A New Perspective and Home in the World
Sakiko Seo
Tokyo, Japan
A Korean American roommate and friend at Yale University asked me to help out with labeling the Japanese books at East Rock Institute one day, and that was how my adventure began. I started by volunteering once a week, and during those times, I looked forward to talking with Dr. Hesung Chun Koh about school, life, and my future goals. As she discussed her own career, as well as her role as wife and mother, she offered me a vision of the kind of Asian woman I wanted to be in the future. Her encouragement to study law has led me to pursue a legal career.
I also had the great opportunity to be part of the internship program at ERI in the summer of 2003. Until coming to Yale, I didn’t have much interaction with Asian Americans, so working with Dr. Koh was eye-opening. I created webpage content, especially on ERI’s history, and met various young leaders through events – all of which widened my viewpoint on Asian American culture and history in the United States. As a Sociology and East Asian Studies major, being part of various ERI projects, especially the KOCIS-KD online database, inspired my passion for research on the culture and experiences of the Asian American diaspora, with particular focus on Japanese Americans. My Sociology senior thesis focused on the gender differences among first, second and third generation Japanese Americans after immigration to the United States. This work was inspired by Dr. Koh’s own success as an Asian woman assimilating into American culture through her career and family responsibilities. I realized how focus on gender was necessary yet nonexistent in the current research on the Japanese American assimilation process and experience.
Through my internship, I gained many new insights into my studies, as well as my personal struggle for cultural identity. I had moved to the U.S. when I was six years old, and since my parents did not plan to stay for very long, I considered myself Japanese and quite different from Japanese Americans. However, after spending more than half of my life in the U.S., and meeting many Asian Americans at Yale, I became very confused about my own cultural identity. For the first time, I experienced my own identity crisis. I was referred to as “American” by my cousins in Japan; yet, I was always considered “Asian” by my looks and accent in the States. I had an “alien” registration card for permanent residents. I was not an American citizen and I felt alien in every way. At Yale, I felt wedged between the international students group and the Japanese American group, neither here nor there. I felt as though I were part of the 0.5 generation, midway between Japan and the United States.
I searched for a place where I fit within the Japanese and Japanese American cultures. I searched for identity not only through my studies at Yale, but also through extracurricular activities related to culture. I served as president of the Japan Association at Yale, as a board member of the International Cultural Festival at Yale in 2003 and 2004, and treasurer of the World Music Organization. In addition, by meeting Korean Americans at and outside of Yale, I became interested in Asian culture as a whole, so I studied the Korean language for two years, attended Yonsei University’s summer language program in Seoul, and drummed for three years with UNITY, a Korean drum and dance troupe at Yale. Through these activities and projects, as well as the people and ideas I encountered through ERI, I gained a wider perspective about my own identity – not only as Japanese but also as an Asian woman interested in learning about Korean and other Asian cultures.
My involvement at ERI has taught me that culture is dynamic, always changing from within and through interaction with other cultures. I am grateful that Dr. Koh has committed herself to serving as a bridge between East and West through ERI and the study of Korean and Korean American culture and history. ERI has succeeded in linking both worlds through an important approach that does not limit the definition of culture to each nation’s border. Focusing on diasporas, ERI has been able to bring in new aspects to the study of the triangular relationship between diaspora communities and their native and host countries.
Dr. Koh and ERI have been great influences on my academic and personal pursuits, which are still in a process of research and revision – something that will continue throughout my life. ERI has opened so many doors and new perspectives for young students, men and women from all different backgrounds. I have met many talented young professionals supporting ERI, and I am proud to count myself among them.
Happy 80th Birthday, Dr. Koh, and I wish you many more!
