What's in a name? On cultural identities

One of the things I have absolutely loved about being here is that people can pronounce my name.

Studying at the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda, unless you are business level fluent in Japanese, it is a requirement to take a number of Japanese language credits. This semester, I was familiar with the unnecessarily complex registration system and had some knowledge about which classes would be interesting or difficult. This was a huge relief as I remember the stress from last semester, and was able to settle in much more quickly. In the first week, everyone goes through their ‘jikoshoukai’, or self-introductions; and the teachers desperately try to learn everyone’s names by asking us to create name plates and putting them on the desks in front of us. As I was sitting in another orientation class waiting for my name to be called in the register, I realised something- the names before my own were all much harder for the teacher to pronounce than mine: something I had never before experienced in my school life in the UK. As with many of my friends here who are half-Japanese, I use my Japanese surname and my first name while here, and because I was given a Japanese sounding first name, I have had an easy ride when it comes to self-introduction.

This led me to think about my own cultural identity, as I often get asked what my ‘real name’ is, not the Japanese one that many people who I first meet think I have given myself in order to sound more Japanese. I am also often asked what it’s like being a half-Japanese person in Japan, or anywhere for that matter. As it happens, I am very appreciative of the fact that I am unique, and can’t think of any other way I would like to be. I worried for a while that no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn’t be able to fit in in Japan because I look ‘foreign’, but I’ve found that I can use this to my advantage, and the closer I get to my friends here the more I realise that if they accept me then that’s all that matters.