Oh, it feels like I’ve been around for a long, long time….. In fact, I’ve been around Los Angeles since 1982 when I first came out to the U.S. from Japan as a fearless young student. My main goal was to learn to speak English like native Americans… nothing more. I managed to get into a local community college, and accidentally learned to speak Spanish (while I was still learning English), then one thing led to the other, I ended up transferring to UCLA. I took me eight years in total, but I did graduate from UCLA in 1989 with B.A. in “East Asian Studies!”
I started translating and working with Japanese media under the table while I was at UCLA to help pay for my “out-of-state” tuition (I think it was $75 per unit back then…). And somehow my temporary means of earning continued on to be my long and winding career.
By a twisted luck of sort, I was able to obtain a “green card” without getting married. Once I got my resident status, I quit a job and started freelancing. This was 1991 when the senior Bush had started the first war in the Middle East and the economy was tanking. Probably for the grace of “ignorance” I managed to build my career slowly but surely. Throughout the 90s, I was fortunate to keep working with lots of interesting projects.
At the end of the 90s, however, I found myself utterly exhausted and questioned everything about my life. In 1999, I heard INS was increasing their fee to apply for the citizenship (my Irish friend told me), and of course, the Presidential Election of 2000 was starting to heat up. I applied to take the test… to become a U.S. citizen. For me, it meant I had to give up my Japanese nationality. Oh, well, I didn’t see myself ever going back to Japan to live. Everybody tells me I’m “Americanized” –(what the heck does that mean?!) — anyway…. So I did. On March 28, 2000, I was sworn in and became an American citizen along with my Irish friend, Noeleen, just in time for the unforgettable Presidential Election of 2000 (Oh, no, the Presidential of 2008 was even MORE MEMORABLE!).
Lots have happened since then: My father passed away in 2001, my beloved cat, Yume, too in 2002. I got married to Kenny in 2004 and bought a house in the mountains in 2005.
My life is so far away from where I come from, but the older I get, the more I feel earning for some of my fond memories from Japan and curious about what’s going on over there in Japan……..
You’re story is extremely interesting. It seems like you’ve done tonnes in comparison to myself!
I also really like your photos. I was wondering if I mightn’t be able to use some of them for my current series on Japanese aesthetics? Please see my website to see if this is something you may agree to.
Thanks!
I have the same feeling, being French, living in Japan since 1980.
Also, I went back to France last year for my first visit there since 1984 and enjoyed the country, its food and people more than I would have thought possible.
I only wish my family members and friends there were as savvy as your mother is with ichat. As it is I don’t communicate often!
Strangely a shift happened from nostalgia towards France to nostalgia towards Japan. When I visit a foreign country, I always look for Japanese people in the street, just to hear them talk and feel kind of “safe” and in good company. Weird!