Questioning Cultural Beliefs

A view of culture from inside the “American” bubble

Photo by little plant on Unsplash

I lived in Hawaii for 16 years, and I loved the multi-cultural atmosphere. My closest friend was of Japanese ancestry (her great-grandparents had been born in Japan), and her family invited me to share in their cultural traditions and celebrations.

I thought I knew Japanese culture.

Then I became close friends with several women who had very recently immigrated from Japan. They told me that many of the cultural traditions that my Hawaiian-born Japanese friends followed were no longer practiced in Japan. In their words, the local ancestors of the Japanese, were “more Japanese than the Japanese.”

I now live in a city with a large Jewish population. I grew up here.

Raised as a Catholic, in a home with crucifixes in every room, I understood the mezuzahs in the doorways of the homes of my Jewish friends. Yiddish words highlighted our conversations. We all ate knishes from the local delis.

I thought I knew Jewish culture.

The friends that I grew up with described themselves as Reform Jews, while many of my current neighbors are Conservative or Orthodox Jews. Also, my childhood friends were mostly Ashkenazi Jews, not Sephardic, Mizrahi or Ethiopian Jews.