Life Lessons in Traveling Part 2: Seeing Asia
Lynne Fukuda
Instructor of Anthropology
Central Texas College
E-mail: lfukuda@hawaii.edu
My story of life lessons in traveling continues here. From the glamorous golden jet age into the present, I managed to survive and adapt. I still do miss the luxury of having hot, filling meals and individualized service. I long to see the flight attendants less harried and more respected and cherished as in the old days. I ache when I see how tired they are, how little they rest, and how very little time they have to chat with their passengers. The flights themselves are a lot less comfortable, with more seats crammed into the cabins, more passengers occupying the seats, sometimes to full capacity, and the potential for more discomfort, more disgruntled passengers, and less clean air to breathe.
However, I discovered, among the numerous airlines that compete with one another for passengers, that there is a vast difference among airlines in amenities, service, and comfort. Some airlines have planes with more leg room, others with extra services or amenities, some with barebones but cheaper fares, and some with the traditional full-service and thoughtful, hardworking flight attendants who deliver their services always with their polished, youthful and cheerful smiles.
Yet, by traveling with airline employees as a standby passenger, we were always treated with kindness and respect. When a plane was leaving, the captain would wait for us to reach the gate and board. If we were trapped by strict and suspicious customs agents, an airline agent would come forth to rescue us and whisk us away to a safer country just on time.
When I finally began to travel in Asia with my mother in my later college years, we began our journey through ancestral lands, on my father’s side and my mother’s father’s side. Certainly, all of Asia is not uniform, consisting of many peoples, languages, cultures and traditions, but I liked to think that my Japanese ancestors originated in mainland Asia and crossed the ocean to the islands of the East. I tried to find people who resembled me more than the Europeans and found an array of different cultural practices that were practiced by those living in Hawaii.
There were Buddhists and Buddhist celebrations, temples and worshipers. What I learned in Asia was the reverence for religion. Everywhere I went, there were small shrines, even in the shops that burned incense and had a small but beautiful altar to guard over their families and their businesses. At temples, everyone worshipped, including prostitutes, barmaids, possible criminals, beggars, and people one did not expect to be very religious. The love for their gods was apparent, and I realized that however terrible was this life, many believed in a better reincarnation. Their lesson was that one strove to do ones best no matter what fate set them up to be, and with hope, they would be reborn a better person or being.
It was not merely the worshipper but the everyday attitudes of the people in Asia that struck me. It was especially in Thailand, the land of one of my closest friends from high school who taught me that Buddhism was practiced every day, every moment in their lives. Young boys entered temples. I saw them dressed in saffron orange robes, head shaven and living, even if briefly, the religious life. Even if they did not end up as priests, having a taste of such a life gave them a deep respect of all religious people and the religion itself. The poor even found money to give to the temples. Those who were poor helped those who were less fortunate. And when people greeted one another, it seemed that it was with a soft tone of voice and a ready smile.
If I believed Hawaii was the land of aloha and smiles, I discovered that so was Thailand. Covered by mountains in the north and surrounded by water in the south, it was a paradise. Poverty, drugs, prostitution and illegal trade infiltrated the land, and yet, it failed to rob its people of smiles, kindness and their Buddhist practices.
As they worshiped Buddha, they worshipped their King and Queen. I was familiar with the two royals, having been in my Thai friend’s house often and seeing their framed pictures displayed in the high places in her home, a place of reverence. It mattered little that most people in Thailand lived in poverty and the king and queen lived in a palace with obvious luxury. They still respected their royals and believed in their roles in life. They would live out their lives accepting what the gods granted them and live with a smile and kindness and follow the teachings of Buddha.
It was the same in China and in Japan. There was a deep respect among the people for one another. Perhaps that is why there is much less violence in these lands. People try their best to get along and to make things work. Respect for each person and politeness permeates the land.
It was to my great shock that people who resembled me physically did not resemble me in thinking or in behavior. I felt more at home in Europe where my mother’s people had originated and knew that they too connected with me in the same way. In Asia, I was simply a foreigner who resembled them. Like a manufactured copy of a doll or a mannequin, I was not a part of their people at all.
Perhaps another lesson I learned was the interest and ready adoption of foreign things. Many Asians were eager to know what life was like in America, what young people did or owned, and what movies and music they favored. Desiring to be more “Americanized”, young Asians donned shirts with strange English saying that only made grammatical sense. They carried around radios and cell-phones wishing to appear modern. I gasped as I saw a whole fashion show of young people better dressed than anyone I knew back home.
Modern items, technology, and the future all fitted together in their desire to catch up with the Western world, especially America. It was here that I discovered the worship of American culture, American values, and American goods. In America or even in Hawaii, many individuals badmouth our people, our values, our culture, and yet, once abroad, although some may say negative things about America, especially now with the Iraqi conflict, the people I met in the eighties and nineties all found positive things to say about the land of the free and the brave.
Coming from overcrowded regions of the world with limited resources, limited opportunities, oppressive governments, and restrictions on personal freedoms, for the Asians America was and still is the land of golden opportunity where one can grow and be nurtured to the maximum and realize dreams that never become reality in Asia. There is no caste system, no distinct and fixed class system, and there is always the opportunity to gain a good education, obtain a good job, and live a safe and modern life.
“America is so big,” one Asian told me. “It is so free and so great.”
“I wish I could go to America and have a better job and more pay.”
“I want to see America’s west and its great mountains and the states,” another said.
I learned from people of Asia what America stood for. Waves of immigrants had left their lands to seek a better life and found it. Chinese people came in the greatest numbers; some Japanese also came, mostly to the West Coast and to Hawaii. A few Thais and other Southeast Asians came in smaller groups. Stories and legends of the better life and golden opportunities abounded. They studied our belonging from our clothing, glasses, jewelry, shoes, bags, and small gadgets enviously and nodded, all in agreement that life was considerably better in the United States.
I learned from the people of Asia about the dreams people have about emigrating to America. I learned what people truly think of our country and what it stands for. I am certain that just as there is admiration, there is resentment of American presence whether it be military, business, or politics, but I heard many positive things and was able to reaffirm why I was so proud to be an American. I did indeed come from the land of the free and the brave, of incredible military strength that strove to help countries from the dangers of tyranny and communism. I was a product of a land that instilled great individualism, that nurtured the natural talents and skills of a person, that gave great freedom to women so that they were not forced into arranged marriages or harassed into quitting good careers, or enslaved or abused by men who treated women as less than equals. I began to appreciate the vastness of our lands and resources and the vastness of the people of our lands that welcomed new immigrants and people, that allowed everyone to eventually become a part of the greater community without having centuries-old feuds. We were also a land where luxuries were normal commodities, having hot-running water in our baths and kitchens, centralized heating during the winters and A/C in the summers, cars for each member of the family, electronic devices for even the youngest members of our family, and having a free and good education for our children. Many of our people also lived in comfort and safety, taking for granted that our lands were never bombed or invaded, never occupied or destroyed. We believed that we were a world leader and power and took pride in our people.
Another thing I learned in Asia was the importance of politeness. Unlike Americans, Asians prefer the avoidance of conflict and quiet resolution for problems. Politeness is a way to prevent conflicts, to approach subjects gently, and to cushion any unfavorable interactions so that over tea it becomes a friendly chat and not a shouting match. In the marketplaces, the airports, the train stations, the businesses, and numerous gathering places, it was seldom that we heard raised voices or angry people. Everyone went quietly on their own way, making room for others, anticipating others passing them and needing space. Even in incredibly crowded subway trains, people politely looked away, making certain that no one was experiencing discomfort unnecessarily. It was the same on a crowded plane. Asian passengers quickly glanced at the passengers behind them before reclining the seats, ever mindful of the possibility of hitting the knees of their back neighbors, as they reclined slowly.
It is this respect and care that taught me how important it was to think of other people in crowded places. Instead of being annoyed by the lack of space or of the occasional and accidental shoves I think of the comfort of others before I act, wondering if a little noise, a small movement, or even a behavior would annoy or disturb another being.
This lesson was most important in the days when air travel became more crowded as passengers took advantage of the cheaper flights and also began to travel more regularly domestically and abroad. Cramped economy seats were always a great source of discomfort, often for larger passengers, even though being short and small I too feel the lack of space. I make certain to set the rules when we are first seated. “Feel free to wake me when you need to pass,” I tell my seatmate if I have an aisle seat. I ask my back neighbor if my reclined seat is hitting his or her knee. I make certain that I do not pile my many belongings in the pocket and do not disturb the flight attendants more than necessary.
I am fond of Asia, the land of some of my ancestors, where politeness is the norm and the deep reverence of their gods is an everyday thing. I long to travel to remote parts of Asia, many that I have never seen. They are far more mysterious to me, although I am part-Asian. My upbringing, I discovered, was more Euro-Western than Asian. Raised Roman Catholic, living for months in Europe in my childhood and in my growing up years, and studying the European languages and history and having European friends, I realized as an adult that the Asian part of my travel-education was sorely incomplete.
I strive to visit Asia in the future and to study its numerous languages and its cultures. I wish to meet the people of the new age, living in countries that are now booming and meeting America head-on. Armed with knowledge and education, they ask to be considered equals of the first-world. Living in relative prosperity not previously known, they are now the modern peoples of Asia who deserve to be recognized for their efforts. I wonder what this world will be when most of the world is on equal footing. No more slaves and masters, colonies and kingdoms, capitalist regimes enslaving poorer countries, and first-world peoples looking down on third-world peoples.
I only know that the special nuances of their culture, of their quiet ways, their gentleness and politeness will teach many of us the value of old cultures and how many people of crowded regions get along. I will go on my journeys East, anticipating new lessons in the cultures of old.
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