Fourth Entry

What should we do when we are confronted with other cultures?

Today's society has become and still continuing to be a multicultural society. One major aspect in synthesizing a multicultural society is interracial marriage. As the rate of interracial marriage increases, it is only getting harder to define a single culture. Apart from interracial marriage, immigration of foreigners into various cultures is also another significant aspect of it. These aspects of amalgamation make multicultural society extremely inevitable. For instance, Korea, which served as a bridge that connected China and Japan, was influenced inevitably by both countries and lost its tradition and culture. For instance, today, Korean language is mixed up with a lot of Japanese words and most Koreans use them without acknowledging that they are Japanese words.

Approximately a hundred years ago Korea was invaded by Japan and was governed under the rule of Japan for about thirty-six years. During this time of invasion, Korea embraced the influence of many different cultures. First, Korea adapted to Japanese culture, then Western culture due to prior Western influences to Japan. As for the influence of Chinese culture, it was inevitable due to trade between the two countries. At this point, it raises a question of how people should respond when they are confronted with other cultures.

Being confronted with other cultures, often times, is extremely difficult. It is because to adjust to a whole new culture means a possible change of the lifestyle of a whole nation. People of a nation would have no other choice but to give up a part of their own traditions and their culture to accept a cultural change. However, by accepting other cultures it can engender many positive changes as well. Going back to discussing the invasion of Japan, although some people might disagree, Japan was far more developed than Korea at the time because they had accepted Western influences aforetime. Some examples of Japan's advances include guns and ships, which were made of iron. Furthermore, one time in history, when China was far more advanced than other nations as they invented porcelain, silk, and may others, it started to avoid trading with other countries and tried to barricate all the influences from other countries to prevent sharing its advances with other nations. Due to this event, after centuries passed China found itself more undeveloped than many other nations, while, many other nations were advancing through influences of developed countries. China is still recovering from this event even today. Moreover, many African countries today are also very under developed due to its lack of experience with other countries. However, they managed to keep many of their traditions and culture.

Ultimately, acknowledging the question, "What should we do when we are confronted with other cultures?", I believe, at this point, one can clearly see that there is a dilemma found in the question. If people are to choose to accept the confrontation of other cultures, it means a possible loss of their traditions and culture, but development of their country. However, if they choose to deny the confrontation, it means that they might keep their traditions and culture to some point. But, since, it is impossible to totally barricate the influences of other cultures, at some point, their country will be contaminated with the influence of other cultures. Thus, at the end of the day, people may realize that the best way is to accept the confrontation and construct their new culture and traditions within a changing society.