Not Japanese enough, but not foreigner enough either.

First of all, I want to say that I’m not trying to discriminate against anyone or create a divide between Japanese and foreigners. I appreciate your understanding of my intention.

I am actually Japanese but lived in the States until recently. Since I was in the States for quite a long time, many Japanese people say I’m Americanized. This might be true, as I sometimes do not really understand my Japanese coworkers’ behaviors and intentions.

However, since my company hires quite a lot of international employees, there are already communities for the non-Japanese employees. They don’t try to get involved with Japanese employees unless they have to, and vice versa. (Maybe because of the language barrier?) I tried to join the international community to get to know them, but I felt I wasn’t very welcomed.

Now I’m kind of lost within the company. I don’t really have a perfect place in either the Japanese or non-Japanese community. Have you ever had this kind of experience? If you have, please let me know how you adapted to the situation.