Aya Bergkamp | ベルカンプ彩
“Are you able to be yourself entirely in both countries?”
日本と外国（親の母国）両方で、自分自身でいられますか？
Please share your answer to Aya’s question in the comment area below.
About Aya:
| Father | Dutch |
| Mother | Japanese |
| Age | 16 |
| Born in | the Netherlands |
| Lived in | the Netherlands |
| Speaks Japanese | ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪ |
| Reading and Writing | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ |
| Speaks | Dutch - English - Japanese |
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I always be my true self:)
Hi we are at the same age!
I’m told to be as enthusiastic by my friends, always animated in my talk, but able to listen to people and make things cool by doing it.
I can be myself in both Japan and England, (because I’m Anglo-Japanese) and pretty much any country I’ve went to. I think it depends on the individual to be honest and I know this because my Anglo-Turkish friend feels uncomfortable in Turkey because she doesn’t speak Turkish, so she feel she can’t express herself and be reclusive.
(english/japanese).
No! Good question by the way.
I think a ‘halfie’s’ existence is forever liminal (always inbetween). It’s a good space though! Very fertile, endless creative possibilities, ever transgressive, high degree of adaptability, but can be unsettling, you need to have inner strength sometimes when your surroundings turn against you/are a poor fit, especially when growing up. In fact, growing up while fun, is probably the phase which has the most difficult moments. But it develops, that’s for sure.
I think if i were to act Japanese it could and could not work. customary to japanese principles and way of life to normal american practices , the two would just clash and can confuse each other’s actions. An American would expect another to be American whereas a Japanese person would expect the same level of respect that he/she is giving off.
not saying people do not expect the same level of respect here , i believe people act quick up in their immediate judgments and express what they feel through their freedom of speech. So if they act like this then they would expect the same level of their own mindfulness in return. In a sense you can act Japanese to anybody here just fine , because if they’re on a level of non understandment , a japanese person’s small action and ounce of respect to give off may change or teach that person. Then, that person learns something and gets shown a sign that there can be an improved manner to live in this world
My countries are Japan and USA. In Japan, no. In USA, yes.
I love Japan, though.
Good question! Japan is such a homogeneous society (though I see an increase in haafu’s and expats) and has such a strong culture that I often feel like a stranger in the midst, but as Japanese people consider me to be gaijin they don’t mind my foreign quirks and are far more forgiving to me than they would be to full Japanese people. But when I look at my physical body type, I feel more comfortable and free-er in Japan. Ive had so many comments about my skinny Japanese genes while growing up between ‘big boned Dutch kids’ and that has made me very conscious about how I dress myself. In Japan that’s no issue for me at all.
I’m usually an outgoing person that likes to say funny stuffs: a typical Osakan when I’m here.
But when I go to the states I can’t express myself more than Japanese so I’m mistaken as a rather 大人しい person which I’m not at all Lol