Any ATCKs or “hidden immigrants” in Japan who want to share experiences?

9 comments

1. I’ve always considered myself a TCK, but only found out about ATCK from your post. Not quite sure what the difference is aside from being an adult. But like you I grew up mostly abroad (the U.S. in my case) from birth up to university/my first “real job.” I only came to Japan after a job change as an adult in my mid 20s.

   I didn’t quite experience a “huge” culture shock since I had already self studied Japanese and luckily for me the internet was already in full force, so I was able to gain a good understanding of both what foreigners think of Japan, Japanese people IN Japan think of Japan, and Japanese people outside of Japan (JP-American friends/coworkers in the U.S.).

   I do understand not feeling fully “at home” in Japan, but at the same time I can comfortably say I never felt fully “at home” back in the U.S. either (even less now, given the state of the country…). Personally, I find it most useful to think of myself as an -individual-. I am neither “American” nor “Japanese,” but at the same time I am both, and most importantly I don’t give a damn.

   I’ll be honest in saying that I felt quite lonely for a long time, but after reaching IDGAF mode, stuff really stops bothering you.

2. Half-British, half-Japanese, raised in France, came here 6 years ago and planning to stay for the long term.

   I have a Japanese passport and no foreign accent, but I have a very European appearance according to pretty much everyone (both Japanese and foreigners), so I guess I’m “hidden” in a different sense in that I always surprise people when they hear me speak Japanese for the first time.

3. I’m a Japanese person who was born and raised in Canada and only moved to Japan after I got my first job.

   As an adolescent there was a time when I thought hard about where I “belong” and where my “home country” was but soon I came to the conclusion that those things are just constructs and I belong where I am.

   So wether I am in Japan, Canada or other countries that I have lived in for work, once the initial culture shock passes, I feel at home there

4. what is ATCK?

5. I am both a hafu and TCK, born in a country that neither of my parents were from. Moved to Japan around 7-8 years ago due to family circumstances with maybe low N3 Japanese and now I’m fairly used to it. My name and appearance are both Japanese, so I always feel kind of dumb when I speak in Japanese because it’s not my first language and to this day, I still sound a little childish when speaking… but even my fully Japanese friends raised abroad get the same comment. That’s maybe my biggest issue. The rest typical of TCK like not feeling like you “belong” anywhere, I’ve already long settled in my head.

6. I’m Japanese and grew up in the US. I moved back last October and has been quite the adjustment. While I can speak Japanese my choice of words isn’t Japanese as I’m more direct in what I want. Also I noticed my culture is more American after moving to Japan even though in the US I was known as the Japanese guy. Although I love shimane as this was part of my early childhood not sure if I’ll spend my whole life here.

7. Genuine question – what drove you to move to Japan?

   There are many people in Australia born elsewhere… most will never return (permanently) after living there for 30 years – as they are now more Australian than whichever place they came from.

8. I don’t mean this to be rude, but what’s the difference between the phrase you’re using (ATCK) and 帰国子女?

   Also when you say third culture, which are you referring to?

9. I am what you’d call a 帰国子女. I still don’t feel completely comfortable with Japanese way of socializing, and outwardly I just go along with it but internally I’m thinking “Oh… why are you doing this… this is totally weird… Oh… that’s not funny… people find this funny?… Oh… what you just said was completely racist/sexist…”, etc.

   Sometimes I am greatly disturbed and haunted by the prevalence of misogyny/sexism/racism etc. I am disturbed by the lackadaisical attitude that the Japanese tend to have toward morality and even objectivity, and how they can’t discuss morality in a “metaphysical” way. Most people cannot have philosophical discussions unless it’s just something that they’ve memorized from some philosophers. Most Japanese would not “get” what you’re trying to say that most Westerner would easily understand. The level of understanding of things like democracy and human rights are still pretty low and basic.

   Of course, women tend to be more receptive to things like misogyny and feminism, but even with “liberal” men and those who proclaim to be “pro-women”, are unable to understand what even misogyny is because there’s just so few mainstream discussions about it.

   I think my general attitude toward Japan is that of great irritation and annoyance, and sometimes sadness and disturbance that there is so much injustice. It’s kind of like looking at North Korea, where you know that things are bad but the people there can’t even become aware that it’s bad so they can’t do anything about it. Actually I think I’ve developed that attitude toward pretty much East Asia in general. I think East Asia is still very behind in many ways, even though it has economically developed, but morally and philosophically, it’s still very behind.

   Do I feel more comfortable in a “Western” country? Well, probably. But I’ve always been a kind of an estranged and somewhat of an idiosyncratic person that I never really cared where my “home” was or whether I felt “home” or not. I don’t *really* seek a sense of “belonging”. My attitude is that if I don’t feel like I “belong”… then it’s not my problem. I’d simply go somewhere else.