How Do You Fill This Out?

When I was six. I was sure that I was an Australian. When I was ten, I thought I was a Japanese. When I was eighteen, I thought I was a USAmerican.... Until recently, I thought I had to tell everyone my life story to explain where I am from. But now I have learned not to equate the countries I am from with the countries my cultural identity is from.

I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, riceballs, and Vegemite sandwiches. What's wrong with that?  I love singing "Waltzing Matilda," "Brady Bunch," and "Sukiyaki Song." These are all part of me! We don't have to come from somewhere. We can be, for instance, Australian, Japanese, and USAmerican at the same time. I don't feel that I am from any of those countries, but my cultural identity does come from all of them.

—S. Michael Nagasaka
Japanese global nomad
Perspectives, Global Nomads International
Vol.4, No. 1, Spring/Summer 1996