Whitewashed dolls
Like the sisters in The Bluest Eye, I once destroyed a doll. It had chestnut hair and soft, large eyes. Her racial ambiguity with a Japanese name confused me, and […]
Maya
Among Waseda students, I got to know Maya the most. Her fearlessness was the quality I envied. She’d speak her mind but sometimes a bit more than an appropriate amount, […]
Presenting kogal
In the Gender Studies class, two senior students spoke up the most. I was initially intimidated by them, but when we split into groups, and I was included in a […]
Gender studies class
For the first semester, I could choose two classes other than the mandatory English class for international students. I took the Chinese class for one because I hadn’t given up […]
People
I woke up in the morning to the voice of construction workers outside. I stared at the ceiling just 2.5 feet above me and realized they were not talking in […]
Campus
White buildings of Occidental College campus stood majestically against the blue sky. The campus was known for its beauty and often appeared in films and TV shows. The arched corridor […]
International students
I arrived at Occidental College in mid-August. The program organizer welcomed me in the lobby of the administrative office, and I joined the rest of the Waseda students and other […]
Departure
I left Japan with one suitcase. It was a large suitcase, but I packed unnecessary things like the books I had already read while forgetting to pack a toothbrush. My […]
How not to get shot
In 1992, the same year that I saw videos of an African American man bludgeoned by multiple police officers and the ensuing riot in Los Angeles, a Japanese high school […]
Challenges
There was a popular narrative among very high-minded students that you should immerse yourself in the environment in which you had no choice but to speak English because having Japanese […]