My Cultural Identity Mapa little preview into the life of...

荒川 かぞくう(the Arakawa Family)

５０％ Japanese (from my mom), 50% Okinawan (from my dad, and no, they are not the same!) :)

My Grandpa and Grandma were missionaries in Japan for about 10 years but unfortunately they didn’t teach any of their kids how to speak Japanese

- Mom: 3 siblings 2 brothers, 2 sisters

-Dad: 5 siblings4 brothers, 1 sister

“Family” is an extremely important concept in my house. Living in Hawaii especially, we have all of our aunties and our uncles here with us. Not to

mention that pretty much everyone on my Arakawa side lives next to me (we’re neighbors) so we’re all

really close.

One of the biggest struggles my family went

through was when my mom had to be

hospitalized. The average person has about

12 pints of blood in them, but my mom

nearly fainted because she had about half

of that amount in her body. It was really

scary, but we grew closer as a family and

learned to really take care of my mom more.

My mom has such a servant’s heart and so

she’s always doing things for other people.

It was hard for her to actually have to be

taken care of for a change.

Not only my blood family, but my

church family has also had a strong

influence in my life.

I’ll never forget my 5th grade teacher who truly

inspired me to make a difference in other people’s

life. She influenced my life so tremendously and I

thought, WOW. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could

make a difference in someone’s else’s life like she

did mine?

MY BEST FRIENDS.

What can I say about these people? They’re

always been supportive of what I’ve wanted

to do. Always encouraged me to influence

other people. These are the most amazing

people I’ve ever known.

Likes: I love kids, food, hanging with friends,

watching korean dramas, going shopping, playing

volleyball, soccer, swimming, pool, ping pong, etc.

Interests: reading, writing...making people laugh.

Personality: I love to meet new

people! However, I do need

some time to myself where I

can just chill and relax. I love to

just have a good time with

friends, and build strong

relationships! Relationships

that are meaningful and that

will last!

Passions: I have a

passion my Savior! I

absolutely love to

worship and sing praise

to my heavenly Father.

It’s the most amazing,

indescribable feeling.

It’s something that

never gets old.

Interests: I’m normally always running because

I’m so busy so I don’t really have a lot of time

to get the things that I want to do done. I would

absolutely love it if I had time to scrapbook,

post pictures all over the wall, start journals

filled with favorite quotes/bible verses, CLEAN

OUT MY CLOSET, start a fashion design

notebook, read all the books in my room that

I’ve bought but never read, go through the

entire bible, start a cool collection of

something, go through all the 6000 songs in

my itunes and clean it out!

I’m a very happy person :)

In general....when you

don’t get me angry :) nah

nah! all the time! :D

Physical traits? It doesn’t

matter, you can decide :) I just

like to make people smile and

be happy :)

This feels so

weird posting

my

pictures.....

O.O haha

Verbal Communication:

If you know me, you’ll know I love to talk. However, sometimes I’m limited in what I

can communicate. I speak English, and when I try to speak pidgin I just sound

ridiculous. :) I went to Japan last summer and completely fell in love with the culture

and the people. Even though I’ve taken Japanese for 4 years, I still don’t even have

the speaking ability of a 5 year old. I also can pick up certain korean phrases due to

the fact that at one point I went through a crazy obsession with korean dramas. I

am glad to report that I have recovered successfully and have been clean for about

a month. :)

Non-verbal:

I love to make faces

at people. I love to be

expressive with my

entire face, and most

of the time I’m

actually overdramatic,

but it’s still good fun.

:)

Orientation mode:

I’m not exactly the most punctual

person and I think growing up in Hawaii

has influenced me even more-so. I’m

more of a laid back person when it

comes to comfort (except in fashion).

Family and friends are extremely

important to me. My dad will

always stress the importance of

relationships and I think he’s right.

At the end of someone’s life you’re

not going to look back at all the

money you made, but the people

you’ve influenced.

Learner:

I love to learn with other

people and get to interact

and know them!

My home is a very laid back, chill environment.

However, when it comes to school there are

certain expectations, deadlines I have to make

and places that I have to be at a certain time.

It’s definitely a hard adjustment to make, but at

the same time it’s teaching me to be

hardworking and diligent in whatever I do.