A Bridge Across Turbulent Waters

By Yuji Kono ‘25, Taigu Fellow

I grew up, like many Americans, with an image of China as a great “other” – a country on the other side of the ocean often portrayed by headlines as the main enemy we should be worrying about. Growing up Japanese-American, my internalization of China as a shadowy “other” came as much, if not more, from my exposure to Japanese media and discourse as from American media. Anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan in its various forms is something that I’ve known about for most of my life. Before I left for China, I admit that I felt a level of worry as to whether I would encounter problems when people found out I was Japanese.