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Eri Ikezawa (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

As with anything, the adaptability and malleability of children cannot be trumped, which is why, as someone who immigrated here when I was extremely young, I don’t know that I can claim that I am the number one advocate for how easily one can learn a culture. But all the same, being an adult with strong memories of the immigrant experiences I endured as a child, it was still a tough, hardy trough that fed and nourished me to become who I am today. As well, I can still completely acknowledge the difficulties one faces as an adult expat, immigrant or foreign tourist to a new country. 

The best way to describe how I feel about everything is that as an adult, I am grateful for the colourful ribbons of cultural imbibement braiding my internal constitution. My belief system, morals, ethics and opinions are a coordinating system made up of all the cogs and bolts of each culture I was exposed to. 

At first, it wasn’t easy to make sense of everything. Why was it that, when I went to school, everyone else and their parents all seemed to be on the same page—except mine? Why did it feel like both my family and I were always one step behind? Why couldn’t my parents see that their way wasn’t working for me? In my naïve and young eyes, it wasn’t conducive to my single-minded mission just to fit in. 

Short-sighted as we can sometimes be in the pinnacle of youth, I already saw myself as a sore thumb, a clumsy and gangly elephant calf in a small room full of confident, beautiful lion cubs. I looked different, my food was different, my family’s ideologies on child rearing were different. All I wanted was to feel equal—I just wanted sameness. I wanted oneness. A deep chasm of yearning, a fiery flicker of desperation, angsty with lofty aspirations of fitting in, I would’ve done anything. 

I wouldn’t eat my lunch in front of people in elementary school after I was shamed one too many times for the pungent odour it emitted. I was determined to master English and scoffed at the notion of knowing any Japanese. I would wistfully stare at teen magazines, at their Eurocentric totems of beauty, wishing somehow I could change my Asian features to resemble Western aesthetic standards. 

But looking back, I think I would consider this survivalism rather than genuinely learning a culture. It was intentional assimilation on my part. And granted, it was a great tactic in enabling me to absorb the culture I was predominantly surrounded by. But there was no real attempt on my part to leave the culture of my parents intact. At the time, I didn’t see the value in adopting a new culture along with ones that I was lucky enough to be surrounded by through family. 

But now, I think the way I approach learning a new culture as an adult probably makes more sense. I think being educated and well-read on diverse cultures and languages is incredibly important, especially when one travels, or when your community is filled with small pockets of various populations. It helps minimize misunderstandings and miscommunication whilst reducing harmful, unproductive stereotypes. I believe if people disarm themselves, decrease defensiveness, we can learn to truly understand and learn from each other. 

I also believe we could work as a civilization to let go of our egos and stop thinking in polarity. The reality is that the human experience primarily exists somewhere in between, and life is a grayscale film. I will always advocate for human compassion, empathy and consideration, and I believe if we all put our best foot forward to understand each other better, the world will slowly heal. 

While admittedly there are certainly cons to social media and the prominence of the internet, I do think that the globalization of the world wide web has helped people open their eyes to the concept that not everyone lives the same way they do. And in the same vein, with people travelling more often, there is a greater interest in trying new foods, novel ways of life and expanding their worldview. 

But to relate my point of view to my own personal experiences, I travelled to multiple new destinations last year, all with very rich and varying cultures, and each of those experiences are what really helped me cement the idea that the key is quite simple: just be open-minded. 

As someone who had never travelled within Canada (hardly even within the province I hold residency in), it was exciting for me to go to Saskatchewan. Here, of course, not too much changed, as I was still within Canada itself, but even so, it was a change in pace to go from Vancouver’s hustle and bustle to the sluggish, lax ways of Saskatoon. I found myself keener to enjoy small talk—a huge deviation from normal for an introvert—and I could truly appreciate the amicable nature of the people there. I had numerous Vancouverites condescendingly ask why I was going there, but I kept my mind open and I’m glad I did! 

In contrast to the mild differences between Saskatoon and Vancouver, I also visited Sri Lanka for the first time last year. This was a huge culture shock, as I went from an extremely diverse community here in Vancouver to a relatively homogenous population over there. I was lucky in the regard that people do use English quite often and well, so I didn’t have to entirely grasp at straws, not to mention the fact I was accompanied with native Sri Lankans the entire time. But there are factual differences in quality of life—for example, taking drinking/tap water for granted here in Canada or the blatantly high levels of poverty in Sri Lanka. I left there with an immense sense of gratitude for what I am afforded in my life, feeling I should count all my blessings—however minute or trivial they may seem to me. 

All in all, throughout all my personal experiences, the main conclusion I have come to still remains this: it is absolutely necessary to hold an objective, unprejudiced view of the world. This will help you navigate and learn new cultures—the center, the core and the nucleus of any population.

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My name is Eri Ikezawa and I have an extended minor in psychology and a major in linguistics. I’m still on the path to quelling questions about myself and the direction I want to head in, but in the meantime, I have always wanted to find a way to help others and contribute to a community dedicated to personal development and self-love.