Why Was Clayton Wrong

Clayton Was Wrong About Japan
Clayton was born in a middle-class household to two White parents and raised Protestant. His Great Grandfather served in World War 2 fighting against Japan in the Pacific Theater. Coming from rural Indiana, he was not often exposed to people who weren’t also White Protestants of a similar class. Clayton was an American through and through. You could say that he bled red, white, and blue. He was very nationalistic about the United States, often saying things such as, “This is the greatest country there ever will be”. While it is not necessarily bad to have pride in your background, Clayton’s pride came at the expense of others. He especially disliked Japan. In the past, he saw them as a warmongering brutal nation
who tried to kill his Great Grandfather. He still hated them for the attack on Pearl Harbor. In modern times, he hated their culture. He saw the men especially as far too feminine. He did not really have much reason for this hatred, but it grew and grew. Since Clayton ate a lot of meat and was sculpted with muscles, he saw the Japanese people as being skinny and weak. Obviously, he was buying into stereotypes.
As Clayton got closer to the age of 18, he wanted to follow in his Great Grandfather’s footsteps.
On his birthday, he joined the Army. He would always brag to his friends about all the action he was about to see. Things turned out differently than he expected. After basic training, the Army decided Clayton would best serve the country in Japan. He was very upset. How could he end up there? He hated everything he knew about Japan. He hated sushi, rice, J-Pop, and their Defense Force. He had no interest in learning any languages aside from English. He hated Shinto-Buddhism. He disliked the way that they took off their shoes when they entered the home. He disliked how they sat on the floor to eat. It would take a long time, but eventually, he would be forced to challenge his ideas about
Japan.
When Clayton arrived, he was still devastated to be visiting such an inferior country. He met people of several different races in his base. As he got to know them, he started to see that people of different races were similar. Some of his more overtly racist ideas disappeared, but some remained. He also kept a lot of his nationalistic and religiously superior ideas. Soon after he got settled into his base, he began looking for nearby American restaurants. He finally found a McDonalds. However, the items were a bit different. At first he was disappointed, but he began to gain interest in real Japanese cuisine. Soon, he found himself eating mainly Japanese food. While at first, he had tried not to learn Japanese, he began to realize it would make his life a lot easier. First, he learned how to order meals.
A few months later, there was a joint American-Japanese military exercise.
He saw the Japanese Defense Force was nothing like he had stereotyped them. They were strong and manly men. The women were also strong. He saw his ideas of Japanese men and women being challenged. He decided that he wanted to make more of an effort to learn Japanese.
As Clayton learned more about Japanese, he realized that he wanted to try to convert the Buddhists. He went to a Shinto-Buddhist temple and began loudly yelling that the people need to repent for their sins and accept Jesus Christ. He was quickly thrown out. He continued this multiple time until one older Monk talked to him. The Monk was bothered, but attempted to show Clayton some of the benefits of his religion. At first Clayton was hesitant, but as he toured the temple and learned about the religious practices he began to see that it is an interesting religion with worthwhile practice.
This process continued gradually. Four years later, Clayton is now a decent Japanese speaker. He lives in Japan, but not for the military. He is studying Japanese language and culture. He now can see how his idea of cultural superiority made him blind to all the contributions the long-lasting society of Japan has
made.