Who am I? How would I answer that question?

My name is Uka. My name is spelt “Uka” because when I lived overseas, the people could read it properly when it was spelt that way compared to “Yuka.”

I was born in Japan, but when I was 2 years old I went to America and stayed there for 2 years. After America, I came back to Tokyo and went to an International school and then at the age of 7, moved to Australia, Sydney and that was the place where I stayed the longest.

I was educated at a Performing Arts school in Sydney and there I was able to develop not only in performing arts but I came to know and meet the greatest people: my teachers and my friends. I loved my teachers, both performing arts and academic teachers, and of coarse my friends. Everybody was so talented and I was a very lucky girl to be able to grow, surrounded by so many talented people. However, I moved to Japan to a girls high school and enrolled to the music coarse majoring in piano to keep up with the performing arts. It was my first time to go to a Japanese- Japanese school (not international), first time to go to a girls school, first time to LIVE in Japan, and my first time to live separated from my mother who worked hard in Tokyo while I stayed with my grandmother. I have already mentioned this in my previous blog entry but those 3 years of high school, changed me in many ways. The simplest things surprised me. I remember my first day to the Japanese Girls High School. I was walking up the hill towards the school gate 門, and I noticed that I could only see black hair/ heads. In Australia, there were people with blonde, brown, brunette, red, curly, wavy, all different kinds of hairstyles and I was able to tell who was walking in front of me just by looking at the back of their heads with one single glimpse. It seems as though one of the characteristic of Japan being “fine and detailed” happens to appear in different situations too. By the time I graduated that school, I was able to tell who was who from seeing the back of the their heads, even though the hair colour was only black and straight. I may have I somehow developed to notice “fine and small” details which in a way may have developed my concentration? I am not quite sure but I guess it is better to know many things. Of coarse, that is not the only thing I learnt in the high school years. Firstly, I could not read kanji or write Japanese, and I was not very interested academically until then. I knew I had to study Japanese since I do have a Japanese background and so I thought that this would be such a great chance. Then I somehow started enjoying the process of studying and doing kanji tests every class. Although becoming used to the environment was challenging, I was able to meet a great friend at high school and exchange thoughts.

After graduating that high school, there was an option to go back overseas for university. However, I thought that I needed to learn more in Japan and become more “engaged” to Japan. Japan is one of the backgrounds that I was born with and I believe it is important to know and understand about your background country. Therefore, for university, I chose ICU. I also have many other reasons why I wanted to come to ICU such as the teachers, people, environment, but I wanted to keep studying in Japan and also develop English at the same time.

When I think about it now, I feel as though memories of the past were all a “dream.” I sometimes question myself “Was that real or was I dreaming? Was I really doing those things?” However, when I see the school reports of the Japanese High School or when I see the photos of my friends and videos of school performances in Australia, I am able to accept the fact it was real, however only slightly.

These days, my feelings are slightly rushing, what I want to do with my life, where I want to go after I graduate. However, I know enjoying the things that are in front of me and keeping friendship is so important and I am glad I have made and met so many people at ICU. I am noticing myself being interested in the mass media. I cannot believe this because just a few years ago I simply just was not interested in this kind of job. I do not know what will happen but for now I feel as though I should work hard in the things that are right in front of me. Hoping to develop through this semester’s ELP class.