00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
Hello.
All right.
All right.
Okay.
What do we have today?
Yes.
This is from Dina Tsa-san.
Dina Tsa-san.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Oh, this could be a plus, one word.
Oh, sure.
We can move on.
Yeah.
We can do that on the plus recordings.
Thank you in any ways, Dina Tsa-san.
All right.
I'm going to read this in the plus episode.
Yes.
Thank you.
Okay.
Hi, Kevin Yamachan.
Hi.
I listened to your podcast as I walk to work.
Thank you.
Thank you for keeping me company.
Thank you.
I'm a Japanese national living in London.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I have a question regarding identity.
Okay.
I'm a typical TCK or kikokushijou.
What's TCK?
TCK.
I don't know.
TCK.
I have no idea.
Well, anyways, that means kikokushijou.
Oh.
TCK.
Kikokushijou?
TCK.
Transcultural.
Transcultural.
Transcultural.
Transcultural.
Kind of.
Transcultural kind of.
Transcultural.
Tamago kake kohan.
So, anyways, so typical TCK or kikokushijou meaning I'm Japanese but grew up in six countries.
Oh.
So, after university in Canada, I worked in Japan for five years.
Okay.
Oh.
But it took me so many years to finally come to terms with and be confident in my multicultural
identity.
Okay.
Kevin and of course Yama-chan too if you identify, did you ever struggle with your bicultural
identity and what was your journey like?
Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
That was from, no name on it, but Mia-san.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I think I've talked about this once in the past about like me growing up, born and raised
in the US with a Japanese parent.
Yeah.
And like, well, I speak two languages and like-
03:01
Moving some countries.
Yeah.
Not only Japan and America, but like Ikebukuro as well.
Yeah.
So, I always say Ikebukuro.
It's okay.
I can't get over it.
I can't get over it.
It's like you always say America.
Yeah.
I can't stop saying it.
Yeah.
But, so right.
It was like, where is my Jika?
It's difficult.
I don't know.
Right now, my Jika is in Georgia.
Yeah.
Like I've had, I've actually had homes in the Ibaraki as well.
Yeah.
Right.
I've had homes in England.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As well.
So, I'm not confident there.
So, like, so yeah, I've had that crisis.
Yeah.
Where's my home home?
True.
I don't know where my home home is.
Home home.
My home home.
Yeah.
Do you say it like that?
Yeah.
I say home home.
I don't know where my home home is.
Why you didn't say, where's my home?
Because my home is in Tokyo right now.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
My home home is-
Somewhere.
Yeah.
Somewhere else.
Okay.
My home home is-
Home place.
I guess Rome, Georgia.
So.
Still.
Still.
I guess it's, I don't know, I didn't, I never really, yeah, I struggled it for the first
several years of high school.
Okay.
So-
Like when I really came back here.
Mm-hmm.
Of like-
Like my, like, like should I say that like, my, my chika's in America?
Mm-hmm.
But like-
Yeah.
Should I say I'm Japanese or American?
Yeah.
But like now just, I, I just, I just say all my past.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like this isn't really a, like I, if people think that I'm, let's say that I, I, if people
think that I've never been to Japan.
Okay.
Or like, or people think that I'm just, I'm a kikoku shijou or something like that.
I really don't have any like feelings that come up.
Like I've never have anything like, oh, you got it wrong.
It's not that.
It's just, I just, oh, like if, if there was a timing to correct it, I just correct it.
I don't, I don't go forward and like, I don't, I'm not, I'm not trying to self-protect myself
by correcting other people's misunderstanding of my past.
Yeah.
Like I, I don't, it's not necessary for me to do that anymore.
Yeah.
I've accepted everything.
Like people interpret things with their own information and I'm not vulnerable to it.
06:01
Yeah.
I've come to, I've, I've arrived at a stable place.
Yeah.
I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's a great, great statement.
Like a great, yeah.
Yeah.
Admire that, um, mind.
Yeah.
Way of thinking.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
That's great.
Yeah.
So, um, you are obviously a typical TCK, right?
In that case.
So, I don't know what that is, but if you say typical TCK, well, I don't know what TCK
is, but it's kind of trans cultural kind of, right?
Yeah.
I'm not sure.
But anyways, you know, um, it's really different even if you are typical TCK.
Okay.
Yeah.
It's a typical TCK.
You guys are completely different.
Right.
So it's, it's actually really difficult to, you know, include all, you know, I was born
in Japan and raised in Japan, but went to France for just one year.
Yeah.
And I believe myself, I'm just, just a Japanese.
Yeah.
But you know, it's, I mean, everybody is different.
Right.
Right.
Like I've talked to us before.
It's really similar to like, for example, like what's the LGBTQ community of what your
self identity is versus what other people define it or like science defines it and everything.
Like how am I considering myself an American or Japanese or like, how do I, how do I process
that in me really as a matter of myself and like, it really is hard to like categorize
that.
Yeah.
It's, it's, yeah, it's just, it's, it's hard to say who, what, what I am.
Yeah.
Right.
It's just you.
Yeah.
I'm just me and she's just her.
Yeah.
So.
With a different, with all different backgrounds.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
True.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
I love that stance.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So, uh, your script.
Thanks for listening guys.
Bye bye.
Yeah.
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