Cultural Exchange

You know, this experience is making me realize just how long cultural exchange has been happening. Though I tended to think of cultural exhange being a product of post-1600 age of exploration (can you tell I was educated in America) and building up until what I thought was the cultural explosion known as globalization (amazing how I write on occasion of contemplation - ooh yeah!), that's not the case. So much of what is loved by the children in Japan, soccer, baseball, basketball, band, tennis, (yes that is what everybody does after school) these are all European (and American)! Except sumo, that's huuuuge here, I think even bigger than baseball (oooh, unintended pun! - I'm clever without even knowing it booooyaaah!) Especially when it comes to sports man - I mean cricket is huge in India, I was looking into games in India, Badmington is huge both here and in India. That developed from a game in England called battledore and shuttlecock, basically the same thing as badmington. The piano is huge here...I try and think of songs to teach the kids, simple songs I grew up with, "London Bridge is Falling Down," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - nope, "already heard of it" the music teacher tells me - "they are going to learn it next year of actually, btw it's already been translated into Japanese." No way! Luckily they didn't know duck duck goose. Sorry to the next JET.

But it goes beyond that I realize. I was talking with a friend who described to me how the Italians got noodles from China. I mean, I did learn that (Marco Polo, but it was just one sentence is sixth grade social studies), but I never thought about it. Italian pasta comes from China!!!! What!!! But, pasta is the basis of Italian culture. To BE pasta is to BE Italian (o.k. all Italian friends - do I even have any? - now hate me). That means to BE Chinese is to BE Italian is to BE PASTA!!!! (O.k., all Italian friends now want to shoot me). It goes for Japan, Buddhism - China. Where did China get it - Ahem...Siddartha is not a Chinese name. Even Kung Fu (I gotta say this because I love Kung Fu, and Asian culture in general - but I'm Indian so I represent) got one of it's biggest boosts from the Bhoddidharma - a buddhist Indian monk who traveled to China. When I say a boost I mean some people (not proud Indians but other KungFu-o-philes) consider him the founder of Kung Fu - I don't know enough about it yet. If you do Kung Fu, and then take yoga in college like I did, you would feel what I felt - Kung Fu does all the exercises that yoga does!

I'm not trying to say all the cultures are the same. Cultures are radically different. Chinese culture is all about Confucianism and Yin and Yang, the I' Ching and chinese society and other things which form the basis (I've never taken a class on any of this, sorry to all my chinese friends - except Steve and Simon who I would never say sorry to) Chinese culture but come only from China. And even if Bhuddism did come from India, well, there's not a lot of Buddhists in India. But the writing of Japan came from China, so much of Japanese culture comes from China (ssshhhh, I haven't taken any classes on Japanese culture either - Koji and Franz don't use any swears in your comments - my mother reads this), but of course, Japanese society is so different from Chinese. It's just crazy though, I mean, Roman civilization - the Olympics, that's Greek, American education, I had to learn Latin in school, Japanese education, modeled after Prussia as is most places!

The more you think, the more you realize how much and for how long cultural exchange has been happening. The list just goes on and on, I mean think about it. Exchange is really nothing new at all.

Of course, the conclusion and basic thesis of this manifest is that all culture comes from India. Everybody and everything. All of you reading this, you are truly brown under the skin; - somewhere in the middle of your epidermis. That would be your medium-dermis. We also have the hottest women.

Disclaimer : the information in this scholarly manifest is correct to the best of my knowledge, except for the Indian women and cultural part which is an absolute truth, like God is an absolute truth, and any mistakes will and should be taken with a genial laugh and hey at least you didn't have to deal with Apu from the Simpsons while you were growing up...