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1. The Newsletter·
af the
The
Friend ~INGUIST
Lan_gu~ Exchange Ctrek
Feb. ,1 , 1986 No. 6
A, ~~ ~
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The problem of immi gration i s am
ong the most
critical of contemporary global questions . Few
subjects encourage man to vent acrimony and xeno-
phobia so readily. Few are so t horoughly exploit ed
by vote-scavenging politicos. Hotheads have taken
the matter in their 011D hands , L~t uitively knowin g
the remedy to all ills. They spit at ' gastarbeiters '
in West Germany, kick 'nig-nogs' in England , help
themselves to a ' bougnoul ' for target practicing in
France. Those who wish to see t hr ough t he confusion
and humbug reports will do them
selves no harm by
avoiding numbers .There are alternative approaches
to the issue.
Darwin w
ould bave liked it f three
People emigrak for one or more o. to
reasons: to improve the~r econombic c~d~~!~•
ersecution . to JOin mem ere o
::~:iy !1ready t he; e. But wh~l:;e: t~ec:~11:gr•-·
tion forces out distinct qua_ e • self- ,
m
i rant i s an above-average wdividual, tit j
se~ec t ed for risk-taking and creativity, auto~~~~
with a firm belief in him
self. As for the unw i'.:S !
migrant , he will have to develop such strengths :
he is to meet the aw
esome challenge of changing
one ' s cult ure and languageo .
This survival of the fittest must surely benefit . _
t he host country. Raising competition at home is a,
prerequisite to performi_
ng well abr~d: Japanese
businessmen will not disagree on this point ~
The Asian promise
Asians can rightly be called America's super-
immigrants. They consistent ly surpaas white
Americans in schools , business , science and the
professions . Despite m
aking up a mere 1.&j of the
population t hey are disproportionately represented
The -mythology of i mmigration at t op uni versi ties . Besides enriching Westeni
Lies, damn lies and s t atist ics. M
yths prolife- cult ure they comprise a powerhouse of drive and
rate• .Vesterners commonly •iew immigrant s as i l- ambition ~
literate refuse , abusing wel fare and government Contagi ous or not the ;,si ar. work et hic will profit
services and causi ng native uner.iployment . Concerned t he U.S . It is by no·:, l argely establi.shed that the
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ntre or woria growth- and influence fiis- ~
wave of Mexican tllegals. So l'luch nonsense. There from the North :tlantic to the Pacific. Japan,. Sout
were 800,000 legal immigrants to the U.s in 1980 - Korea and other newly industrialised countries are
the most recent high - yet at the turn of the forging ahead. China is to make a momentous - if
century and foi six years, immigration ·t opped t ~e long overdue - appearance on t he w
orld stage. Is it
milli"On mark. In the same country illegals certainly entirely naive t o suggest t hat America's A
sians wi
number less than 5 millions and study after study i nevitably be called upon to foster r elations and
show
s that they do not Me welfare services, for ease out tensions on account of t heir unique
fear of being caught. M
igrants generally arrive in credentials?
their 20s or 30s, while physically and mentally
vigorous, fill out areas of l abor-shortage and -
since the number of j obs is not fixed - create jobs
as well as take them. I f there were no evidence of
yery positive contributions should we find a thinker
such as Galbraith celebrating migration as a practice
that helps those who go, those left behind and the
places they go tot
Social disturbance and conflict have usually
accompanied mass mov~ments of population. Yet few
realize how quickly acculturation occurs. The
extravaganza of violence that is raging throughout
the Western world i s delaying this process, since
i t is natural f or m
inorities to re-affirm their
identity when t hreatened.
Once upon a tim
e a king invited some villagers to
a feast, then grew angry when all they brought as
a gift was a bunch ·or bananas. !le threw them away
wi1hout unpeeling them and never found out that ,
inside, each was solid gold . America, of all
countries , ought to know that there often is more
than meets the eye - and not just with bananas .

2. VALENTINE)S DAY:
Arn er-·,c. Q"' 5·1 '"'c..er i t 7 vs.
JQpOlt",eSe. Folly 11.y~~ht:T,L,.,,..I
I have just experienced my first Japanese
Valentine's Day. I hope with all my heart that I
never have the misfort"!Jne of going t hrough it
again. What I had hoped would be a day of love <1nd
sweet frienrliness turned out to be a C"a p·u1ese
"Love-Chocolate Day", and ended up leaving a ba,l
taste in my mouth.
In the immortal words of a friend ( s orry , J
forgot who it was or surely I would credi t him),
11·;:hatever holiday the nmericans come up w
ith, the
Japanese just rape it. " In America, Vlle!lti ne's
Ihy is a day when boys and girls t ry t o expr ess
their feelings for each other, when m<>n ar.d women
and husbands and wives express their love for each
other in special ways , and when fri en,is t el 1 each
other how happy they are to have each ether. I n
Japan, th;i.s sincere holiday has been degraded to a
variety of purposes ranging from just sellin£
chocolate to giving t he female a role in the Male-
dominated dating process to boys a nd :_:irls :il ayi ne;
practical jokes and making fools ·of each other;
the Japanese hav~ again made a folly of an orig-
inally sweet, sincere holiday.
Valentine's Day was introduced t o J ap;i.n ir.
the early 1970' s by the ~
lorinaga candy company to
boost sales. Judging by the amount of chocolate
that changed hands by way of our message- boxes
alone, I would say they have been very successful
i;Q,__this e~ ea~.· Valentintt!.@~X gives Ja~ese
gi rls t he chance t o tel l t he boy of her fancy that
she is interested; :-.e can respond0r. N
hite Jay ,
!'.arch 14, if he is r.1utually interestP.d. This is
rare in a male-dominatedsocie ty c
;uch as that ;vhich
unfortunately exists in Jap;.n.
• ,Vhat I -sorely r.1issed this year was the
friendly sweetness which is freely express,;d on
this day in America. The ,Tapanese have replaced
this with a dual mentality of giving t c express
tl'."._: € love and giving in return for having received;
acknowledeing friendship is r.ot part of ,Japanese
Valentine's Day.
The .antics of 3 of the 4 women 's dorms were
especially depressing. Two donns assigned to their
members names of men's dorm residents to whom the
young women wrote fake Valentine meiosages . A third
broke into the men 's dorms in the middle of the
night and secretly pulled trick;; like put ting
ketchup on doorknobs and newspaper over door•:ays,
soaping windows, and the like. I'm sorry, girls ,
but this kind of garbage is a far cry from what
Valentine's Day is about!
Of course there are exceptions, but they we r- ·
few and far hetween. The Aerobics Club's Valen-
tine-gram service was a breath of sweet a i r in t he
smog of love-laden/thou~htless-retur n-r,ift choco-
late. A few friends made nice ~e,;tures, but by f::lr
the most beautiful gift I received was a single
small' wild flower placed i n my riessage box anon-
ymously. That flower, the epitome of si 11cerjty ,
is the most wonderful Valen tin e I have ever rec -
eived. To whomever gave me that fl o"ler, t han~ you
very, very much. Yo· , rea lly made 'nY ,lay .
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