supernational

I have felt for a long time that unlike many of my peers in the places I have lived, I do not really "belong" in any given culture.

Although born and raised (mostly) in California, it feels no more like home than any of the other places I've been or visited, and actually in a great many ways LESS so than others.

I feel very confident and at ease spending extended amounts of time in Japan, and I clearly don't "fit in" there - I am a blond foreigner and stand out more than if I had an arrow pointing at my head while walking through crowds, even in (relatively) cosmopolitan Tokyo.

But I also feel vibrant and satisfied in Europe, both through my experiences living in France and the UK and travels to Munich and Amsterdam.

So I suppose in the end, I am free to pick and choose where I want to live based on whatever criteria is good for me. So there are certainly many positives.

On the other hand, I never get to feel that sense of "home" that others seems to get so easily.

I was never sure what to call this phenomenon, but have found some others throughout the years that share in this same experience. Some of them I met in Lycée in France. Others through my Japanese classes at San Francisco State University. And even through work, as we have international offices at my company.

I found, recently, a blogger online who refers to himself as TG (I think it is short for Tokyo Godfather). He is himself another one of my archetype, and he calls those of us who find ourselves always between cultures "supernationals", and those who are able to be completely at home in one location "domestics".

His blog is here: http://blogger2.earthwalkersmag.com/

He expresses both the pain and joy of this state beautifully in his writings, and I can directly relate to much of what he has to say.

I stumbled upon this site while browsing an entry regarding Japan on the humor blog stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. The article is - as the others on the site - poigniant and amusing, but what really interested me were the comments. I want to write about that as well, but in a forthcoming entry. In these comments, I found one by this blogger TG (at http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/07/58-japan/?cp=11#comment-13176), and I was instantly moved and hooked by his mention of the supernational.

Where does this leave me?
Well, I have a label I can apply to myself.
But more than that, it gives a shape of sorts to some of the kindred-spirit-ness I have felt in others who explore cultures and their differences around the world.