{"id":236081,"date":"2019-10-29T20:22:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T00:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=236081"},"modified":"2019-10-29T20:22:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T00:22:35","slug":"international-students-comical-take-on-cryptic-canada-goes-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/29\/international-students-comical-take-on-cryptic-canada-goes-viral\/","title":{"rendered":"International student\u2019s comical take on \u201ccryptic\u201d Canada goes viral"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_226669\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-226669\" style=\"width: 1440px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1440px-CN_Tower_DSCN4373.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-226669\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1440px-CN_Tower_DSCN4373.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1440px-CN_Tower_DSCN4373.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1440px-CN_Tower_DSCN4373-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1440px-CN_Tower_DSCN4373-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1440px-CN_Tower_DSCN4373-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-226669\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FILE: View of the park with the CN Tower in the background (<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=3531789\">Photo By Haaron755 at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As Canadian federal election results rolled in Monday night, an international student in Toronto was tweeting his observations of Canada \u2014 a country that he says \u201cfeels like America, but something is fundamentally off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By Wednesday, the Twitter thread by Shoji Ushiyama, who goes by the pseudonym Kavaeric online, had been praised and retweeted by journalists from Canadian media such as the Globe and Mail, Maclean\u2019s, and the National Post and commented on by one internationally acclaimed author.<\/p>\n<p>It all began with the 21-year-old industrial design student was messaging his friend in Calgary from his apartment in Toronto during the elections. They started talking about how he had never been to Edmonton and this lead Ushiyama to jokingly question if Edmonton was, in fact, a real place.<\/p>\n<p>Soon more observations came to mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd they just kept coming to me and before long I have written a gargantuan thread,\u201d Ushiyama told<em>\u00a0CIC News.<\/em> \u201cEach of these tweets that I wrote in the thread, aside from the one about Saskatchewan \u2026 they are all based on real-life experiences I had living as an immigrant here.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As an expat living in Canada, the more I live here, the more I&#39;m convinced I&#39;m actually stuck in some kind of cryptic horror nightmare country that&#39;s subtly and slowly eating away at me.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186476014760857600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>From there the 101 tweets cover the absurdities of Canadian life from coast to coast to coast.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You have met a lot of Americans online when you were back in your hometown. When you arrive here, you learn that one of those Americans is actually a Canadian. All of them are Canadian. They always have been.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186699255710441473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You bundle up and head outside. You see your neighbours, walking on the street with no more than a cotton jacket and jeans on. &quot;What cold?&quot; They do not feel anything, and there is nothing you can do to make them feel anything, as soon you will be the same.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186718504004673538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Though he has only been to B.C., Alberta, and Ontario, he used common stereotypes to spin his view of other provinces.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You have been to Saskatchewan and it is very flat indeed, yet the horizon is never in sight.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186675492814032900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As to Alberta\u2026<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Your friends took you out on a trail one day in Alberta. The hiking is leisurely, and they say it is healthy and bracing to be outside. You nod and try not to look behind you, for the forest reaches high and out across the mountains.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186687978443345926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Many of the tweets pertain to experiences unique to Toronto where Ushiyama lives, and plans to stay. Here he refers to the seemingly non-stop construction of new office buildings and condominiums in Ontario\u2019s capital city.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You leave Toronto in the summer. You return to Toronto come autumn. You swear that tower building was not there in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186503637691965440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Do not speak of Vancouver. Do not speak of Montreal. Do not yearn for those other places. You are safe here, here in Toronto. It is for the best you are here, with us. You must be confused for thinking otherwise. The City of Toronto will now run an art festival to calm you.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186691937035870208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He also touches on his experiences with locals, the quirks of Canadian English, and trying poutine for the first time. Many who live in Canada or who have been to Canada will understand the references he makes to Canadian franchises and culture.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You pass by a store. It&#39;s called Canadian Tire. They have many things, you&#39;ve never seen any tyres. You realise they spell it differently here, and everyone thinks you&#39;re strange because of it.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Tire. You feel the same.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u5c06\u53f8 (@Kavaeric) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kavaeric\/status\/1186482765543424001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The thread also caught the eye of author Neil Gaiman, though, as Ushiyama admitted on Twitter, he had never heard of the literary superstar before then.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian journalists such as Peter Scowen, Rebecca Tucker and Terry Glavin also commended his work online and the National Post published a feature on him.<\/p>\n<p>Ushiyama said since the thread went viral he has received a mixed bag of compliments, media requests, and some messages from people who didn\u2019t get the joke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn Twitter people think I imagine myself as some kind of expert on Canada, but that\u2019s the joke,\u201d Ushiyama said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe joke is that I don\u2019t know anything about Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Canadian federal election results rolled in Monday night, an international student in Toronto was tweeting his observations of Canada &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":226669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","mauthors-shelby-thevenot","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236082,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236081\/revisions\/236082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}