Introducing Hafu in Transit

Hello Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to start this journey with me! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Marie. I am a bi-racial woman of Japanese and American decent. For the past 10 years, I have had the privilege to live outside of the USA, the country I was raised in, including: France, Indonesia, Japan, and now Germany.

The title of this blog-Hafu in Transit- is an homage to my Japanese and American heritage as well as my travels. Hafu is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word Half, and it used to describe people who are only part Japanese-like me. These days, the PC term for people like me is double, but that term doesn’t feel authentic to me.

I don’t embrace the term Hafu out of a feeling of lacking. Once upon time though, I did. I thought that not being completely Japanese or American excluded me from both groups, in part because of the way people categorized me-conveying to me implicitly and explicitly that I did not belong. I internalized that rhetoric for years, and it made me resentful, anxious, and in the worst moments, lonely. 

Eventually I learned that my identity is something I alone shape. This realization came to me slowly through education, therapy, and most importantly, through my American and Japanese friends and family who have unconditionally nurtured and accepted me. Ultimately it was these people that affirmed to me I didn’t need to be affiliated with any visible group to belong.

Now I consider being Hafu to not only be my gateway to the world but also my most formidable attribute. Responding to cultural cues from my two native countries has made me agile and perceptive enough to adapt to other ones. I know first-hand that there are many ways of existing in this world and I’ve lived at least a few of them. 

I definitely wouldn’t say I always enjoy the rigors of living in foreign environments. It takes a level of intentionality that can drain even the most committed expat. The amount of faux pases I’ve perpetrated are innumerable and the list continues to grow. I fantasize regularly about things being easy or getting it right the first time.

That being said, I cannot imagine a life without the constant challenge of navigating a new culture and/or a new language. It’s stimulating, it’s humbling, and there is always an opportunity to grow. 

So here I am- a Hafu in Transit- in literal and figurative motion to new places and realizations. 

My objective is to bring you along on this journey, by creating a blog that contemplates and is empathetic towards different lived experiences. I also hope that through honest reflection, I can contribute to literature that seeks to end the oversimplification of highly-nuanced, complex issues and the people who navigate them.

Thank you for taking the time to engage with my content so far. I will publish a new piece twice a month. I hope to see then! If you have any feedback and/or requests of topics to explore, please reach out to me at my email, hafuintransit@gmail.com