I found this short video on YouTube of a bunch of young Americans (or were they Canadians?) taking the subway in Japan (most probably in Tokyo) and being noisy, pestering people around them and talking nonsense. Sorry to say to my American friends, but your reputation in East Asia is not good, especially in South Korea and parts of Japan (due to heavy military presence), China (political issues) and Taiwan (young expatriates). And Canadians are slowly catching up, because of some people who come to work as English teachers and get drunk one too many times or even get involved in fights or generally disrespect the local culture and women. And behavior like seen in the video doesn't help to improve the bad image, does it? Even, if you're just a visitor, a tourist, it doesn't give you the right to behave the way you do at home. But I guess some people just don't care. And then things like this happen and I'm not surprised at all.
Of course on the other side, there's also a lot of nationalism or racism in East Asian countries as well. Sometimes all foreigners from the West are lumped together and seen as "bad, arrogant, aloof, criminals, having no morals, disregarding the local culture etc." And it's not only driven by common people, but mostly by the media. It's a vicious circle and that's certainly not good for both sides. Europeans are still lucky, but that's because we're less known. We weren't really engaged in East Asia a lot in the past 50 years, be it militarily or as expatriate language teachers, like the current flock of young people, who most often come from USA, Canada and Australia. And believe me, we have some pretty obnoxious people in Europe, too.
With all that said, let me stress, that I do not believe (or try to imply here) that the majority of Americans and Canadians, who go to Asia, behave in a bad way (or that Europeans are better than them). I'm just talking about the stereotypes. Those who behave bad are in a big minority. And of course the media will rather drive (or blow up) the the story of a drunk foreign English teacher involved in a brawl rather than tell the stories of hundreds of polite foreigners, who respect the locals, speak their language and blend in perfectly. The media in the Far East, especially in South Korea, is constantly implying "that foreigners were going out there with the intent to make trouble..." (Metropolitician, 2008, Tips To Avoid Being Assaulted in Korea). Media making up or distorting a story about foreigners in East Asia is not a new thing and we (the foreigners) need to be very careful not to give them unneccessary material. And another thing I need to add: The White Westerners have it much easier in the Far East than those foreigners of African descent. I'm fully aware of that while writing this, but that's a whole 'nother topic. You can read more about that here.
When I'm in Asia, I try my best to represent my culture and my country well. I usually say I'm Slovenian or European (or both), depends on the situation. Sometimes I'm too tired to explain where Slovenia is, so I just say I'm from Europe. It's funny how people almost by default assume I was American. And if you read the paragraphs above, being seen as American in Asia is not always good. On the other hand, my girlfriend says I totally look "European" on the outside (whatever "looking European" is), and dress and behave like one (?). I wonder, what makes us Europeans so different from North Americans on the outside. Any ideas?
I must say, it's not only the bad reputation of Canadians and Americans in East Asia, that makes me stress my Slovenian and European heritage, but it's the pride of being who I am and where I come from and the fact, that we're still different, even though we're all Westerners. Even Americans and Canadians are different and don't want to be seen as same (even though they many times are seen as same). In the end, I hope people would be seen as the individuals they are and without prejudice or stereotypes, that are attached to the group they belong. Of course, that's wishful thinking, because foreigners face prejudice everywhere, in East Asia, in North America and also in Europe. That's why the struggle goes on. We'll need decades to really get to know each other well. But will we really get along and respect each other? I'm positive and I'll say eventually we will.
- What do you think about the people in the video?
- What are your thoughts on all the issues I pointed out?
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