Yokio Kenji: Myths and Truths Japan - Colombia

A short segment of a discourse given to help outline the importance of discipline and how it is the secret to success in our lives.

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.