The Tao of Culture

First and foremost, thank you all for participating freely in the survey I passed out awhile back. For those of you who didn't contribute but are interesting in reading the answers, I'll catch you up: I've been in the process of writing a short piece for an online magazine about culture with the themes being "fictions" (still not published yet, but if/when it is I'll let you all know so you can finally hear my answer to the questions). And to provide myself with some inspiration I gave out a survey consisting of two questions. The first: What is culture? The second: Can someone have multiple cultures? I gave these surveys out to the Japanese staff in the English and Japanese Dept., my co-workers (getting only three answer but answers from teachers from England, America, and Canada) as well as to the students in the 2-1 group (thank you Jason).

After finally sifting through all the answers, I must admit that it's not only been a reflective and inspiring process, but a frustrating and challenging one as well. But, one of the coolest products of all this seemingly-endless bumping of minds has been the atmosphere created in the teacher's room; I've talked with other teachers I normally would never have, and I think (hope) it's brought us all just a tad closer - especially as nearly all of us are linked by the common bond of having overseas experiences and what it feels like to be "the foreigner". Anyway, I'll stop rambling and let you read the answers. I have separated them into numbered bullets, with each number in the list representing an individual (ie. "1"' being the same student, and "2" being the next, "3" and so on. You must scroll down to read the same person's response to question number two).

*I didn't correct anyone's English (unless in person) as to not change the intended meaning.

Student (EC 2-1) responses to the question "What is Culture?"

It is unique, original one, even if it isn’t understood by other people, it is quite understandable for people who live in it or made it.

People automatically do things without hesitation. For example, Japanese use chopsticks when they eat something. In addition, language affects culture. Japanese language represents Japanese culture.

Culture is tradition. It’s protected by people who live there from long time ago to now.

Something most people in the country share.

Things that are only there.

Culture is what has been kept by people for a long time. It is what people think/believe it is important and normal for them. Like us using chopsticks?

Beliefs shared by people for a long time; all behaviour that comes from our parents; automatic action that taught from people and actually we didn’t study about it reminds constantly but it depends on culture which we are in now.

I think culture is a kind of traditional thing. A lot of things have each cultures, but I can’t explain them because I always do them unconsciously. Or things that foreigners feel strange. It’s peculiar to their country.

I think culture is a tradition and history of the country. It is a precious thing that our ancestor has made.

Things that people have been proud of for a long time.

I think it’s a symbolic thing of the country. We usually judge or image other countries by knowing each other’s “culture”. And also, culture is each one’s identity, I guess. So, I think we should know or “own” culture before we get to understand other cultures.

Something which is always around the people who live in the country and something they can’t get away from even if they want to because they are familiar with it since they were little. Something which just keeps going no matter what they feel about it.

The lifestyles that have been kept and believed for a long time among people.

The thing/image which reflects the country’s mind (it’s way of thinking, what they feel is important, what they feel is beautiful, what rules and manners in their life, etc)

The things that people who live in one particular area have done customarily or thought it’s natural. It is established by people in the area. It is deeply related to the history and the geographic condition.

What I was given by my parents. What I must give to my kids.

Student (EC 2-1) responses to the question "Can someone have multiple cultures?

1. Yes they can. By understanding where the culture came from, and agree or like it, we can get it. Like Autumn.
2. Yes, he or she can. For example, there are some Koreans in Japan. They speak both Korean and Japanese. They also go to their own ethnic schools. They have multiple cultures.
3. Yes, because sometimes people can share the same things across the border. For example, religion, music or food like that. Especially for people who life in other countries, they van have multiple cultures I think.
4. Yes, cause we have the right to do that. That will add up to the understanding of other cultures. People who are different in the race can get closer more.
5. Yes. If the person is interested in another country, they could have.
6. Of course, yes. As long as the person is interested in the other culture, cultures can be shared.
7. In modern days, I think many people especially young people have multiple cultures and they are trying to carry it out seriously. For example, they have a big dream to adapt themselves to different country’s culture and so they choose to live in foreign countries.
8. I think it depends on the situation. If we try, we can be used to.
9. Yes. A friend of mine is half Japanese and half Korean. She has two cultures and cherishes both of them.
10. I can’t say yes or no, but I want to have multiple cultures. Because I’m interested in other cultures. If we could share many types of cultures completely, it’s really miraculous thing. But it’s too difficult…
11. To tell the truth, it’s hard to make multiple cultures, I think. Of course we want to know other person’s culture and share the culture, but sometimes it might be dangerous. Unless we strive to understand the country deeply, we tend to misunderstand other cultures. I hope we can share all cultures as a natural thing… I hope.
12. Yes. Because I think people who live their life between 2 countries have experienced multiple cultures. Just because this kind of people actually exist.
13. I think it’s possible. People who life in a foreign country sometimes need to follow the culture in that country. And it’s possible that this makes their thinking and beliefs change.
14. I don’t think “can’t” but I think it’s very difficult because culture isn’t surface things. I mean, if you want to get multiple culture (other country’s culture), you have to understand other’s country’s mind deeply.
15. I’m positive, because we can learn or experience many different cultures after we got our own culture.
16. It depends on a way of thinking of each person. I think “can” for me.

Foreign Teacher responses to the question "What is Culture?"

1. The shared practices (the arts, politics, humor, conceptions) that represent a country or members of a group within the larger country.
2. The way of life of a people group, developed over time and passed from generation to generation.
3. I think culture and national identity are very disparate things. People sometimes refer to a country’s customs as it’s “Culture” but culture more often develops in opposition to nationality – an organic expression of shared beliefs or shared disagreements on the nature of humanity. Rather than the utilitarian structure of laws.

Foreign Teacher responses to the question "Can someone have multiple Cultures?"

1. Yes. On considering Asian/African Latin Americans in the U.S., they have the right to feel part of both subcultures by definition assumes that a person may be connected to more than 1 (although I sense the question implies something else).
2. No, I don’t think. A person’s culture is what it is. In the case of a foreigner living outside his/her culture, they adapt to the new culture, thereby changing their own culture, but I don’t think they have multiple cultures. Over time, such a person would be able to switch easily, between one or the other, but maybe never again feeling completely at ease in either one.
3. People are definitely fluid enough to move between culture, and can certainly occupy different aspects but when people begin to actively define (as is the case in “have”ing) those culture they usually negate each other and even possibly their own cultures.
   

Japanese Teacher responses to the question "What is Culture?"

1. However small the culture is, or whatever it is like, I just like the idea that people around the world have their own unique culture for centuries. Some could be immortal, while others could have been slightly changed to adjust to the environment. Where there’s people, there’s a culture.
2. Knowledge, art, behaviour, ways of thinking, etc. Which belong to a particular group of people and have been developed throughout the history of the group…?
3. It is a thing that we are usually unaware of. It is a thing that we think is normal. We take it for granted and may recognize it when pointed out. It is a thing that the wider our commitment to society becomes, the greater we realize.
   We could say it is – language we use, food we eat everyday, customs and celebrations we hold, values when we say it is good or bad, tacit models or patterns we behave or follow, assumptions we usually do not articulate, such as the idea, “The sun is watching you always”, and so on.
   It may form our nationality. We realize what it is like when we read foreign books, watch foreign films, eat foreign food, and talk with foreign people. It is not the matter of good/bad but it is culture.
4. Culture is, just like air and water, something that we can’t live without but which we don’t pay any special attention to in our daily life. I’m living this way. In spite of this, I’m sure we Japanese are “created” by Japanese culture and Americans by American culture. To me, culture is something mental, thereby giving us some “mental frame” when we think about the things happening in the world, which means we judge a lot of things from our viewpoint based on Japanese culture. Of course, I don’t think Japanese culture is universal. As a matter of fact, no culture in the world has its universality. Therefore we should respect any culture and any people with cultures different from ours. This is the only way we can survive long into the future. I don’t want any kind of “Clash of Culture”. Do you?
   

Japanese Teacher responses to the question "Can someone have multiple cultures?"

1. Absolutely yes! Unless you understand different cultures, I don’t think you can really understand your own culture. If you like it, or feel it fits you, then you can have it.
2. Negative. One who has multicultural background should be considered to have his/her own “mixed” culture, although the ratio of one culture to the other(s) in the mixture varies among people. I don’t know if I should call it a “culture” or not, though…
3. I think the answer is ‘yes’. If a person is born of parents with different cultures, he/she can get both cultures without noticing it. Or if a person is born of parents with one culture but brought up in a different country, he’she can get both cultures, though the latter may be aware of the difference of the two cultures inside/outside the house.
   when we get along with a person of another culture, we may accept and respect his/her culture without giving up our own culture.
4. My answer is “Yes”. Firstly, if my father is Japanese and my mother is American, it is quite natural for me to have Japanese culture and American culture at the same time. I think this means I can have multiple cultures. Secondly, if I live in a foreign country long enough, naturally I’ll get used to the culture of the country, thus making it possible for me to enjoy multiple cultures without giving up my own culture. So where do I stand? After giving this subject too much thought, here it is.
   
   Answer to question number one: "What is culture?"
   
   I believe culture is the collective-unconscious of a group of people who innately act and think the same without having to use language or concrete symbols due to generations of similar upbringings/situations/and lifestyle. Therefore, culture is a constantly changing thing that is constantly in tandem/step with the collective group. Individuals can trigger changes in culture, but only if the group accepts this change (they can be forced to accept it, I believe and these changes don't always have to be a good thing as seen throughout history).
   
   "Answer to question number two: Can someone have multiple cultures?"
   
   I believe it is possible to "have multiple cultures" but not fully - one can become multicultural but never completely "have" more than one. Saying that, I do believe one can make a switch over time, losing their old and gaining a new one, but I don't believe one can make this choice consciously.
   
   In order to truly instinctively/subconsciously gain another culture, I believe one must forget everything they have learned - all language and stereotypes and icons passed down to them - via their original culture. They must leave all that at the door and become a blank slate. Since I believe language is a tool and works by triggering images/icons/symbols/stereotypes in the listener's mind - ones that were ingrained into the person via the culture their grew up in - I think it's impossible to "gain" or "have" another culture by simply being interested in it, studying it or even understanding it perfectly. This is because I believe culture is like a filter or lens which someone looks through: it affects the way one views and thinks about the world, how one reacts, what one deems valuable, important, and prioritizes one's life etc. And, to have more than one culture - or filter - within you sets up a situation where you will forever be at odds (at least to some degree) with yourself and how you view life and the world. It would be like constantly having to switch between two pairs of sunglasses with different colors; if one situation, say when at work, you put on your foreign pair of sunglasses operating in a manner akin to your home country. And then, when in a different situation , you get frustrated, and end up putting on your pair of sunglasses which reflect your native country's culture you now live in (sorry for the terrible analogy of situations, but you get the point). So, unless one has subconsciously and innately accepted the culture on a fundamental level without making any choice like "I want to be Japanese" or "I like America's lifestyle or I prefer this style of living over that", they will constantly be switching between sunglasses (cultures) and only grow to understand a culture, but not become part of it. In other words, it will become second-nature to take some aspects of one culture and some of another, but never become fully part of one culture or the other. This is when a person becomes multi-cultural. If one changes without realizing it on a fundamental level, and has thrown out the other culture completely - and therefore lives their life through one filter only - I believe they can "have" the new culture. If not, then I believe they have become multi-cultural, with bits of both cultures within them, sometimes seeing through one filter and sometimes seeing through another, but never through only one - never feeling at complete ease in either cultures. This person, I believe, has become part of some sort of hybrid culture unto itself.
   
   Whew... All this philosophizing has lead me to the conclusion that this question fails before it begins due to it's medium: language, which operates with symbols cultivated by culture. To think and talk about this question is to lose all chances of "having another culture". For, to truly "have" another culture is to operate within it at complete ease, subconsciously, innately and as one with the rest of the group. To think on it (like what I've made all of you do) is to take two steps back and one step forward. It reminds me of all those Zen sayings, where to talk about the Tao is to lose the Tao; it's what can't be taught or put into words. I don't know if I'm saying culture is like the Tao, but all I know is that, for me, the only way to "have" multiple cultures is unconsciously become part of the collective group by using one's soul, heart and body. It can't be done with knowledge nor one's mind.
   
   If any of you have any responses to this, please post a message! I realize this could be a wonderful exercise in chasing one's tail, but I hope it was fun for me, and it was great putting one's thoughts out there with you all.