Sweet email

This is more or less another post about why I leave my blog completely open to the public. The main reason is that I've had nothing but good experiences from being open.

As a side note though, I've definitely had moments where I wonder about having Tesla so much on my blog. I know that a time will come when I decide to put posts about her in a private domain. A while ago I freaked out on myself, imagining that all these baby pictures of Tesla, forever indexed on the internet, would somehow cause Tesla grief later on. What if she ran for president and folks went through her baby pictures to hassle her? Or worse, if she were in middle school and was made fun of? Dav pointed out that she isn't the first internet generation, and most everyone she will know will have something on the internet. I argued that yes, most of her friends will have an online identity for sure...but one that they make and control. Comparatively speaking, I don't think the majority of babies are being documented by their parents openly yet. Most have pictures online, but in some private photo-sharing capacity. (I am already putting some flickr photos as family/friends only.) Dooce is my guideline to a certain extent so as long as she's open, I feel OK.

Anyway, back to the public thing. I recently had another wonderful experience to add to the list. I received an email from A. who has been reading kokochi for a while. She introduced herself to "de-lurk" and asked about my bi-cultural background and how that applies to work. First, I was simply touched to get such an email. Made me feel that all the silliness I put out there does make sense to a few ; ) But more importantly, she reached out because of the bi-cultural experience. She was thinking about how to use her background that is similar to mine, and she wondered how my background applied to my jobs.

So I replied. And I realized although kokochi (and my former blog Tokyo Tidbits) is about my daily life, I'm rather reticent when it comes to work. Blogging about work crosses a certain line for me. Yet, work is a significant part of what I do and to a certain extent who I am, especially since my recent jobs tie in so well with my cultural background. My work has given me more confidence that my background is special and useful in certain areas. I think I will start sharing more of that here.

For now though, I want to thank A. for reaching out. Here is a snippet from her email that totally clicks for me:

There are so many ways in which your email has helped me: First, that someone else on the planet understands what it means to be jumping between two worlds/worldviews. I have plenty of American and Western friends and plenty of Japanese friends but very few friends that are bi-cultural. How refreshing to hear someone else mention many of the things that I too feel ~ i.e. not always "getting" the joke because it refers to some American pop culture thing from the 80's that I didn't experience. ~ never feeling totally secure with my level of Japanese and my level of aptitude, culturally, in some situations. Second, that I got to hear more about the career and vocation path that you found satisfying and that utilized your bilingual/-cultural skills. I like how you described your particular professional skills on the YahooLink professional profile. Your story gave me some clues and some ideas about how to proceed professionally.

Thanks, A. It's a pleasure to meet you virtually too!