Latin American Culture Analysis

Japanese Internment: The Root of the Issue Throughout history of not only the United States but also the world, racism has played a huge role in the treatment of other humans. A dark mark in United States history, the Japanese Relocation during WWII is a prime example of this racism coming into play. Whether or not this event was necessary or even justified, however, is a constant question for historians even nowadays. The Japanese relocation of the 1920’s unnecessary and unjustified because it’s main causes: selfish economic plots by farmers, unrealistic military measures, and blatant racism.

Memoir's of a Declining Ryukyuan Woman This reading was set about 50 years after Japan annexed the Ryukyuan Kingdom, as chain of islands near Japan. During this time, Japan forced the Ryukyuan people to act more Japanese, have more Japanese behaviors. The people were forced to take lessons on how to speak the Japanese language. On the mainland, people that came from the island was treated with racial discrimination, making is very difficult to find a job and housing.

The Japanese Americans sustained many injustices during the pre-World War Two era, including exclusion from traditional establishments and occupations. It was noted, “the [economic] argument and the discriminatory measures are plain contradictions” (Goto 105-106). Although the stated goal of Californians was to have a unified population, their actions belied their true motives. The colossal nature of the assimilatory feats performed by Japanese dictated that “even Californian agitators themselves, in their moments of private reflection, admit the wonderful power of adaptability of Japanese,” but, “in public they do everything to prevent the process of assimilation from running its natural course” (Goto 106). Often, the bigoted owners of white establishments barred people of Japanese

• There were cultural and communication gaps along with some amount of xenophobia toward the Japanese

In the 1880’s, America began seeing the first Japanese immigrants arrive in the Pacific Northwest. The Japanese came to this country searching for a better life. Many hoped to begin a new life in America where they could raise their families. There were others who came here merely to earn and save money only to return to Japan later on. The Japanese people who began their lives in America experienced little racism and discrimination, that is, before December 7th, 1941 when the country of Japan bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After this event, the Japanese-American people’s lives would change dramatically.

They are not the stuff of which Americans citizens can be made…. they will not assimilate with us. (Conrat, 18) As presented, Japanese-Americans, no matter if they participated and contributed to society, were discriminated against in a manner similar to the way that Americans of African, Chinese, and Latino descent were. It was largely believed that anti-Japanese ideology stemmed from earlier, anti-Chinese agitation that began to occur following California’s gold rush in the 1850s (Conrat, 16) This lax form of discrimination worsened after the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

In the 1900’s many Japanese came to America in search of a better life. They found a home in Hawaii as well as the main land where they would take up jobs such as fishermen and railroad workers. Economically, they didn't fell very welcome in America, the white workers tried to push them out by making them uncomfortable in their jobs. Politics were also not on their side, laws prevented the Japanese from owning land or becoming naturalize citizens. Suddenly the Immigration Act of 1924 stopped all immigration to the U.S. The next generation, the Japanese Americans attended public schools along side Americans but were still facing discrimination. After Pearl Harbor they were treated even worse than before. Americans were confusing the Japanese

While struggling to seek places for refuge, Japanese American Associations and culture type groups sought to keep bonds with Japan. The group decided to “foster”

Mona and I had an interesting talk about how her family mixed the American and Italian cultures together while they were raising her. She told me that many of the traditions and rituals to commemorate a death in Italy are not practiced in the United States. This is mainly due to the villages in Italy being so small, allowing the people to be more familiar with each other. A funeral in Italy depends a great deal on the family and their financial position in the village. The more money, the more prestigious and elaborate the event would be. Mona said that the deceased is kept in a casket at the family home, and that people come to the house to remember the dead.

The Japanese picture brides’ American-born children who rejected their mothers’ culture and language remind me of myself and my own failed efforts to suppress my cultural identity at Marin Academy as a way to fit in with my peers, invoking a great feeling of empathy within me because I understand what it is like to want to feel included within a greater community. Julie Otsuka reveals the stark change that begins to occur in the mother’s children when she writes, “They preferred their own company to ours and pretended not to understand a word that we said… They insisted on eating bacon and eggs every morning for breakfast instead of bean-paste soup” (74-75). By “pretend[ing] not to understand” what their mothers are saying, the children are breaking the only form of communication

Because of the “model minority” myth many Japanese American’s found themselves struggling against discrimination, as they were expected to “be quiet and behave” and not express “anger and indignation” from their racial status (Pulido

Faced with the local investigators who insist on uncovering their Asian origins, Japanese Americans exercise their ability to give evasive responses in order to equally “insist on their racial citizenship as Americans” (ibid.: 414). Questions of where the Japanese American belongs can be answered by the said Japanese American with a location familiar and native to the national community, such as San Diego, California. Such tactics are less subtle than the previously mentioned methods of other migrants, and although the Japanese American example shows that it is possible to actively contest foreignization, it is still not a guarantee of avoiding racialized exclusion from the national community. At the risk of possible social impropriety, such descendants of Japanese migrants take the “‘educate’ those who are apparently ignorant or misinformed” (ibid.: 416). Not only is the method of stonewalling queries with evasive answers dangerous due to possible social offence, but such a method also only takes into account the individual, not collective, representations of belonging within the

How the United States and Japan integrated “previously despised populations into their nations in unprecedented ways, while at the same time denouncing racial discrimination and even considering these peoples as part of the national populations and, as such, deserving of life, welfare, and happiness” (Fujitani

Japan and the United States:Different but Alike! The culture of a place is an integral part of its society whether that place is a remote Indian village in Brazil or a highly industrialized city in Western Europe. The culture of Japan fascinates people in the United States because, at first glance, it seems so different. Everything that characterizes the United States--newness, racial heterogeneity, vast territory, informality, and an ethic of individualism-- is absent in Japan. There, one finds an ancient and homogeneous society, an ethic that emphasizes the importance of groups, and a tradition of formal behavior governing every aspect of daily living, from drinking tea to saying hello. On the surface at least, U.S. and Japanese

In Latin American countries, they have a very unique culture. With their holidays, music, celebrations, and art, the countries in Latin America never cease to bring joy in people’s lives. Latin American culture is vastly different than other cultures in many ways. In Latin America, the languages of Spanish and Portuguese are dominant and most people speak them. However there are people who speak other languages as well. Latin America includes nineteen countries and several territories. There are a variety of different ethnicities in Latin America including Mexicans, Europeans, and Asians. Education inside the Latin American culture still struggles. Only a little more than half of kids ages 13-17 advance into secondary school. Because of this, the crime and violence rates in Latin America are at an all time high. These countries have been rated as one of the most dangerous regions in the world because of how high the rates of crime and violence are.