I know that 'woke' is very easily turned into a meme and a term for SJWs so for the sake of this article I'm defining woke as "aware of social inequality, privilege and the role that one plays in society."

I spent the past year living in Japan. In that time, I went to Japanese festivals and celebrated both American and European (mainly Scandinavian) holidays. We brought Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July and they brought Midsommar and Jul (I didn't know 'Midsommar' was a horror film in the US until way after taking shots of schnapps and dancing in a circle to Små grodorna, or 'The Frog Song,' at a night picnic).

I came into my newfound friendships with the assumption that the European way of life was different and actually better than America as I think a lot of Americans assume. As the year came to a close, I realized that Europe was not the color-blind utopia the media had told me about with their wonderful healthcare and free college education system.

To be honest, this fact did not entirely hit me until one of my last nights out in Tokyo. Two Americans, and six Europeans were crammed into a corner booth of a busy Torikizoku, Japan's version of a chain dive bar, and were playing "Most Likely To." Now that I have set the scene, I'm sure you're thinking "this is a perfect situation to discuss politics."

I sure thought so after one of the questions was something along the lines of who was most likely to marry an Asian person. I knew that my friends didn't say this with any malice behind their words but it still felt a little weird to me, being that I was the only Asian person at the table.

I voiced my thoughts and a conversation arose about dating preferences and if it was acceptable to be attracted to someone because of their race and the given alternative that was: to not date someone because of their race. I didn't believe in dating and racial preferences, but after a lot of back and forth, I began to question myself. Was I just being too American? Was it different because of how divided our country is?

The night ended a little awkwardly with my friends telling me they didn't mean to make me feel bad and I know they earnestly meant it but the debate still lingered in my head. I know that some people wouldn't want to date me because I was Asian but did that make it a non-racist choice?

Looking back on it now, I'm sure this conversation could have happened in America, but the fact that it hadn't until I was sitting with a group of European friends was a testament to the fact that this wasn't really talked about as much back home. The question stuck with me long after I had left Japan and so here is a little of what I learned.

In an article written by Kyndall Cunningham for 'Rewire,' sexual racism can be defined as "the sexual rejection of the racial minority." She states that it's most often seen as "'just a preference' on dating apps." She also addresses the idea that someone is attracted to a person of color because they like their culture and so this must be the opposite of racism. When you do this though, you're not attracted to the person, you're attracted to the stereotypes and characteristics you expect them to have.

I know that it is a sweeping generalization to say that all of Europe has the same views. I also know that I only touched on a small topic within 'wokeness' but I have a word limit for this article. Coming away from this situation I realized the importance of getting rid of this idea that Europe is doing it all better than us. Not so that we can excuse the problems in America but so that we can see that there is no perfect place.

No matter where you are in the world, there will be racism. Even in Japan, which is another place that gets written off as a utopia, but I digress. Racism, in all its forms, is a universal battle that we all have to educate ourselves and others on and I think that's kind of comforting.