Archive FM

Book Friends Forever

Halfway There By Christine Mari

Read By Sara Matsui Colby, Chieko Hidaka, Alice Alice, and Siho Ellsmore A poignant young adult graphic memoir that follows one teen's year abroad in Japan, as she seeks to reconcile both sides of her biracial identity.Christine has always felt she is just half: Half American, half Japanese. As a biracial Japanese American who was born in Tokyo but raised in the US, she knows all too well what it’s like to be a part of two different worlds but never feeling as though you belong to either.Now on the brink of adulthood, Christine decides it’s time to return to the place she once called home. So she sets forth on a year abroad in Tokyo, believing that this is where she truly belongs. After years of feeling like an outsider, now she will finally be complete.Except…Tokyo isn’t the answer she thought it would be. Instead of fitting in, Christine finds herself a fish out of water, as being half of two cultures isolates her in ways she'd never imagined. All she can do is try to stay afloat for the rest of the year—still figuring out who she is, what she wants in life, and whether she’ll ever truly be more than halfway there.Author-illustrator Christine Mari explores what it means to lose and find yourself in this moving narrative of belonging and home.
Duration:
4m
Broadcast on:
07 Jan 2025
Audio Format:
other
When I tell people that I'm from Tokyo, they usually tell me that I'm lucky. Or they're jealous. There's just something about Japan. People fall in love with this country before they even set foot in it. What makes Japan so special anyway? Is it the food, the history, Japanese culture? I believe some people come here because they believe Japan is where they'll find themselves. Other people come looking to get lost. And then there are the people who don't know exactly what they're looking for yet. So, they come here. As for me, I came knowing exactly what I was looking for. I was five years old when I left Tokyo and 19 when I returned. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life to stop feeling lost. After all those years, now that I was finally here, I believed I was right where I needed to be. Three months later. I think I consumed too much fiction as a child because I really believed that once I grew up, life would make more sense. Everything I've been told about growing up seems wrong now. So where did it go wrong? Where did I go wrong? How far back do I have to go to answer that? Or do I have to start from the beginning? Yeah, let's start there. I was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father. Apparently, this makes me half. Half Japanese, half American. Half Asian, half white. Half mom, half dad. Growing up, people called me all kinds of different things. They all seemed to revolve around the same idea. Mixed, half, Asian, half-y, half-y, half-y. In one form or another, the word "half" became entangled with the way I saw myself. Half, half, half, half, half, half. So, I kind of think, from the very beginning, I was destined to have an identity crisis. Because how can someone ever feel whole, if they've always been told they're only half of something? When I was five years old, my family left Japan for the USA. And like any child who finds themselves suddenly uprooted from their life and home as they know it. Everyone, I want you to meet your new classmate. I quickly became known as a new kid in town. Alright, it's recess. Be sure to give Christina a warm welcome. Hey, uh, where are you from? Japan! Can you speak Chinese? Hey, hey, see my name in Chinese! I can say it in Japanese? Oh, oh, do my next! And mine! I remember my parents were worried that the other kids would avoid me because I was different, but I actually felt kind of popular. In the beginning, being different didn't feel like a bad thing. My peers were curious, and their attention made me feel special. You wear chopsticks in your hair like this, right? What's that? You're eating. But as time went on, and I began to feel more at home, my pride in being different was replaced by the desire to be like everyone else.
Read By Sara Matsui Colby, Chieko Hidaka, Alice Alice, and Siho Ellsmore A poignant young adult graphic memoir that follows one teen's year abroad in Japan, as she seeks to reconcile both sides of her biracial identity.Christine has always felt she is just half: Half American, half Japanese. As a biracial Japanese American who was born in Tokyo but raised in the US, she knows all too well what it’s like to be a part of two different worlds but never feeling as though you belong to either.Now on the brink of adulthood, Christine decides it’s time to return to the place she once called home. So she sets forth on a year abroad in Tokyo, believing that this is where she truly belongs. After years of feeling like an outsider, now she will finally be complete.Except…Tokyo isn’t the answer she thought it would be. Instead of fitting in, Christine finds herself a fish out of water, as being half of two cultures isolates her in ways she'd never imagined. All she can do is try to stay afloat for the rest of the year—still figuring out who she is, what she wants in life, and whether she’ll ever truly be more than halfway there.Author-illustrator Christine Mari explores what it means to lose and find yourself in this moving narrative of belonging and home.