Make No Mistake...This is Toronto
Just off Queen's Quay on the Toronto waterfront It's not as if I needed a reminder that I was back in Toronto and not in Japan anymore...I've been feeling that acutely for the last week and a half. However, a trip downtown yesterday really drove home the point. I'm not complaining; the day was great and was a good refresher on just how great a city Toronto is.
Living three years in Japan, you get really used to the fact that nearly everyone you see is Japanese, everyone speaks Japanese, you eat Japanese food, go to Japanese events, and so on. Fast forward to yesterday's downtown walkabout with my father and brother. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon so we headed downtown knowing a bit about what was going on but without much of a plan. This is how one afternoon in Toronto went down:
We passed on the Taste of the Danforth Greek food festival and International Dragon Boat Races and instead headed for the Chinatown festival. After walking around there for a little bit, we headed across Queen Street to City Hall and came across celebrations for Pakistan's independence day in full swing at Nathan Phillip's Square. Heading south on Yonge to the waterfront, we happened upon the Spicy Food Festival at Harbourfront where we walked among numerous Caribbean and Indian food stalls, snacked on Spanish churros, and enjoyed a performance of Cameroonian music at the nearby bandshell. We travelled the world on foot in a span of a few hours.
In Japan, I had no problems with the homogenous nature of society. Japan's culture is so rich, deep-rooted and so very different from Western culture that even after three years there was still so much I had yet to see and do and learn that it never became boring. But I have to admit that walking around downtown yesterday, even I was continually astounded at the reminders of how multicultural this city is. Torontonians (and Canadians) come in all shapes, sizes and colours, and there really is no way to point your finger and say "Okay, this is a Canadian, and this is not".
Later this week, some junior high school and high school students from Hida City, where I lived in Japan, will be visiting the Toronto area for a week. While they are spending most of their time in St. Catharines and not Toronto, I really hope they get a chance to experience something similiar to what I did yesterday.
Living three years in Japan, you get really used to the fact that nearly everyone you see is Japanese, everyone speaks Japanese, you eat Japanese food, go to Japanese events, and so on. Fast forward to yesterday's downtown walkabout with my father and brother. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon so we headed downtown knowing a bit about what was going on but without much of a plan. This is how one afternoon in Toronto went down:
We passed on the Taste of the Danforth Greek food festival and International Dragon Boat Races and instead headed for the Chinatown festival. After walking around there for a little bit, we headed across Queen Street to City Hall and came across celebrations for Pakistan's independence day in full swing at Nathan Phillip's Square. Heading south on Yonge to the waterfront, we happened upon the Spicy Food Festival at Harbourfront where we walked among numerous Caribbean and Indian food stalls, snacked on Spanish churros, and enjoyed a performance of Cameroonian music at the nearby bandshell. We travelled the world on foot in a span of a few hours.
In Japan, I had no problems with the homogenous nature of society. Japan's culture is so rich, deep-rooted and so very different from Western culture that even after three years there was still so much I had yet to see and do and learn that it never became boring. But I have to admit that walking around downtown yesterday, even I was continually astounded at the reminders of how multicultural this city is. Torontonians (and Canadians) come in all shapes, sizes and colours, and there really is no way to point your finger and say "Okay, this is a Canadian, and this is not".
Later this week, some junior high school and high school students from Hida City, where I lived in Japan, will be visiting the Toronto area for a week. While they are spending most of their time in St. Catharines and not Toronto, I really hope they get a chance to experience something similiar to what I did yesterday.
posted by CHRIS at 10:31 a.m.
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