Japan — Stories

Announcements in Korean, Chinese, English and Japanese haunt the three-quarter empty passageways that are usually full…

COVID-19By Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)13 February 2021TCK, TCA, third culture adult, third culture kid, TCK TOWN, Japanese, Japan, HONG KONG, HARROGATE, Seattle, USA, Travel, COVID-19, coronavirus Comments

Caught That Yellow Fever. Not!

“They’re not even like real men, Ava! They’re all hairless under their shirts. Come on! It’s gross!” I remember zipping my lips shut right after my mate yipped that particularly distasteful ‘observation’ at me,..

Racism, RelationshipsBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)25 July 2020TCK TOWN, third culture kid, TCK, racism, bi-racial, Tokyo, Japan, Asia, Asian, relationships, love, attraction, travel Comments

Binge Watching Brittany Murphy

Girl follows boy to foreign country, boy leaves girl there, girl falls in love with country (or food of said country) and decides to stay….

Announcements of Love

I’m sorry. I’ll miss you terribly. You look at me hurt…

Not Another KFC Christmas

I was mortified to learn that a Tokyo Christmas meant cozying up over a bucket of KFC…

I Will Carry That Rice Cooker Out Like a Purse

My “real” boyfriend has his family coming from Brazil. He politely tells me to “move out” for the duration of the trip. I pay half the rent…

Moving, Food, RelationshipsBy Cherysh Sullivan (From Hawai'i & Germany. Living in Tokyo)28 December 2019tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, third language, moving, world, Japanese, Japan, city, station, boyfriend, culture, cultural, divorce, new place, boxes, pack, packing, friend, unpack, Perth, Melbourne, Brazil Comments

My Tuxedo Shirt

It’s my favorite choice for our annual Christmas brunch at one of the hotels in Tokyo…

Let's PartyBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)25 December 2019Japan, TCK, fashion, Malaysia, Christmas, brunch, Tokyo, malay, Malaysian, third culture kid, TCK TOWN, Americans, Texas, tck, American, JapaneseComment

Not Just Halloween Pumpkins

Woody persimmons sit on a small Japanese table with dark marker grimaces. Acrid pumpkins from China are baskets for treats...

The Great Tohoku Earthquake

March 11, 2011. Just an ordinary day. Then earth fell away beneath us…

My Pidgin is Better Than Yours

Of course, I envy your ability to switch from Japanese to English and back again, like a ping pong ball ricochets and zings out of a corner.

AngerBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)8 May 2019tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, third culture kid, cultures, culture, prejudice, students, Pidgin, language, Japan, Islander, JapaneseComment

No Regrets

With a deep breath, I’m ready to fly…

Hijab and the Doppelgängers

There shouldn’t be an issue of not accepting another culture or religion just because you don’t like it or because you don’t understand it. Is this lack of tolerance something we might eventually be proud of? I shudder at the thought…

AngerBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)30 March 2019anger, TCK, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, friendship, racism, prejudice, Islam, muslim, hijab, Tokyo, winter, Japanese, Japan, KoreaComment

Tales from the Land of Pocky

I am in love with a country I have yet to visit all because of the stories from my uncle and all the ways he filled our lives with this culture…

AsiaBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)27 February 2019TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, Japan, family, snacks, souvenirs, sushi, chopsticks, Murakami, food, wanderlust, anime, travel, live abroad, storiesComment

The Real Folk Blues

"愛してたと嘆くには (I was in love once, I sigh) あまりにも時はすぎてしまった (far too much time has passed me by)." There's an uproar in the karaoke box...

Music, AsiaBy Ashleigh Leyshon (From Melbourne, Tokyo & Nagoya. Living in Kharkiv)6 February 2019TCK TOWN, tck, TCK, third culture kid, music, karaoke, Japan, Japanese, Nagoya, Australian, Australia, school, lyrics, sing Comments

The Tokyo New Year’s French Fry Rally

So what did you do if you were in Tokyo with limited funds? The new year began and we were still deep in our french fry quest…

AsiaBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)2 February 2019TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, Tokyo, Japan, customs, Roppongi, Shibuya, foreign students, NYE, OmotesandoComment

Words By The Sea

On the silted shores of that Kashmiri lake from my childhood - my shoes slowly ruining in the slush of snow, mud and plum blossoms - I stood beside the houseboat we were staying in (which once hosted Henry Kissinger). That was the month Indira Gandhi was voted out and my whole family got stuck in India.

Riding with Cigarettes in the Rain

I’m sitting under a small stone shelter on Hibiya Dori. It’s raining, and businessmen and women are hurrying past under their umbrellas…

CitiesBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)10 November 2018TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, bicycles, Japan, Sri Lanka, Tokyo, Imperial gardens, onigiri, new home, rainComment

Owning My Culture Crown

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:

I put my gown on and placed my tiara on my curly updo. Finally, I awarded myself the “Miss America” sash that I had marked with a sharpie to say “Miss ATCK,” instead…

Where Haven’t I Been Yet?

My passport tells an improbable tale of birth, country of origin and address of emergency contact….

Where Are You From?By Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)19 September 2018tck, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, where are you from, Nebraska, Americans, America, USA, Japan, Japanese, parents, family, languageComment

It's a Japanese Thing

I’m quite certain that was the moment I realised that it wasn’t just the language I had absorbed…