In Japanese, it is said like this:
[Japanese phrase]
That translates into, "being ignorant of truth makes me a slave to a lie"
Or that, " To a know a half truth is a lie doubled" or, "I will know the truth
and the truth will set you free"
There are many phrases about truth.
The Japanese like to say it like this,
[japanese phrase]
"Being ignorant of truth makes me a slave to a lie"
You can't imagine just how many myths and lies a Latin american
has about a country named Japan
And that is my job in Latin America.
To end and dismantle these myths that block the...
latino progressive mentality.
We propagate myths everyday
We say the "sun comes out", but the sun doesn't come out.
We orbit around the sun, which is different.
My clothes are smaller on me. No, they aren't small
you're just putting on weight, which is different.
I grew up with a myth that wasn't very harmful.
Just as these aren't harmful.
"Are you chinese?", they would ask.
"Chinese, no. I'm japanese."
"China and Japan are different. Language, culture, it's all different"
"Oh..", they would say. "But you speak chinese?"
"No... japanese because I'm japanese."
"Oh yeah, that's right but you fight like the Chinese do?"
In reality, what people always want to ask, once we've
become better acquainted, both children and
adults, is: "Do you eat rat, or no?"
I don't know how many times I've responded,
"I don't eat rat, I don't eat rat, I don't eat rat"
When I arrived in Japan at the age of ten I felt free of
that rat eating question. And I said, "Well finally, I'm free of that question."
And the kids from, [japanese phrase]
the elementary school surrounded and looked at me and said,
[japanese phrase]
"You're different."
[japanese phrase]
"Where are you from?"
[response in japanese]
"I'm from Colombia."
[ japanese ]
"Yeah, you're features are different."
[ question in japanese ]
"What is Colombia, where's it at?"
[ response in japanese ]
"In South America."
[ japanese ]
They didn't know where Colombia was.
[ japanese ]
"Next to Brazil."
[ japanese ]
"Brazil?, you mean the Amazon?"
"Well, yeah. Colombia includes a large portion of the Amazon River."
[ japanese ]
"You come from the amazon area?"
"Yes, Colombia has a big part of the Amazon River."
[ japanese exclamation ]
"Awesome!"
Then they asked me the big question, [ japanese ]
"So you eat snake then?"
That's when I realized that I would be answering this type
of question for the rest of my life.
For some reason, here I eat rat and there I eat snake.
But the Japanese don't eat rat. That's false. It's a myth.
Neither do the Chinese.
The Chinese eat weirder things but not rat.
In Colombia, snake isn't a typical dish. Nevertheless, these myths
exist and I'll say it again. These aren't harmful. They don't damage our mentality.
But there are some that continue to be harmful.
Its my job, my duty and my passion to do away with this myths
and I'd like you all to help me. Have you ever once heard, as
a young student, the traumatizing myth with which I grew up with?
First,
[ japanese phrase ]
The Japanese are intelligent.
Help me out. Have you ever heard this before? Raise your hand
with me please. Wow. Thanks.
Imagine this.
My Colombian grandfather, on my mothers side, would say to me,
"Son, they're going to take you to Japan. "Yes, grandfather." I responded.
"They're a superior race," he said. "They are intelligent."
And he showed me an old Sony radio and said,
"These are made over there."
On one occasion I even heard a teacher say, "Look here the
Japanese are given wires and circuits and they make radios
at their desks."
I was under such pressure because a lot of people would see
me and say, "Are you Japanese?" "Yeah, Japanese" I'd respond.
"You must be really smart, huh?" they would reply.
"Because they're very intelligent. All the technology comes
from over there, very smart"
I began to get really stressed out but I'd put on a good face.
"Yeah sure." I'd say.
But inside I was thinking, "My God, it's already going badly for me
in Colombia. How's it gonna be over there?"
Match up to a superior race that makes calculators and radios
at their desks.
So because of this I arrived in Japan very stressed out at
the age of ten, really worried.
I'll never forget my first day of school.
I sat in desk at the back of the class.
Like any other newcomer, I was analyzing and watching.
And I began to be very happy.
Because they yelled the same, they jumped the same, and
they roughhoused the same, and they laughed the same.
In Japanese, sure, but it was the same.
They appeared to be exactly the same as the Colombian kids.
The difference..
and what really stood out there was when the teacher entered.
The teacher walked in. Everyone began to run as if
they had seen a ghost.
They straightened their desks and sat down.
One of the kids said, [ japanese ], which means
"Stand up!" [ japanese ] "Straight!" [ japanese ]
"Good Morning!"
"Good Morning," they responded.
[japanese command], "Sit down." They all sat down.
From there on, they all listened and took notes. Nobody
talked to his neighbor. There was an emphatic silence
in the the class as they all listened to the teacher.
The teacher never had to fight to get everyone's attention by saying
"Look here everyone, listen up," write this, open your notebooks."
They did it all without being asked. The teacher left and another
came in. The kids joked around and yelled but when the
next teacher came in, again the same protocol was followed.
And they were attentive again. I began to feel uneasy because
I thought, "How is that they get all of them to behave so well?"
"Clearly, in Japan they have cameras and they beat the those
that misbehave at the end of the hall."
But, no. There weren't any cameras and they didn't beat them.
Simply put, in Japanese there is a phrase goes like this:
[japanese phrase]
That translates as: Sooner or later, discipline will overcome intelligence.
They're not interested in being intelligent, but rather disciplined
because, according to them, success is found in being disciplined.
The evidence of what I'm saying is true is this: The Japanese didn't
invent the car, right? Or motorcycles either? Neither did they invent
computers, radios, or calculators.
But who are the owners of Toyota, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha,
Nissan, Mitsubishi, Sony Vaio, Toshiba, Hitachi, etc?
The Japanese are.
Everything they got their hands on, not because of ingenuity, they
they didn't create them, they improved them thanks to their discipline.
Because they are a people disciplined to death.
For them, discipline is the secret to success.
A Japanese person never arrives late to an appointment.
If you say its at six, it's at six. If it's seven, it's at seven.
He will never miss it. But if he will, he will let
you know two days prior saying, "You know what, I think i'm
arrive fifteen minutes late the day after tomorrow."
It's exactly like that.
To them, time is valuable and it's not important to be intelligent.
It is important to be disciplined with time because sooner or later
discipline will overcome intelligence.
The Colombian IS intelligent.
I have been in fourteen countries and I love, I delight, in hearing about
Columbia and its people. How are they? What are they doing?
Where are they working? Are they behaving? Are they liked?
The Colombian has something. Wherever he is, as we say, he just fits in.
He will be liked. He'll say what the people want to hear.
He'll adapt to the system, language, and even to the climate.
He'll teach himself the ways of a new country.
He's an innovator. He's not satisfied with staying in one single place.
He develops, invents, and devises things.
If we don't know a way to say something we make one up.
We don't stay in the same place. We flourish.
Colombians ARE intelligent.
A Japanese person waits to, or takes up two to three
hours to make a single decision.
The Japanese are indecisive and unsure.
Colombians take risks. They just do it.
I've become accustomed to saying outside Colombia, if you tell
a Colombian, "Hey Colombian, come here and climb up over there."
You know what they'll say say. "For what, or why?"
But if say it this way, "Colombian, you're not capable of climbing
up over there." "No? Just wait and you'll see!" they'll respond.
The problem is getting them down from there once they're up. Don't
challenge a Colombian. They will do anything just to try it,
however silly it may be, because you challenged them to.
Colombians will invent and come up with things.
The Colombian is intelligent. The Japanese are not.
Now, as far being disciplined goes, it is better that
we don't even talk about that.
Here if we have an appointment at six we'll show up at seven.
Or come Monday and we say, "Hey did you end up going to the appointment"
"Nope." .. "Me either!" This is why we get along so well.
If the phrase says, sooner or later discipline will overcome intelligence,
I assure you, that a lack of discipline, no matter how much talent or skill
you have, at some point it will cause you to miss out
the best opportunities in life.
It has nothing to do with you just choosing to, or being a natural
at it, or even because it comes easy to you.
It's about being disciplined because, according to Japanese thinking,
success is found within discipline.
Even still today, I struggle with the idea that all Japanese are intelligent.
They still say to me, "You are...," while I'm thinking inside, "Please say
Japanese." ...."Japanese?" they ask. "Yes!" I exclaim.
"Can you fix my television for me? It's a Sony."
And I say, "No, I don't know anything about that."
It's not true. Latinos are intelligent,
but the issue is that discipline is beginning to disappear,
from our children to our adults, to not name any names.
Discipline is very important, essential, in the success of a nation.
There are words that I am unable to translate from Japanese.
"I'll be there in one second."
I can say to friend in Japan by telephone, [ japanese ] ,
"Wait, I'll be there in one second."
If I say this literally to my friend, he would be like..
In order that I literally arrive in one second you would
have to be falling from a building.
[ japanese ]
"I'm already there, I'm already there."
[ japanese ]
If you already there, you are actually there.
Either you're dead or I am and we don't see each other.
"I'm already there?" It's not possible.
This is why we call it the power of expression.
I will be there in one second, can be translated into;
I have fourteen traffic lights to go, I'm still in the shower, the truth
is I don't want to go so maybe I won't.
One way or another, we have failed to understand that it's
not only about having talent but rather, discipline,
which can carry us to succeed.
The secret of success lies in being disciplined.