Although I have spent most of my 13 years outside Canada since finishing high school I am beginning to feel more of a stranger in this strange land. Unlike Canada I find that in Japan and China that food is taken very seriously. People really know what to eat and they take the time to prepare their meal in order to stay healthy. In Canada eating is more something that needs to be done and takes time therefore is trouble; therefore, people have the tendency to not want to spend a lot of time with food because they seem to be more preoccupied with their work.

When people eat in Canada it is more of a formal setting. I have noticed just myself – one person wanting to eat - walking into a restaurant I am asked to wait to be seated and a menu is handed to me. In Canada it seems to be a more wait for your food. In Japan or China, this is true in some places but most places I am not directed to a seat I am not handed a menu. What is the point of these formalities? I think about what is there to eat in Canada or let me ask the question. What is there to eat in Canada? I find that there is a very limited variety of food in Canada. I notice from the availability of food in the grocery stores that people either do not have much to eat or they eat the same stuff day after day. Walking through the market in Japan there are many more varieties of vegetables, fruits, meat and fish and even more in China!

It would be interesting to do a worldwide survey just to see the number of vegetables, fruits, meat and fish people can name. Perhaps even more interesting would be which ones can they name. I am sure Canadians and Americans in general could not name very many. I would not blame climate but rather a primarily Anglo-Saxon culture. A future project for me.

Comment! (4) | Recommend! | Categories: Food [t], Cultures [t]

I just returned from a three week visit to southwest China. After returning I have noticed some interesting differences between Japan and China. In China people will go around wearing their traditional clothing in everyday life, shopping, work, home etc. In Japan this is un-seen very very few people go around wearing their traditional clothing but rather prefer western clothing. Upon seeing this I realized that not only Chinese in China but Chinese in other countries do not wear their traditional clothing and go more for the western clothing. Except interestingly people from India or Indian desent wear their traditional clothing in the street wherever they are. If you have ever tried Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian clothing then you have to admit that they are far more comfortable than western clothing. Loose fitting and I have to say more fashionable for both work, home, shopping or just a walk in the street. Tight fitting clothing, those with buttons etc are are not just ugly but are unhealthy. The west is destroying cultures one by one to make a single mega culture. Who wants to look like a single mega culture? American or whatever. I have decided to wear as much as possible my own traditional clothing.

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I came across a rather stupid comment the other day on YouTube about buying an Erhu. � $40-50 will get you a very poor quality instrument. Even in China.� This a typical upperclass opinion that only the best quality is more expensive. What the person here is doing is excluding the less weathy people from music and culture. I believe that music and culture belongs to all people regardless of wealth and status. In the 21 century the gap between the rich and the poor is rising especially true in Asia but you still see less weathy people on the streets in China playing music, playing music, polishing shoes and so on. Besides the weathy are really only concerned about making money and not the arts, they do not take it seriously - only as a hobby or past time while the people on the street are the really serious ones who depend on it for a living. Rather than saying �$40-50 will get you a very poor quality instrument.� which seems to only make it more impossible for the less wealthy who cannot get a 2000 dollar Erhu. What we need to do is make high quality instruments more accessible to everyone.

Comment! (0) | Recommend! | Categories: Arts [t], Culture [t]