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For as long as I can remember I have always wondered about the world's countries. Growing up among two different and opposing cultures has caused me to ask myself “Who am I and what is my place in the world?†I was born in Tsingtao, a city in the Shangdon Province of China, which is an 11 hour train ride from the capitol of Beijing. My father is half Chinese and half Japanese. My mother is pure Chinese. I lived with my parents and extended family and we were all a close-knit group. I went to elementary school in Tsingdao and loved my simple life, going to class and spending time with family and friends. After I completed my second year of elementary school, my parents decided to move to Tokushima, Japan, where my paternal grandmother lived. Our move across the ocean changed my entire life, and my way of viewing things. We all selected new first names for ourselves, and adopted my grandmothers Japanese family name. I was 11 years old when I picked my name, Katsuo, which means winner. It was also the name of a famous baseball player. Not only did I have a new name, I was part of a new culture. I knew none of the language when I arrived in Japan and found myself in a public school not able to understand what my teacher or classmates were saying to me. I had to learn Japanese on my own. My early years in Japan were a struggle in many ways, but eventually I found my place. After 15 years in Japan, I finally found good friends, an exciting job, and everything in my life was flowing along smoothly. I could speak Japanese fluently, but I was forgetting the language I grew up with. I had not seen my Tsingdao family in over a decade. I wanted to reconnect with my roots and didn't want to regret not doing it while I was young. I was also ready for an adventure. I left Tokushima by boat on May 6, 2005. I brought an atlas with me, with plans to travel the world. It was an emotional reunion with my family, after spending so many years apart, with little communication. I spent time eating and cooking with my Grandma and had great conversations about life. I also loved rediscovering the history, culture, art, and the people of China. After one month in Tsingdao, I was ready for the next part of my trip. I traveled through China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Southeast Asia. Coming from a materially rich country, I never imagined that people could be happy living simple but hard lives. The smiling people in these poorer places really left an impression on me. The next leg of my journey took me from Southeast Asia, along the silk road by train. I departed from Beijing in China. My first destination was Mongolia, and then onto Moscow, Russia with its beautiful women and sweet vodka. I already felt as if I had fulfilled my dream. I had visited my family and made it to Europe on the Trans-Siberian railroad, but I wanted to continue. I wanted to keep going, see Eastern and Western Europe, visit some friends, and study languages. Everywhere I went I met wonderful people, saw the countryside, learned about history, and even visited some dangerous cities in the Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. I enjoyed the peaceful countries of Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Next was Greece, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Europe was a whole new world and seemed like an easy place to live. As a European, you can work anywhere in Europe, no once cares where you come from. After touring around Western Europe, I headed toward my next destination – my wild and crazy friend Paula's house, and my other two friends, Jim and Sian in England. Visiting Britain was interesting for me, since they ruled a lot of people and countries on the earth. They also have a state-of-the-art culture, excellent economy, a language I wanted to learn, and I thought it was beautiful place to be. However, I journeyed .. one month. I headed to the United States to visit one very, very important friend and her family and her highly intelligent and beautiful cat. I spent one month in California before I left to travel Central/South America. I wanted to get in touch with the Spanish language, eat burritos, and go fishing on the beach. I learned about the regions deep history, saw wonderful natural scenery in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Tropical surroundings, beautiful plants and animals, and cheerful people made my three months in this area one of the highlights of my trip. Life seems so long and so short, time can go quickly and slowly. The sun, moon, and stars are always there. Everything surrounds us and helps us to have good hearts. My 15 months traveling around the world have changed me in indescribable ways, but my heart is the same. During all this time on the road, I still ask myself the same question I did when I was younger “who am I?†My answer is that I have grown, I am me, I want to share my message, I want to find my destiny, believe in myself, and keep going one step at a time.
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