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If I remember correctly, you are what is called a liminal identity. When you can't figure out where you belong because you can't exactly say one or the other.

画作りが上手いなーめちゃくちゃドラマチック。参考になります！

Nice video ❤

This video is incredible!!

Shoi-san, thank you for sharing your story. Reminds me of mine and I am sure many others who see this can relate. Similarly, I came back to the place I was born after 19 years of not being back (leaving at 7 years old), returning for my first time at 26. A lot of emotions and still seem I remember that trip even now in my 40s. Even a seemingly simple question like, “where are you from” gave me a pause then. Much clearer to me now, and I hope your trip continue to be in your memory. Separately, I ended up living in Japan for almost 5 years working and with my girlfriend (now married to). It’s a beautiful country and so much more to it than just high rises and city blocks. Thanks for sharing your story.

Foreigners here in Japan use the Translator App so that its easier to communicate in stores or other establishments :) I also don't speak Japanese:) Im just thankful they understand when i explain it (or when im saying words in english 😄) and then i just use the Google Tranlator app from English to Japanese 🙂 makes life easier ☀️⭐️

New subscriber here :) were also now here in Japan :) were just here for 3 or 4 yrs though , we will be back in the US after here. Favorites are the Ramen here , Japanese BBQ or in Yakiniku restaurants and the Spicy curry from Coco curry place :) You made a verygood vlog brother :) Great work :) Cheers

thomas the tank engine = based lol

Moved here from Japan when I was 20 I’m 34 now but, I just love being united state. I couldn’t be a part of” read the room” society. Not that I’m saying I don’t agree with being respectful of surroundings. But I just didn’t like that Japanese people like to shame others and gossip about for that reasons. Thanks for sharing your experience Shoi.

Thank you ! Enjoyed watching this moving video with such a positive and life affirming vibe ! Look forward to catching more of your uploads.

Beautiful video. Congratulations! As a Japanese American I have always identified with Japan but visiting Japan made me realize I’m not Japanese. Yet I can take the best of both worlds and be happy.

May I just say that this is a beautiful piece of art what you made here? ❤ Second, I can relate so much being a kid of immigrants parents. It took me 20 years to feel home wherever I am. I remember how embarrassed I was when my mom would write notes to the teacher because she had so many misspellings. One thing I wish though, is that she would keep talking to me in her language. Luckily, my dad kept speaking to me in English and only few Italian words his dad used to say.

SEND THIS TO A SHORT FILM CONTEST.

Nah as a Korean I went to Korea and a cashier spoke to me in Japanese cause I was acting like a tourist. I look Korean definitely but the way I was acting was foreign lol

SO GOOD VIDOE

I almost feel the way you feel about your own nationality. I'm Filipino, but even though I used to go there quite often (and even lived there), sometimes I felt like I didn't belong because I couldn't speak the language, I didn't dress like everyone else, I didn't act like everyone else. What hurt me the most was that although people couldn't understand me well because I spoke english most of the time, I could still understand tagalog and all the hurtful words that made me feel ostracized. I still haven't gotten over this feeling and it's been about 16 years.

I liked this video you should add super thanks

holy shit. surely its not THAT hard if i were break it down, but the edit on 2:12 where we are the perspective of the phone is soooo good. and the sprite art is crazy!! suuuper sick video. glad u had the trip you been wantin to take. & i really fw the edits in this!

Absolutely amazing video! Thank you so much for sharing your story in such a beautiful way! 私はアメリカ人ですが、お母さんの家族はイタリアから来ました。ぜんぜんイタリア語が出来ませんが、4年間高校で日本語を勉強しました。実はこの夏初めまして日本に行ってきました！素晴らしかった、本当に日本に帰りたい！大学でも日本語を勉強する予定です！Identity has definitely been a struggle for me being that my dad is black and my skin color being white makes it so that people never believe me, ask me to show a picture of my dad, or ask me to say the N word to prove it to them. Also being that my mom’s family came from Italy and since I appear more Italian than black I usually say I’m Italian to bring less confusion. But even so I feel a bit out of touch with that part of me because my mom didn’t grow up speaking Italian, but she learned it on her own and lived in Italy for a period of time. We no longer have any living relatives that speak Italian. So I don’t really feel that need or desire to learn Italian so at first when I fell in love with Japanese culture and the language I kinda felt bad, that maybe I was abandoning my identity for another entirely different culture that I have no connection with. However I wasn’t abandoning my identity at all. I was just developing it more, I’ve met so many amazing people in Japan and I have exchange student friends from an exchange program I did in high school and lasting connections with people who have become like family to me! Regardless of who you are, what you like, or what tongue you may speak, you are worthy to pursue your own identity and become who you want to be! Thank you so much again for sharing this video as well as talking about the reality of your trip to Japan! I’m so happy you were able to go back! Much love!

so weird that america judged and define culture and race. this video is beautifully made, love it.

holy shit this video is so incredibly well-done for such a small channel. i nearly fucking cried when you got the same poke-pan and said the pokemon were different but the bread tasted the same. what a testament to time that is. i truly feel where you're coming from with being so removed from your heritage, as i am a dual citizen of switzerland but have never lived there; and its been my life dream to do so but its one of the most expensive countries in the world and the job market is competitive. i was also born in new york city and moved away before i could really make any memories there because my parents divorced, but that's another story.

I'm 3rd gen. Japanese-American raised with little knowledge of Japanese culture or my own family history. That always bothered me. Finally went to Japan several years ago. Just before I went I found out where my ancestors came from by finding a ship register on an ancestry website that listed my grandparents. It was weird to visit their hometown. It's totally different from when they knew it (one of those places that was heavily bombed in the war) and I had no contacts with any relatives who might still be there. But visiting Japan helped me feel a little more like a "whole" person. Like you, I don't feel like I totally fit in in either country. It's complicated. Wonderful video, btw!

This was beautifully produced. I loved all of the elements you included. I LOVED every second of it.

Still in Japan dude?? How about some beers? :)

From your younger years up till now do u think japans culture has changed in america. I imagine now kids could sell their mothers bentos at school for quite a bit of money as japan has become incredibly popular compared to before. Growing up anime and japanese things werent cool... Now everyone loves stereotypical japanese things and they will buy.

Brilliant video...well done. I can kind of relate as a Canadian who has lived in Japan for more than 30 years, other than...I'm not interested in returning "home". I've found a home here in Japan. Thanks for sharing...that was well worth the watch.

Really enjoyed this, Shoi! Great story-telling - both aurally and visually. I hope your channel thrives! Cheers from Australia! 😃

as a Japanese American in a similar situation. I find it interesting how we are considered "gaijin" even though we look like everyone else and speak the same language as everyone else in Japan.

Grow up! Integrate and visit. If you’re in your mid twenties and never went back is your fault. I’m in the same boat and I integrated as an American and enjoyed my life.

We are sometimes foreigners in our own countries. I was born in Seattle, USA, but my parents moved to a small rural town when I was just a toddler. I never did fit in, even though I was too young to know anything else. I left for college in Los Angeles when I was 18. I never went back. And yet, LA has never felt like home either, just a place where I lived and worked and went about the stuff one does as one gets older. It wasn’t until I was in my late 30s and I traveled to Greece - where my mother’s father was from - that I suddenly and very powerfully felt “home.” I’m not sure what it was exactly, but from the moment the plane made landfall there was just something about it that clicked. Greece is certainly not a perfect place. What place is? But from now on, it will always be the home I return to as often as I can, instead of the foreign country I visit now and then. Oh, curiously, my most common dreams involve riding on trains and endlessly rolling from place to place, never stopping, speeding through oddly distorted dreamscapes and caricatures of cities and lands I’ve seen. I have to wonder if some people, like myself, are just born to be nomads, never settling down anywhere, just rolling along, rootless.

Amazing ❤

this video is really amazing

as a Cuban immigrant this made me tear up. i identify with so much of this and had a very similar childhood. this was beautiful ❤

Even for japanese to visit japan as tourist is the best. Wish you and your family luck and prosperity. Thank you for video.

泣けちゃうぅぅぅ

Thanks for this video, I can finally feel that I am not alone in this world.

600 subscriber here❤❤

Home is where you make it. Being born somewhere doesn't make it your home.

Saw the full version. Always good to return to your roots and learn more about yourself. I found that it made my parents idiosyncrasies make more sense.

Exactly! being Japanese is not necessarily based on how you look but more on how you act..

There are a lot of similarities between your life story and mine. I've been in Japan for 12 years now and still get treated as non-Japanese. And you know what? I'm fine with it. It comes with time. I'm nearly twice your age so I had a bit more time to struggle with identity crises lol. Anyways, don't let anything get you down, love your family and stay awesome.

Bro started on a high level vloging)

I was born and raised in the U.S as a japanease american it has been 18 years since ive visted I was 8 during the time and I will be visiting for the 3rd time this September to see family. Even though I wasint born in Japan I still related to most of the things in the video. Thank you for sharing!

I just came back from a trip to Japan. I used to spend every summer there as a kid in my dad's hometown, but I've only gone back twice as an adult, only on short trips. I've very much accepted the fact that I'm more American than Japanese, but there's still a part of me that feels very comfortable and at home there.

572 subs?!?!?! This is so well made!! Good job, really enjoyed this.

Mad respect for not letting anyone define who you are bro! Its your journey and you get to decide what it means to you🚀

Beautiful!

Looks like you had a good time. Yeah, Japan is complicated. I grew up in the USA and am Caucasian. I spent 14 years in Japan. I never really enjoyed the system and did not fit in well all the time. Ironic but now I have a Japanese part to my brain. I always surprise myself when I realize I’m thinking like Japanese people do. It happens, ha ha! The nice part about visiting your native homeland is that everything always makes more sense afterwards. You realize why your parents do things the way they do things. I can’t even imagine how much they went through to two different countries. But you take the good and the bad and you make the most of it. You are who you are now as a result of your environment and all the places you’ve been to. How lucky you got to go back and visit. I love the Pokémon breads. Very proud of you for getting the half price package! Sticker man was my favorite person at the supermarket. Always good to get the deli prepared foods half off. I’m guessing your grandparents were beyond ecstatic to see you after so many years.

Please keep making video's! You are very much talented!

I am a Japanese American that was born in Hawaii. Hawaii and Japan share a lot of cultural similarities but also so distinctively different. People from Hawaii are different from other Americans where they share take pride in their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Now I live here in Japan, been here for 4 years. I feel the same as you, I feel like I am Japanese, but culturally I am not. I take pride in my differences and yes, the social stigma here is suffocating. I used to hide my phone on the train or in the waiting room to try to assimilate. Now, I don't care. If someone sees me reading in English, then oh well. I have also learned that a lot of Japanese, privately, they don't like the idea of "Read the room" they want to know what is going on or if they did something wrong. They feel the guessing game is a bit too much lol. Anyways, this was an amazing video. You earned a subscriber.