Life has always been about adaptability for Kathleen. Born and raised in the city of Taipei, she moved to New York in her teens and struggled to fit in. When she finally started to feel at home in New York, she met her future husband and decided to move to Tokyo with him. Living in Tokyo means starting anew. She missed the culture and the lifestyle she had in the U.S. initially, but eventually learned to see Japan for what it is. Because of her experience living in different countries, she has spent some time thinking about her identity.
“I suppose I was looking for a sense of belonging, so I used to think about it a lot. I realized that home is really wherever your loved ones are and that no one belongs here more than I do.
“Carl Sagan’s pale blue dot comment gives me clarity. I see myself as a citizen of the world, as one of 7.4 billion people, together sharing this beautiful, living and breathing planet called earth.
“We are all stuck with each other on this planet for the time being. Our future generation will live with the consequences of what we create and destroy. When you think about it that way, the world becomes a little smaller and people around you no longer seem so foreign.”
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