Julian Nguyen
My name is Julian Kiyohara Nguyen and I am mixed. I was born to a Japanese mother and a Vietnamese Father, in a suburb just outside of San Francisco, California. Growing up with colliding cultures came with different foods, languages, religions, customs, etc. Combining all these different customs and values together, while also trying to integrate whatever “American Culture” is, created a difficult journey of self-discovery and finding a place for me to “fit in”.
Identity, to me, is not one all-encompassing trait that makes up a person. It’s a multi-tiered, complex, string of different identities that ultimately help shape the person to be their authentic self. Being mixed further complicates things because, not only are there already multiple facets that tie into a person’s identity, but you add the complexity of competing cultures and discrimination from your own ethnicity
I've struggled with self-identity and figuring out how to balance between two facets of identity that make up who I am. What I wanted to get from showing a little bit about my life is to share my experiences through some anecdotes and hopefully have them resonate with others. They’re anecdotes of self-discovery and regret that, in turn, has led me to a path of realizing there is no perfect formula to equally incorporating, in my case, Japanese and American culture.
