Columns
| Mistranslate
憂鬱 (Yuutsu): When Mental Health Is Mistranslated
How could I navigate my Japanese-language emotions in pursuit of a Western psychiatric label?
Columns
| Mistranslate
愛してる (Aishiteru): How to Say “I Love You” When the Language Doesn’t Exist
When he asked me how to say “I love you” in Japanese, I translated linguistically, but mistranslated culturally.
Columns
| Mistranslate
切ない (Setsunai): When You Need a Word to Hold Both Sorrow and Joy
‘Setsunai’ implies something once bright, now faded. It is the painful twinge at the edge of a memory, the joy in the knowledge that everything is temporary.
Columns
| Mistranslate
大事 (Daiji): On Living Between Two Cultures and Learning What Is Most Important
To me, ‘daiji’ embodies the struggle to prioritize two languages, homes, and selves.
Places
| Retreat
Why My Family Takes a Thanksgiving Vow of Silence
The silent retreat gives us all time away from the bewilderment we tend to experience around American holidays.
People
| Fans
What Miyazaki’s Heroines Taught Me About My Mixed-Race Identity
“Miyazaki tells us something about bodies in flux: There is no easy answer; only the conflict, the question.”