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The True Face of Internationalization

TANAKA, Yuka (Toyama National College of Technology)

I'd like to talk about an event that happened a few months ago that made me think deeply about the world we live in today. It happened one night near Toyama station. I was going to meet my friends there. On my way, I got into an elevator and there was a middle-eastern looking guy standing there. He was going to push the button, so I said “first floor please” in English. Suddenly he asked me if I knew where the closest car park was, so I said “There are a lot.” Then he told me he was lost, and forgot where he parked his car, and even worse, he was new to Toyama. Before meeting me, he had asked several people if they could speak English but they all said “いいえ”. He was so happy that I could speak English. But, I wasn't familiar with the city and worse I was making my friends wait. They knew the city well, so I asked them for help. One of them knew many car-park buildings but she couldn't speak English so I translated and she took us. But the guy said “Not this one.” So I continued translating for more than an hour. We found out the guy was from Pakistan. And finally after several tries and countless translations, we found his car. After he got into his car I asked him, “Do you know how to get home?” He said, “Yeah, in which direction is Takaoka?” I said, “Just go to the highway and turn left. Do you know where the highway is?” He said no, so we drove to the highway and said goodbye. I was proud of what my friends and I had done that night, me for my English and my friends for their patience and support.

As a result, I got home really late and my mom was furious. She asked if I knew what time it was? Who I was with? And what I was doing? When I told her the story, she was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED that I had made contact with a foreigner, especially someone from Pakistan. See, for my mother and many in her generation, when they hear the word “Pakistan” a few things come to mind; curry, Islam, terrorism danger…..you get the image right? Even though I told her he was nice and honest, she said it was late, and I'm a girl, he' s a man………but I think the real reason she was angry was because he was Pakistani.

My mother tends to stereotype ALL PEOPLE from a country based on what she reads in the newspaper or hears on TV. And generally speaking, the news often portrays Islamic countries like Pakistan as supporters of terrorism, trouble makers, or dangers to society. She puts all Pakistani people into ONE BOX regardless of their individual characteristics, attitudes or behaviors. In her mind it's all for one, one for all! “One was a terrorist so they are all terrorists.” All Islamic people are the same.

Interestingly, I had similar experiences in the USA where I studied for a year as an exchange student. For example, when I got very good grades on my exams, everyone said “That's because you are a smart Asian, or it's because you are Japanese.” I felt angry when I heard that, because my nationality had absolutely nothing to do with it, it was simply because I studied hard, period! This happened several times in several different situations, with that same “because you are Asian” reaction. It was really annoying that they could stereotype all Asians as being the same.

The point is, my mother and my American friends stereotyped a person's character, and skill based on their country of origin. They put all the people of that country into a box and on that box they labeled it according to their preconceptions. I believe this situation needs to change.

Generally speaking, the way the media and newspapers portray a nation will greatly influence the way people develop images of those nations and people. However we must not forget, all nations are made up of individuals who have different characters, beliefs, and ideas. People need to make more effort to see people from other countries as individuals rather than simply putting them into a box.

The Olympics will be held in Tokyo, in 2020. During this time, many foreign athletes, spectators and tourists will converge on Tokyo. The Japanese Olympic committee including Prime Minister Abe and famous athletes did an excellent job to secure the Olympics. They had to overcome the strong bids by Istanbul and Madrid, the nuclear plant issue of Fukushima, and so on. I believe many Japanese feel that hosting the Tokyo Olympics is like a dream come true, and I am sure they want it to be successful. We are going to open our hearts and minds to the world. I believe hosting the Olympics is a big chance for Japan to show the world how we have grown as a society on the issue of internationalization.

The interactions between individuals of each country will form the foundation for internationalization, which I think is an understanding between individual people from all over the world, making our world wider. Prejudice makes our world narrower, and we can't afford that. Please enjoy meeting foreigners but when you do keep an open heart and treat them as individuals. Please judge them on their individual merits and not by their country of origin. When you can do that, then you will be able to understand the true meaning of internationalization.