Posted by Jayme Tsutsuse (Kyoto-fu, 2013-Present), job poster for JETwit and organizer of Cross-Cultural Kansai, seeking work opportunities in NYC starting in August 2014!
I recently returned to Kyoto after spending a week in New York City. Before my trip, I worried that I would experience what is called reverse culture shock, but shortly after returning to American soil, I realized the mistake in my worries. What I experienced wasn’t the culture shock of returning to a home that feels strangely between familiar and foreign. It was the culture shock of a completely novel experience.
It really didn’t take long after landing for this culture shock to set in. My boyfriend, Jeff, and I, both half-Japanese, born and raised in America, were riding an escalator up from JFK’s international arrivals lobby to the Airtram terminal. We were caught up in each other presence, having been apart for months, when suddenly, the lady on the downward escalator turned to us with a larger-than-life smile and enthusiastically called out, “Chinese“, waving her hand in our direction. We locked eyes with her, stunned, as she gradually disappeared down the escalator. Jeff and I stared each other up and down, searching for something that would have brought on the lady’s quick judgement. The man behind us rhetorically remarked, “What the hell was that about?”
The act itself wasn’t offensive or hurtful, but I could’t quite shake it from my thoughts. Granted a large international airport may be an easy place to act on an assumption that someone is foreign, but wouldn’t a simple hello suffice? Or Welcome to America if you must.
For months, I had been telling the people I met in Japan about America’s diversity – about how easy it is to blend in in the bigger cities, about how it is impossible to make judgements on whether or not someone is American. I’ve always claimed that on the subway in America, you can’t guess who is foreign on the basis of their race, appearance, language, or actions. But there we were in what’s said to be one of America’s most diverse cities, being incorrectly called out for our… ethnicity? nationality? identity?
Maybe this incident proved my point. After all, this lady attempted what I would consider to be impossible, to act on a judgement of ethnic/national identity, and failed to garner a positive response. It’s a great example of why these type of assumptions are futile.
It would be unfair for me to leave the discussion at this point. The truth is that the rest of my experiences in New York City made me realize what I miss about living amongst so many different yet congruent cultures. The city’s diversity was more palpable than I had expected. I heard so many different languages, constantly encountered people of different ethnicities and mixes, and could eat delicious food from all over the world! My culture shock was being shocked by the culture of diversity.
One morning, we ran to New York’s Chinatown for dim sum. As we wandered through the bustling streets of shops and restaurants, I thought about the escalator lady’s sterling smile. I asked Jeff if he thought she knew about this part of the city. We both laughed as we imagined how thrilled she would be to greet everyone.
This article was reposted from my blog, Cross-Cultural Kansai. Check it out to find out more about the cultural events, discussions, and projects organized in Kansai.
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