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| Emi Kitahara (middle) trying on a Japanese school uniform. |
Wakayama, Japan by Emi Kitahara (2011)
Wakayama
is a beautiful prefecture along southern Japan.
Even though it is very far away from my home in California, it never
felt strange to be there during my two week stay. Since my mother is from Shimonoseki, I have
had the opportunity to visit her hometown and meet some of my family. But my father’s side of the family is a
mystery since I have never learned anything about them before the generations
that have lived in
America. Being able
to visit Wakayama, which is where my father’s roots lay, was an amazing
opportunity.
Living with two families in Wakayama
enabled me to learn about the culture in a way that a book could never
describe. Going through the day-to-day
lives of the children and parents and even interacting with other native
Japanese was a valuable experience.
Thanks to this program, I was able to see how my life as a
Japanese-American differed from those students who were born and raised in
Japan. It is interesting because my life
truly is a mix of both cultures and until my stay in Wakayama, I had not been
able to fully appreciate how similar and different my life is from Japanese
children and regular American children.
I even had the opportunity to meet some relatives who still lived in
Wakayama thanks to the team at WIXAS.
After having a taste of what life in Wakayama is like, I am eager to be able to go back again and experience more of the culture. The simple and natural beauty of the mountains and the people of Wakayama awakened a hunger to learn more of my ancestry and to expand my own knowledge of the language and customs of Japan. Continuing the ties that I have made in Wakayama will be important to this and I hope to visit my host families, the Takahashis and the Ishikawas, again in the near future.
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