Europe...

I don’t really know how far Europe is. I’ve traveled between Europe and Japan a few times. It takes about 14 hours by airplane. It is long enough for me and I always get bored during the journey, and it is way too long for my parents ‘partly because of me.’
Right. I got distracted. What I was trying to say is that Europe is really far from here, and America is a very close country.
‘Everybody thinks you are an American automatically if you look western e.g. have light skin and blond hair, and English language here is of course American if they speak any’ says Mum.
Actually she has been bitching about the naivety of the people here since we moved to Fukuoka. Dad on the other hand doesn’t seem to mind being asked if he is American. He answers ‘Watashi wa Doitsu-jin desu (I’m German)’ looking amused. He even teaches English as well as German.
‘Of course it’s not bad for us that you earn money from teaching whatever you can’ says Mum to Dad.
My mum learned English and speaks it better than he does, but she would earn far less if she teaches the language as non-native speaker. (And she’s non-western.)
‘The Japanese language education industry exploits qualified and experienced Japanese teachers. Our counter-strategy is to exploit their naivety and you can teach Italian and French too, darling.’ I love her – she can survive anywhere, you know.

Name matters

'I should probably have chosen your name.' said my dad when he heard my mum having difficulty getting her family name through on the phone.
'My family name is quite inconvenient in Japan, isn't it.'

What? His or her family name is MINE too. What does it mean our name is inconvenient in this country?
'Well, it doesn't really matter.' says mum 'cos I always had difficulties with my name in Munich anyway.'
She had a Japanese surname before she married to my dad then got a North German name, which had not been understood easily in South Germany either.
'I wanted to have just one name for us all and I'd had the Japanese family name long enough to get a new one, you know.' she goes on, 'I wish I could have changed my first name as well.'

My mum used to receive letters with 'Mr' or 'Herr', the German equivalent because of her first name. If you have a name with 'o' at the end, it is recognised as a male name in Europe like marco. But if you are a Japanese female person, it is quite usual to have a name with 'ko' at the end, like my mum.
'Do you remember when I found out that I'd had a male reference number for my pension registration and health insurance in Germany? And you asked them on the phone for me "what if MR Koike gets pregnant?" said mum to dad. 'And they asked for my birth certificate to correct it. THEY made the bloody mistake in the first place, right?'
Blimey, a name could be that complicated. And she did get pregnant after a while.

From her experience, my parents needed a careful consideration before they decided on names for their daughter. I have a Japanese name and an European one, and I love them both. My dad is especially happy with them.
'You have chosen really beautiful names for our daughter, honey. They are just perfect.' says mum.

I wonder if I want to keep or change my family name when I have a chance to choose in the future. Maybe dad can pick up a good one for me.

What brought me here

Hi. My name is Elektra and I am one and a half years old. I was born in Munich and lived there until my parents decided to move to Fukuoka.

Why? My mum comes from Fukuoka, southwestern part of Japan. Yes, she is back home after having lived in Europe for nine years. It is not her who has brought me and my dad to her hometown but he is the one. My dad is a really good bloke. He takes me to the creche every morning and picks me up in the afternoon.

I like it here. It's warm. When we left Munich at the end of March, it was still snowing. I hate cold weather. As soon as we arrived at Fukuoka Airport, I saw cherry blossoms in full bloom and I got excited about the new life we were just starting.

My mum had mixed feelings. She moved to London on her own in 1998 to work there then to Munich a year later with intension to stay. After she obtained a permament residency in Germany, she had never thought of going back home.
"You never know what happens in your life." says Mum.

My dad, being a German, has seen almost all parts of Europe. Nothing new. The land of rising sun was the next destination to him.

So we are here. Having a fresh start. To stay or to move on? You never know. I will keep you posted what my parents are up to.