After college, I wanted to learned about myself as an American, so I left the United States and went to Japan.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was in the U.S. about 15 years. Especially in New York. And then I came back to Japan.
When I left the U.S. for the first time, I spent my first year abroad in Japan. That culture shock and abundance of new stimuli combined with a lack of guidance forced me to develop my own approaches to learning and juggling.
I was fortunate to live for 3 years in another country, and although we lived in an American compound, still as a young adolescent I did venture into the world of the Japanese with great interest and enjoyment. But many Americans never left that safe and familiar life among their own people.
The American society around me looked at me and saw Japanese. Then, when I was 19, I went to Japan for the first time. And suddenly - what a shock - I realized I wasn't Japanese; they saw me as American. It was an enormous relief. Now I just appreciate being exactly in the middle.
I'm not American. I still have my Japanese citizenship.
I grew up in Japan. It's my first memories of life are Japan.
I was a senior high school student at the Far Eastern University when the war with Japan broke out in 1941.
I took Japanese in high school. I'm Chinese, though, and I just fell in love with the language and the culture.
I did all of California from north to south. I did Florida from north to south. I went to the Midwest. I spent time discovering the culture because I thought I was going to stay in America for only two years. Then I decided to come to New York.
I went to Japan and I lived there. I lived in Mexico for a year. I went to Europe. I lived in Canada.