Japan. We take the best of their culture and make it part of our own, not because we’re greedy, but because we can see and appreciate the benefits of what that outside group offers. We receive their outlook as a gift, even as we receive their people as new Americans. As a people, we’re loud and bombastic, yes, but we like to think we use it to charge headlong into the problems that others would fear to approach. Though we haven’t always made the right choices, we’ve always had our hearts in the right place. And when it comes to food, it’s very obvious that we love to eat, and we love to eat dishes from all over the world.
The single biggest takeaway from my time spent in Japan, though, is the understanding of scale. America is a massive place, and that means all our problems are magnified. While this leads to some terrible problems in crime and corruption (don’t smile, Japan, we know about the yakuza), it also leads to amazing innovation and the willingness to take risks. It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, especially when you’re standing in the woods. Move several thousand miles off the coast, though, and you’ll be surprised what you see. It’s an understanding of the larger picture, of how we fit in with the rest of the world, since we so often think of America as the center of it. Right now things are changing very rapidly. We have dynamic situations in Russia, China, and the Middle East. We have many difficult challenges to navigate, atop our own internal conflicts that are coming to a head as we push into a new, interconnected age of technology. Realizing how America fits in gives one a leg up, and lets you speak from a position of knowledge when discussing what it is that makes us who we are and why we do the things we do. You also gain appreciate for the differences found in other cultures and you learn to bridges those gaps, especially if that means survival in a foreign land with limited language skills.
I would extend as a challenge to anyone reading this: go out into the world and take that opportunity to find your own home. Whether you’re from America, Europe, or anywhere else, you can learn so much about this planet, its people, and your place in it. It doesn’t have to be a college course (though structure certainly helps). The benefits of being outside your own silo will become readily apparent soon enough to any world traveler. I feel that those who have also traveled to other nations can appreciate my statements and confirm them as truth. The coming decades could promise to be very interesting. I write books about a world where all the things go wrong. I feel, however, that if we all step outside our comfort zones and learn to see things from a global perspective, than hopefully my novels will be nothing more than the soundings of a mad man instead of a terrifying possibility.
I would extend as a challenge to anyone reading this: go out into the world and take that opportunity to find your own home. Whether you’re from America, Europe, or anywhere else, you can learn so much about this planet, its people, and your place in it. It doesn’t have to be a college course (though structure certainly helps). The benefits of being outside your own silo will become readily apparent soon enough to any world traveler. I feel that those who have also traveled to other nations can appreciate my statements and confirm them as truth. The coming decades could promise to be very interesting. I write books about a world where all the things go wrong. I feel, however, that if we all step outside our comfort zones and learn to see things from a global perspective, than hopefully my novels will be nothing more than the soundings of a mad man instead of a terrifying possibility.
A.C. Harrison
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