My first exposure to culturally and ethnically different people was through a Japanese TV show, “Shaman King,” at the age of six. Although this was an animated TV show, I understood that the main characters behaved differently from what I was used to. For example, Yoh Asakura, the main character, is an apprentice who fights in a spiritual tournament. He is different from the traditional teenagers I would encounter in the United States, with the main differences being his appearance, his manner of speech, and his aspirations. The early experience of watching a Japanese TV show contributed to my perception of cultural differences.
Watching “Shaman King” contributed to my perception of different cultures. Apart from the appearance and the aspirations of the main character, the central idea of this show, shamanism as a way to communicate between humans and spirits, was new. As I later find out, this topic, similarly to other spiritual practices, is common knowledge in Japan and part of their culture and religion. Cultural pluralism is a way of avoiding full assimilation into the American culture and preserving the characteristics of a person’s culture (“Cultural pluralism,” n.d.). This experience was beneficial for me because I perceived this show as another way to find out more about the world since I was a child.
I understood that people in the series behaved differently, they greeted each other and thanked one another in a way I was not used to. But being a child, I perceived it as another new thing I can learn, and this helped me learned more about the world. Overall, my first exposure to a character culturally and ethnically different from me was through a Japanese television show “Shaman King.”
References
Cultural pluralism. (n.d.). Web.
Mizushima, S. (2001). Shaman King [TV show]. Japan: TV Tokyo.