Jarrett Cook

Dr. Prof. Mr. Rev. Jeremy Cook

Intro to American Studies

30 November 2016

An Interview on Americanness

To understand what it means to be an American to people of a different culture, I interviewed

my Japanese friend Tamaki Kumuachi to see what he thought about America and Americans.

Despite having lived in America for a while, Tamaki and his family are from Japan live there for

large parts of the year. Recently they completely moved back to Japan. Because of how he has

grown up, Tamaki can be considered to be of at least a partially different culture from me.

Below, in the format it is shown on the assignment paper, are his answers to the questions asked.

1) What do you think an American is?

An American is a person who is from the United States of America. An American is

unique by Asian standards, and is thought of as arrogant, brash, or even dumb to an

extent. They are stereotyped as self-centered people, and will do anything to further

themselves over others.

Stereotypes have some basis in reality and exist for a reason, and one of Americans being only

concerned with furthering their own goals is no exception. Many Americans are like this

because the job market can sometimes become a fierce competition, although America is

obviously not the only country that has a fiercely competitive job market. More so in the past

than now it seems, but American businesses fought tooth and nail to get ahead of the

competition. This is just one of several American stereotypes, another of which is the fat,

uneducated, and loud American.

 a. Why is that an American?
o This is an American because the people from that country reflect those actions,

and the entire country reflects those actions as well. The media also reports and

peoples experiences also reflect the above statement.

The media has a large effect on how people perceive things, including how people perceive other

people. Despite near-constant access to news and media, most of what is shown is only the

extreme of a group of people rather than the standard. This twist of what is displayed can cause

large gaps in how people are perceived, and how they actually are.

2) Please describe an American.

As with the above question, an American is loud and outgoing, but also self-centered and

will put themselves first. Personally, I believe that all Americans are not like that, but

when stereotyped, Americans are people that I would generally stay away from.

The recognition that not all Americans are like that is good, and I definitely agree that this

version of the stereotyped American is not someone who would be pleasant to be around.

a. What are some characteristics of an American?

o The first response already includes a few characteristics and answers the question

of What are some characteristics of an American? that would have originally

been answered here.

b. How is that an American?
o This is an American from my view because that is the personal experiences of

peers and what the general society views America and Americans in general are.

It is interesting to see that the general view of Americans is not the fat and loud American, but

rather the brash and loud American, although those traits are not mutually exclusive.

3) What do you think about America?

America is a rich country that is riddled with internal issues and will also subdue other

countries for national security. American is the police of the world and also at the
 same time the bully by invading and punishing the truly bad, and also punishing and

invading countries that dont listen to America.

America can often seem this way, as America does tend to intervene in foreign affairs that would

not directly impact America. Part of this could be because of how it would affect the global and

US economies, and part could be to keep the people enthralled in some conflict so they do not

linger on the issues present within the country.

a. Why do you think that?

o I think that through personal observations, and also through what the media

presents to the population. My country has been the victim of American

aggression to which I see that America has not changed over the decades.

I would disagree here, as America is generally more careful in considering how it fights, for

better or for worse. If America was the same way it was years ago, it is possible a few areas

would be inhabitable for years from the amount of radiation left over after atomic bomb

droppings.

4) What is wrong with America?

America as a country is wrong because it tends to abuse its position when it feels like for

personal gain and to put itself higher in political power.

It is true America likes to be in the position of power. It seems like it often feels threatened by

any other show of force, so it tries to keep itself more powerful.

a. Why is that a wrong? or are the wrongs?

o For example, the policing of the world can be done by many countries yet

America does it by itself and thus consolidates the most power for itself. It

dominates the world stage in a bad taste, after incidents even in the past decade

that repeatedly prove that America abuses power.

While America does do a lot of policing of the world, there is still NATO and the UN amoung

other international organizations that manage different aspects of how the world works together.

More is heard about America most likely because it is a single country trying to do the work of

many countries, and to varying degrees of success.

5) What is right with America?

America is right because of Americans.

In the immortal words of Team America: World Police: America, fuck yeah!

a. Why is that a right? or are they rights?

o Americans are self-centered, but because of that advancements happen and

science and technology go forward. The best of the best are in America because

they can pursue it by themselves and for themselves. By being outgoing,

excellent leaders can come out of the grid work, and people with unlimited

creativity also come and if they work together, they can make the dream team

which start companies and invent new cures to diseases.

Jokes and stereotypes aside, the self-centered-ness of Americans can often be as much of a

blessing as it is a curse because of how far people can go on selfish desires. Americans are

known for taking themselves very far in life on their own. I think back to the days of westward

expansion, with big oil and big steel companies bringing their companies up from basically

nothing to monopoly businesses that basically ran the country.

Overall, the perception of Americans in other countries is not exactly what I anticipated,

but is within the expected realm. Much of what is wrong with America and Americans was

understandable, and they are problems that the observant notice about America, but the same

problem can be applied to any country. In America, problems can seem larger than they really
are because of how the media portrays the issues and the fact that it is a very large country with a

lot going on. This paper has shown that the stereotype that people who are not from America

completely dislike it is not true, and that Americanness can be found anywhere.