When I share my concern about “Cultural Sustainability (or even Cultural Appropr

When I share my concern about “Cultural Sustainability (or even Cultural Appropriation)”, what I point out is not really about “race as who you are” or “priviledge itself”. It is all about the question of “Is it fair?”. I often get misunderstood as if I am accusing a White/Western person with privileges. Please don’t twist my words. I don’t. Being “White/Western” or having “privilege” itself are not a matter of good or bad, and shouldn’t be accused. Ignorance of “fairness” or equality is the key to this issue. For that, a Japanese person can destroy the Cultural Sustainability of Sashiko when they do not acknowledge their privilege.
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Similarly, “Changing Culture” itself isn’t the main issue. Culture is supposed to be Changing. The issue of non-Japanese teaching Sashiko without proper understanding of its culture & Sashiko is Talking away (robbing) the “OPPORTUNITY” to keep the culture Sustainable. When one teaches Sashiko as part of their 100 projects, they may be taking away the opportunity for those who only does Sashiko. It is a matter of level of commitment & sense of responsibility – and all they need to do to avoid this is to “acknowledge” where their upstream is (by sharing the upstream, the opportunities will be shared. Culture isn’t based on Zero-Sum game theory – so I don’t really know why people just “copy” and ignore the surroundings.
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Please do NOT worry too much about Cultural Appropriation. However, please know that it “can” be a very significant issue for a culture – and unfortunately, it is happening to Sashiko, not done by you here, but by those who intentionally ignore the voices. I am a small stone in this trend because the “others” have bigger power such as “English” and “Western Mindset”. However, what I share is “Japanese” and “Japanese mindset” in Sashiko. It is you (reading this in English) who can help us to preserve the Sashiko we practice.
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今年最後の出張です。いつものお財布と巾着のセットと共に。アメリカで刺し子を再開した頃は、こんなに呼んで頂く機会があるとは思っていなかったし、何よりこんなにも沢山の尊敬できる刺し子を楽しむ方々に出会えるとは思っていませんでした。もう一人じゃないんだなぁって。それだけで不安も緊張もどんな試練も乗り越えられるのです（本音は超不安だけど）。
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2022-12-04 23:57:41

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