Least Known:

Japan made the world a more democratic place because of their sacrifices. The fall of Singapore marked the end of imperialism.

Cultural Treasure:

Shintoism. More than anything else, this beautiful, naturalist religion preaches harmony and forgiveness. Japan is a successful economic powerhouse because of knowing how to look forward and build a better tomorrow for all nations.

Misunderstood:

Japan went to war against the the Americans, British and other empires of Europe to liberate Asia. The League of Nations failed because Japan demanded racial equality.

Least Known:

I think many people are bewidered by the tradition of Friday night family meals. This is a very important part of Jewish tradition, where the family comes together on the night of the sabbath. It is similar to the idea of a traditional Sunday lunch.

Cultural Treasure:

A part of Judaism I enjoy is being part of a separate minority community. I have a double identity, because not only am I proud of being English, but also of being Jewish. I like having Judaism to bring me together with other people like me, as we have something in common.

Misunderstood:

Some people, mostly in the past when there was a lot more anti-semitism, believed that Jews were dirty, etc. Obviously Jews are like anyone else and horrible comments about any culture are disgusting.

Cultural Treasure:

Respect is part of everyone, but Koreans are very particular about it. If you see someone older than you, you have to bow and say "hi" in a very respectful manner.

Misunderstood:

Koreans are not just "kimchee tempered", they are like everyone else. Not all Koreans have small eyes.

Cultural Treasure:

My grandmother was Japanese, and my grandather is a Korean. I can speak Japanese and Korean. I love both Korean and Japanese. Most Koreans don't like Japanese. Most Japanese look down on Koreans. My cultural treasure is knowing both cultures and their historic backgrounds.

Misunderstood:

I was born on U.S. soil, and I have the greatest Korean wife, who was born in Korea. I am very much Americanized and so is my only son who was born in Walnut Creek, California. I love Korean culture such as the respect given to older people. Koreans are very similar to Japanese. They do not like other races or want to mix with other races. Discriminations exist in all countries. I lived in Italy for more than a year, and I suffered from discrimination everywhere I went. How are we going to change this? I don't think we ever will.

Least Known:

Bravery! Pilipinos will fight for freedom by all means necessary. Remember Lapu-Lapu, Gabriela Silang, the people of the EDSA Revolution, the NPAs [see note]. The first Asian revolution against colonialism occurred in the Philippines. The .45 califber pistol was made because the .38 pistol couldn't stop the tribal warriors. Pilipino bravery is underated.

Cultural Treasure:

The Pilipino will to survive. Our mother will give up her food for her hungry child. Our father will enslave his soul for our future. Our sister will give up her dignity so the family can buy medicine for lola (grandmother).

Misunderstood:

The most common misunderstanding about Pilipinos is that we eat dogs. Well, it's true, but the question should be: "Who is to say what to eat and what not to eat?"; and "What gives the person the right to say who is right and who is wrong?" I have heard that Americans in the South eat possum. I've seen "sophisticated" people ordering raw steak. I've seen puti (Caucasians) eat their neighbor on the television news. Ignorant people like Joan Rivers, on national television, call for "Filipinos to go eat their dogs" before going to a commercial break. Do you think it would be fair if next time she said, 'If you're Caucasian, go eat your neighbors."?!

It is true that Pilipinos eat dogs, even I must admit that I have tasted dog meat (without knowing it), and if you had a few beers, one cannot really tell what kind of meat is in your mouth. Some people make it sound like Pilipinos eat dog meat for everyday meals. No we don't. I, myself, don't like the idea of eating dogs. Not all Pilipinos eat dogs.

Besides, I've heard worse stories. I've heard that Pilipinos have eaten rats. This is also true, but not all Pilipinos have eaten rats and before you go around telling everybody that Pilipinos eat rats, let me tell you the whole story first. During the World War II Japanese Occupation, Pilipinos hiding under the rubble had nothing to eat. No grocery stores were open, and even if there were stores open to them, their money was worth nothing. To survive, they would search for anything that moved as a source of food.

[Note: Lapu-Lapu is credited with killing Ferdinand Magellan during his circumnavigation of the globe; Gabriela Silang is known as the first woman to lead a revolt in the Philippines (she was executed in 1763); EDSA is a street in Manila where numerous universities are located and this was the location for the student led People's Revolution against the Ferdinand Marcos regime; the NPA or New People's Army, the military arm of the Communist Party, has fought a guerilla war against the Philippine government for decades.]

Least Known:

The fact that Pilipinos are so blind to Kolonization they cannot see how much they worship a country (USA) that fucked them and are still fucking the Pilipino WWII Veterans. Stay in the Philippines and make a change!!!

Cultural Treasure:

That not all Pilipinos eat dogs. We actually love to eat some white meat occassionally - so don't be coming around down south or you're katay!

Misunderstood:

Our culture is said to be very religious, but not all Pilipinos believe in the "god" that killed millions of Pilipinos. I am Pilipino-Spanish, but look more Spanish. I know more Pilipino things than Spanish so that makes me Pilipino. My ancestors went to Ma-i Lusong (the true name of the Philippines before it became the Philippines) and killed millions of the native people in the cause of religion. That is why the country is so screwed up. Over 400 years of colonization and they still pray to a god that killed their ancestors? Please! Then the "White" Americans went over and screwed us some more with their fatherly embrace. The USA fucked the Philippines and now the Pilipinos speak English more than Tagalog?!

Cultural Treasure:

My mother's father immigrated to Manila from Madrid. Her mother was born in Manila of Spanish and Filipino heritage (mestiza). Before the war, my father immigrated from India and settled in Manila. During the war, he and my mother got married and I was born in April, 1945. My mother put me in the American School, Pasay City where I studied until graduation in 1962. Since my father died when I was only twelve, I didn't get a chance to absorb the Hindu/Indian culture. However, since I was essentially raised as an American with American friends, education and culture, I considered myself more American than Filipino or Spanish. I can still manage to speak Spanish and Tagalog. I've settled in Seattle since 1962 and haven't gone back to Manila, but would love to go back once more to see my home again. With this diverse background, I seem to be at odds as to where my roots are. I wish it was easier for me, but I also appreciate the experience I've had. By the way, my two sons were from an American wife of German heritage so they are really mixed up!

Least Known:

The Filipino language, linguistically, is a beautiful exact language. It is tragic that our original, written language system was completely eradicated by our early colonizers. Only fragmental traces of this can be viewed at the Kamehameha Museum in Honolulu as far as I know.

Cultural Treasure:

One great Filipino treasure is familial pride and respect of elders. There is no greater treasure than the seeds of wisdom and the lifelines they endow.

Misunderstood:

Pakikisama, the Filipino term for agreeing with others is not always negative. It is inculcated as a value because the Filipino bayanihan (the spirit of community) promotes accord in any social situation.

Least Known:

I'm not sure enough is known about the Death March of Bataan and the Filipino involvement in WWII. It certainly wasn't covered in any world history classes I took. I think that when people think of WWII, they think of D-Day, of the conflicts with Europe, and probably the closest they get to Southeast Asia is the bombing of Hiroshima, even though the military effort in the Philippines was intense and extremely patriotic.

Misunderstood:

I feel that Filipino history takes a backseat to Japanese and Chinese history when covered under the umbrella name: "Asian History." I believe that people don't know enough about our history and instead judge us on the basis of what they know about "orientals" or Asians in general.

Least Known:

The many different holidays and the hard work/suffering the Jews experience. Many people don't understand what fasting is until they actually try to fast for two consecutive days drinking only pure water.

Cultural Treasure:

The bar-mitzvah because many people don't understand that it is not just something you do when you're thirteen-years old. It is a celebration marking when a boy becomes a man.

Misunderstood:

Although most other Russians are Christian, my family was always true to the Jewish heritage.

Least Known:

There has always been a conflict between light- and dark-skinned blacks, yet we are all closely related despite our looks.

Cultural Treasure:

The cuisine. It is a combination of French and African foods.

Misunderstood:

We are not all light-skinned and practice voodoo.

Least Known:

The early contact between the Indians and white traders occurred when the Portuguese came to India in search of spices. They were welcomed rather guardedly because the Portuguese threatened the flourishing trade between Arabia and India in spices. Arab ships carried spices across the Arabian sea on to the East coast of Africa, and then overland to Europe. Profits for Europeans dealing in spices was high.

In the last years of the 16th Century, Vasco de Gama made two trips to India, and opened a sea route. In the process, he laid the foundations for the subjugation of the entire sub continent for the next 350 years. Until then, India's fabled weath had drawn many raiders, but these usually came, raided, pillaged and ran. By the very nature of their expeditions, they could not do much damage to the the economy as a whole. The Mughals came, and stayed. They had no homeland where they could send their wealth off to. They remained a part of the local economy. They may have oppressed the locals, but the long term damage to the economy was neglible. The Europeans were the most damaging. They came, stayed for a while, set up transport and administrative systems to systematically extract revenue and raw products from the country, and then sent all the wealth back home.

Cultural Treasure:

Not my area of expertise. Though I would consider the vast realm of philosophical literature to be a treasure.

Misunderstood:

Why doesn't the government do anything to control the population? The British left a wreck of a country behind when they departed in 1947. Civil war, religious riots, famines...in the quest for extracting money from the land, the rulers put in very little efforts to improve things. During the last fifty years of colonial rule, the economy grew 0.5%. The peasant was squeezed by the government and its agents for land tax. As much as half the amount earned each year was appropriated by the revenue department. Life was nasty and brutal. A man needed at least one son to look after him when he was old and his family after he was gone. Since the infant mortality rate was high, it was better to have at more kids. An Indian who lived beyond forty years was lucky. So the cultural norm was to have large families.

After Independence, the government had to tackle the alarmingly high mortality rate of Indians first. Hunger and disease were the prime areas of attack. Food production doubled and medical facilities were extended to the rural interior. At the same time, emphasis was laid on rapid industrialization, to make the economy grow - agricultural produciton was not enough. People stopped dying but babies continued to be born at the same rate. The population began to grow. It has doubled in the last fifty years, and put imaginable pressure on the land and the people. A population control exercise is at work, and recent surveys indicate by 2035, or there abouts, the population will stabilize at around 1.2 billion.

The economy is growing at around 5% and the population at around 2%. Statistically, the Indians are getting richer, hard as it may seem to believe. With the increasing prosperity, and active birth control efforts coupled with the wider spreading of education, the country is slowly turning the corner.

Misunderstood:

Many people mistake all of Latin America for being a continuation of Mexico. As Hispanics, we come from many different races and from many different ethnic groups and religions. My ancestors were Jews who immigrated to El Salvador 124 years ago. There is in fact, a sizable Jewish community in El Savlador. The Mexican experience is completely alien to me as are the experiences of most Latin Americans. I share virtually no heritage with many of the so-called "Hispanics".

Misunderstood:

[Note: the following was adapted from a letter addressed to "Fear" - Cultural Bridge Productions]

'Knowledge leads to understanding, understanding leads to respect.'

I just want to put Islam where it should be, as one of the great religions of the world alongside Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism.

During the last Hari Raya Hajj, my colleague, a college graduate, a Christian and a non-vegetarian, like myself, asked me why the SPCA does not take action against the slaughtering of animals by Muslims during Hari Raya Hajj? I explained to him that the ritual which is usually performed at select mosques, is a commemoration and the meat is consumed by the poor. Since Singapore is blessed not to have too many poor, the food is for anybody who wants it.

His implication that Islam is barbaric is one example of misconceptions and slander that surface and resurface from time to time. There are many avenues for such: polygamy, syariah law, jihad, and of course the tudung.

Western media has constructed a pariah with its concerted campaign of bias against Islam. Islam is consistently being portrayed as a religion promoting violence and its followers as terrorists resulting in discrimination against individuals of Arab descent and people with names of Arab descent. I wonder why a bomber whose religion happens to be Islam is called a Muslim terrorist whilst you will never hear the media using terms like "Catholic fundamentalists" or "Protestant extremists" when referring to conflict in Northern Ireland. Why do they call Tamil Tigers separatists and not terrorists?

Getting explanations about Islam from a non-Muslim is like receiving a kiss through the phone. There are five tenets of Islam (encourage modesty, decency, chastity, and above all, respect and worship God) and wearing the tudung for women is not one of them, but it is one of the traits of being a good Muslim woman.

There are verses in the Qur'an encouraging modesty among women and one way is be wearing the tudung:

'And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bossoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attentioin to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.'

An-Nur Verse 31

Least Known & Cultural Treasure:

Many Westerners perceive Muslims as terrorists, but this is wrong. People in the West tend to generalize about all Muslims after they have seen one or two commit mistakes

Cultural Treasure:

The Malay Wedding Ceremony.

In this coming millenium, people may prefer to have a small wedding ceremony. Wedding ceremonies in Malay culture however, tend to have many stages leading up to the actual wedding day. First, there is a stage where the bridegroom's family visits the bride's house bringing with them a barang hantaran (a special gift). The sireh junjung, or betelnut, and teh tepak sireh, a kind of metal box for the betelnut supplies, are traditional gifts for this occassion. The sireh junjung and the tepak sireh are symbols of the hope that the marriage lasts forever.

Misunderstood:

Some people view the Malay as lazy because Malays often speak slowly. In our culture, speaking slowlyand softly, especially to older people who we value highly, is a sign of respect. Malays are also viewed as passive by some because we seem quiet. In our culture we are trained to limit our speech. We are taught not to speak out or to criticize someone in public. We are taught this so that we may uphold the dignity and not embarrass the person who would be criticized.

Least Known & Cultural Treasure:

Shyness. Many Malay are forgetting this asset of our culture. It is the most valuable trait because it helps us avoid doing shameful things.

Misunderstood:

Some say that Malay people are lazy. This is absolutely wrong. We, the Malay, are hardworking. Just look at the history of Malaysia. When the British colonized the Malay peninsula in the Nineteenth Century, it was their policy that the Malay should stay in villages and cultivate their land while the Chinese were located in town tending to business and mining. The agriculture is closely related to the Malay while business is common amongst the Chinese. This is one of the factors that led to the poverty of the Malay people.

Looking back at history, we can also see that the Malay rubber tapper woke up early every morning, around 5 a.m. He worked everyday, regardless of holiday yet the money he earned was only RM20-per-day.

Least Known:

The world clean, green image we try to promote was always part of the Maori culture.

Misunderstood:

In New Zealand, we have two major ethnic groups, Maori and Pakeha. Contemporary Maori often try to express outrage in their art by claiming ancestral significance, but there is no ancient evidence to validate this expression. Recently, a Maori carved pole was erected in a major town in New Zealand. The carved pole depicted traditional Maori figures with the exception that an extremely large penis was carved onto one of the figures. Of course this caused outrage among the citizens with a European background. The work was defended by the artist as showing the strong Mana (presence) of the figures and referred back to cultural traditions. Unfortunately no examples of this type of art exist.

Least Known:

The Jacobite rebellions and the tyranny of the English imposed on the Highlands (1745-1746).

My ancestors preserved the sovereignty of Canada and secured its future, yet were never recognized in the Canadian Census. They suffered the Orange Lodge.

Cultural Treasure:

The story of scone. The scone was a stone where the kings of Scotland were crowned until the English stole it in 1304. It was returned in 1997.

Misunderstood:

Many people think that Singapore is somewhere near China and we are often called a Chinese dominated country. In fact, Singapore began as a Malay village and the population grew from migrants came from neighboring countries. Only a minority were Chinese. Our national language is Malay, we sing our national song in Malay as well as our pledge of allegiance.

Least Known:

Teenagers' lifestyle, fashion, shopping behaviors.

Cultural Treasure:

Anything but prostitution!

Misunderstood:

I was so shocked after searching on the web about prostitution in Thailand. I have been living in Thailand all my life but it seems that people from other countries know a lot more about prostitution in my country than I do.

Perhaps word-of-mouth of tourists who have visited my country helps to spread the reputation about Thai prostitutes too much, while Thai people in the coutnry like me know so little about it.

It is so embarrassing to me that foreigners are mistaking all Thai women for prostitutes. There are many more interesting aspects of Thailand to be explored. When will all the rumor about prostitution be end?

Least Known:

The Southern Chinese (from Guangtung and Guangxi in particular) have lived on Vietnamese soil for a long time and mixed with the native Viet tribes over a thousand years. Still these Chinese are racist and treat other nations as inferior to their own.

Cultural Treasure:

The treasures of Vietnam are many, but the most precious one is independence gained from China. Without this, there would be no Vienamese people nor a Vietnamese nation today.

Misunderstood:

The most misunderstood aspect of my culture is that Vietnamese people are lazy and somehow not as good at doing business as the Chinese. Actually, Chinese dominated Vietnam for 1000 years. The Chinese have always run the economy no matter who ruled the country (whether it was the Vietnam court or the Chinese court). Furthermore, Vietnamese Southerners were descendants of farmers who were very poor in the North and when they went to the South, they got a fortune from heaven. The land in the South is very fertile. As a result, they had simple lives and straightforward thinking which has helped them to improve their abilities at practicing business. As a result, the Chinese work very hard and dominate the Southerners in economic skills.

Least Known:

Ukraine, or Small Russia as it has been called in the 18th and 19th Centuries, is much older than Russia. Actually, it used to be one country. The Ukrainian bit of it was the cultural, economic and political center of the country.

Misunderstood:

Particularly the city I come from, Odessa, has a very multicultural environment. So do many other areas in Ukraine, Russia, Belorus and other countries of the ex-USSR.

Cultural Treasure:

Jamaica is one of the most beautiful islands there is, because it is warm, the people are nice, and everyone is welcomed. In Jamaica, we have all different shades and colors of different backgrounds. We have the most multiculturally mixed environment possible.

Misunderstood:

Some people think that Jamaicans have eight jobs and all we do is smoke weed. Also they say how we came on a banana boat to the United States. All of these stereotypes hurt me the most. I was not born in Jamaica, but my parents were and they raised me up in their culture.