By Agatsu Kimura

During my stay at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, I visited an Indian reservation in South Dakota to talk about Japanese culture and to see the Native American way of life. I went to a hospital, the national park, a museum, and some schools.

I visited Rosebud Indian Reservation where the Lakota people live. They are sometimes called "Sioux." They are famous as the tribe in Dances with Wolves. The great warrior Chief Crazy Horse was a Lakota. People living in Todd County, where the reservation is, are very poor. Forty-seven percent of the families live in poverty.

One day I attended the Lakota class in high school. The Lakota language is not their native tongue any more. They grow up using English today. Thus, they need to learn Lakota grammar and words in school. The Lakota language is like a foreign language for them rather than second language. Moreover, the students taking that class are decreasing because that language is not practical.

After the class, I found an interesting phrase printed on a piece of paper. It said, "To be Indian is easy; To be Lakota is difficult." It means that being Indian is a physical classification, so if one of your parents is Indian, you are automatically an Indian. On the other hand, the Lakota is a tribe. If you want to be a Lakota, you need to make an effort. You need to keep the culture, which is quickly disappearing. You have to become a Lakota, not just be born as a Lakota.

Reading that piece of paper was eye-opening because I had never thought of becoming a Japanese. I was born in Japan, grew up in Japan, and I speak Japanese. I am a Japanese, but I had never spent any effort to become a Japanese. That is natural for Japanese born and raised in Japan. Most of us do not pay any special attention to keep our own culture because we are the majorityﾑthe dominant group.

From this experience, I learned the importance of knowing my own culture. We often use the world "international." However, I think I used the word wrong before reading that paper. A person who does not know his own culture and the hardships to keep it cannot respect other cultures. I believe that in order to become more international, we need to become Japanese first.

The circumstances surrounding Native Americans is getting worse. The U.S government's policy is assimilation. It recognizes anyone who has more than one-forth Native American blood as a Native American. Hence, it is difficult even "to be Indian" today. I hope all people realize the importance of maintaining their language and culture.