04/2022
This is my present view after it has been eight months since I came here; Japanese can never be British no matter how hard they attempt.

Europe has accepted multifarious immigrants from African countries and Middle East, with which it has had a close relationship due to the geographical factors, prior to the colonial ages. Especially, industrial powerful countries of UK, France and Germany has contributed a lot, but some people insist that this migrating issue spurred the BREXIT. In this modern society, where cross-boundary migration becomes more active substantially, cross-cultural understandings are highlighted seriously for all over the world, and Japan is not an exception of this current. However, it is the true that problems which should be ameliorated owing to the immigration from different culture are in increase, with the example of conflicts between residents.

Even if I am aware of the significance of cross-cultural understanding, I was forced to realize that how tough it is, going through interacting with British and other African migrants.

Nowadays, according to Eurostat’s Eurobarometer survey in December 2018, the percentage of Cristian in the UK is 53.6% and 40% of British are atheists. Though around 40% of UK’s population do not believe God actually, most of the custom, tradition and philosophy still obey the Christianity. It is similar to that numerous Japanese people visit shrines on January 1st and their funerals are taken place in the Buddhism way, even though about 80% of Japanese consider themselves to have no religion. I sometimes find really intricate to understand those kinds of the Christianity, who was fostered in Japanese core values and ethics. Japanese culture has been formed in the coexistence with the nature, whilst British culture of Christianity is monotheism by Jesus Christs who became God from ordinal mankind. In other words, the culture variance of including philosophy between in the West and in the East is as incompatible as water and oil.

In short, it is impossible to understand conduct and an attitude of British with core values and ethics as Japanese. Some people criticize and compare the distinct cultures with prejudice without background knowledge, but it is almost same as comparing two different values in different dimensions in Physics. Basically, what the crucial thing when you are facing to strange culture, is that you have to escape from your fundamental ethics, yet individuals tend to regard discrete cultures subjectively. Because it is unfeasible for me to replace my rudimentary core values and ethics with those of different cultures, I will never be able to be British. In my opinion, however, disparate cultures can be understood more precisely by removing Japanese ethics filter temporary.

It is not necessary that Japanese people behave like British with replacing the ethics, and natural style of Japanese in British culture had better be emerged. In addition, it is meaningless to make an effort to be British. Cross cultural understanding is to understand different culture properly without bias by withdrawing from your subject, to accept it, and to respect it.