Difficulties and Benefits living other countries!
In my story, “Living outside of the U.S.” I stated that I was born in Japan and yes, Japan was and always will be a wonderful and full of life place to visit! However, being born there vs. visiting in your 20’s or 30’s is very different and difficult for American.
In japan you start kindergarten/elementary or yōchien (幼稚園) at age two to five. For me is was very hard because as a baby I was the outcast without any control why. Kindergarten wasn't all bad, there was a wonderful festival called undouka which is a sport festival that strengthens bonds and relationships among students and faculty. There was ceremonies, speeches, dances and a lot more fun events!
Middle school was even worse, just terrible! I was laugh at, bullied, and cast aside just because I looked different and didn't fit in. In the middle of central Tokyo trying to find the school is very hard. Trust me, I spent hours trying to find it and asking for help was a big no no. I remember I was only seven years old trying to find a school without any direction or help! After hours searching and walking past the school three times I finally found it! But now school was already in session so I was punished for being late. Punishment was not getting yelled at instead I got spanked and then they called my parents and got another spanking from my parents!
Then at age 10 I moved to Nizhny Novgorod, Russia which home to the Kremlin! my first day of school was bad, I got bullied everyday and got into a lot of fights! My father took me out of school because the Russians didn't like me in the their school, basically they kicked me out and mostly I already knew what they were teaching. Japan teaching methods are very demanding and intense! So Russia wasn't bad once I learned a little bit a Russian and got out of school away from the bullies. I visited a lot of museums and learned a lot including how to make real potato vodka!
Then age 12 my father and mother moved back to Japan me, however went to my grandfather which lived in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.
My grandfather was awesome and hardest working man I knew, most of my work ethic came from him. He was part of the Royal Netherlands Army and deployed to Bosnia Herzegovina back in 1992. The adversity here was he didn't speak Japanese nor Russian he spoke only Dutch! Luckily he knew a man that spoke Japanese and Dutch so every day i would go to Bibliotheek Leeuwarden, which is the main library in Leeuwarden and drilled dutch into me. It was difficult but I manged to learn it! Another adversity and the most difficult situation I’ve been was the passing of my grandfather. There was a big ceremony and a lot of the Royal Netherlands Army including his squad (below).
I was now 13 going on 14 my parents and I moved back to Japan. With my grandfather passing I felt like my whole life was torn away! I didn't understand how he could be taken away from me. I went down into a very dark and dangerous place. I started to harm myself, care less about the world, I just wanted to die. It took a lot of support from my family and I did finally meet a lovely woman name Aimi Adachi (Aimi which means beautiful in Japanese and Adachi means family of samurai あいみ あだち). I saw in my elementary class I remember because she was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever saw! Nobody dared to speak to gaijin (foreigner) but this time she spoke to me and by talking to her I saw a bright light in a very dark place. And by speaking together we grew close and I developed to sense of belonging the other kids started talking to me as well and they offered to let me hang out with them. And to this day we all are still together closer than ever.
