Since around 2015, thanks to my friend Chris Brogan, I’ve been picking 3 words of that year. It just gives me something to focus on that year and I find it very centering. If you’ve never heard of My 3 Words, he has some good tips on how to choose them here.
This year, the first one was decided relatively quickly, but the other two took some time. I don’t believe in overthinking things like this, but it’s not good to underthink it and say “Maybe I should pick this word,” so it took me a while to come up with something I could really relate to.
As a result, I usually announce the 3 words on New Year’s Day, but this year it took me a few days.
Here are this year’s 3 words:
Ask
This one hit me relatively early on, and I’ve picked this word for 2019 once.
The word “ask” has the meaning of “question” – to ask, “Is this really true?” or to ask yourself, “How do I feel about this?” It’s also a reminder to ask for help and to ask for what you need.
Choice
After a while, the word Choice came to me. I’m really into decluttering right now, Konmari style, and really feeling like I need to lighten up and live with as few things as possible. So at first I thought of a more direct word like “declutter”, but this is also related to the word “space” that I chose last year: making space, making time and space for myself and things I want to do more of, and choosing what I need and what I don’t need, choosing what I say yes to and what I say no to. This was also a reminder to myself that we always make choices (some of which may be the choice to “do nothing”), and it is a reminder from a friend many years ago that I still remember: You always have a choice, no matter what.
Playful
This was the last to be decided. Playful, not just “play”; I don’t need a reminder to play, but playful means lighthearted or amused. I chose “playful” because I want to be more relaxed when talking to new people. So many people say my first impression is this quiet person, and often my close friends laugh because I am not a quiet shy person. I want to be more open and playful from the beginning. I chose the word “playful” because I always want to have a playful spirit somewhere without being too serious.
I will spend the year with these 3 words on a post-it on my desk.
At the end of the year, I will look back on them again.
If you have decided on your 3 words, let me know in the comments or in a message.
If you only read this (my blog), you’ll see that I haven’t written anything since January 1, 2023. I have been writing Japanese newsletters on Substack, and this spring I started an English one there as well. There aren’t many posts there either, but I hope to change that and I’d appreciate it if you could follow me there.
Another update is that I now have a new English podcast called Dual Perspectives. I only have one episode out, but I have lined up some guests to record with and I am very excited.
On the social media front, I am spending most of my time on Threads and working on closing the shop on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
I hope to see you at one or all of these platforms.
It’s been a while since I’ve returned to this space. As you can see from the previous post, I haven’t written anything here since 2020. While I have written social media posts, I haven’t really written anything in English for the past two years. Like everyone else, the pandemic has been hard for me. We are still in it, but I finally feel like I have some energy to write about my 2022.
Reflecting on the past year, I can say that 2022 was one of the best years for me. While my family and I have not yet returned to traveling or dining out, I allowed myself to do so when it was for work and it felt safe. My fondest memories of 2022 are mostly from those occasions, and it was a good reminder that as humans, we are wired for connection.
I have been writing Year In Review each year since 2011. I also set 3 Words for the year- I will post them on January 1st. First, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on things that made an impact for me in 2022.
1. 100 day project
I’ve been doing watercolor painting for 4-5 years now. Every year, there is the #The100DayProject on Instagram that usually starts around February. There is no prize, no contest, but this is a challenge for anybody who wants to do something creative for 100 consecutive days. This was my 4th year participating. I even took my watercolor kit to Vancouver when I was away on business. It’s been a good practice and my friends seem to enjoy seeing a new painting every day. It’s been fun, but I think I might take a break in 2023.
2. Brené Brown Book Club and the podcast
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Brené Brown. In 2020, I started a weekly Brené Brown Book Club with a group of my Japanese friends using Zoom. While we read the books in English, our discussions were held in Japanese. The club became so popular that in 2022, I ended up running two separate groups twice a week. We’ve read all the Brené Brown Books from “I Thought It Was Just me” all the way to “Atlas of the Heart”. In January 2023, I will be starting all over again, this time starting with “Daring Greatly”. The club has become more than just a place to discuss books – it has become a space for us to be vulnerable and share our stories. I’ve learned a lot from the book club, including the importance of vulnerability(vulnerability is not a weakness), the idea that people are doing the best they can (importance of most generous assumption), the the boundary is kindness(Clear is Kind, Unclear is Unkind), the relationship between shame and perfectionism, and many more. Many participants have told me that they don’t have a place to talk about things like this in their daily lives, and it has become an important part of my own life as well. In 2022, I ran an English Brené Brown Book Club as well. I will continue the Japanese Book Club in 2023, but only once a week.
My Japanese podcast entered season 5, and I was honored to talk with so many amazing guests. The listeners community continues to grow, and I am working on a book for them now. Last night we had the Bonenkai(year end party) with the podcast listeners – I am so grateful for the community.
3. Rituals
I’ve learned that I enjoy rituals and I am good at sticking to them. Growing up, I thought myself as someone who couldn’t keep doing the same thing every day. I never kept a diary. But a few years ago, I started journaling and it has completely become a part of my daily routine. Journaling has calmed my anxieties and stresses so much that I hardly have any sleepless nights worrying about things any more. There are many different styles of journaling, and the way I do it is to write three pages every day – an idea I learned from Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages. I write what I did the previous day, and I finish with a list of gratitudes and affirmations. Journaling has been a lifesaver for me.
I used to think that I couldn’t stick to a regular exercise routine, but this year I discovered the Nike Training app and began working out daily. The app offers a wide range of workouts led by trainers, ranging from 5 minutes to 1 hour in length, and it’s all free. I’m motivated by rewards, so I made a point to complete at least one workout from the app each day. As a result, I’ve been consistently exercising every day for the past 10 months. The app also has many highly skilled trainers to choose from. My favorite is Alex Piccirlli and I now follow her on Instagram as well for extra inspiration.
Every day after waking up, I do a workout, have breakfast, read a bit, and then do some journaling. I also managed to continue recording a one second video using 1 Second Every Day app. Having a routine helps me feel a sense of control in the world.
2022 Happiness Jar
My favorite annual traditions is opening my Happiness Jar on New Year’s Eve. I just opened it this morning and it is a fantastic way to reflect on all the things I am grateful for. I highly recommend starting your own gratitude practice like this, it can be a really uplifting and positive experience.
4. Fountain Pens
Ever since I began journaling every day, I’ve started to go through many pens and inks. Initially, I was using refillable pens, but then one day I realized the fountain pens are ultimately the most environmentally sustainable writing instrument. I cannot remember exactly how, but by the time I was thinking of getting my first fountain pen, I was already active on Mastodon(I used to be one of the admins at a server back in 2017), so I asked if anyone recommend any particular fountain pens, and I was pleasantly surprised to find many fountain pen enthusiasts on the platform! Since then, I have purchased a total of three fountain pens this year and experimented with many different inks. My current daily pen is Lamy Safari in Strawberry (red), and my favourite ink is Sailor’s Souboku. Fountain pens are a surprisingly deep hobby, and I’ve enjoyed learning about different types of pens and inks available. One of my best discoveries has been Wonderpens, a stationery shop in Toronto. My Mastodon friend Michael recommended their newsletter, and now I enjoy it too. I purchased a few items from them this year and hope to continue to do so in the 2023. Handwriting with my favourite pen and ink has been good for my mental health and it has brought me a lot of joy this year.
5. Cultural Consultant work
We consume a lot of TV and movies in my household, and I have consistantly been frustrated when Japanese culture is misrepresented or mocked.
While there has been some improvement in the respectful portrayal of culture in media, misrepresentation still happens quite often. At one occasion I was pretty frustrated and posted about it on TikTok, and this has in a way changed the direction of my career this year. I was interviewed by CBC on a story on cultural misrepresentation. I also had actor Yuki Matzusaki on my podcast to discuss the issue of Cultural Misrepresentation and the episode was received well and shared widely.
This spring, I had the opportunity to work with Disney on the production of “Shogun” in the Employee Relations department. It was a challenging but extremely rewarding experience, and I learned a lot through this process. I was able to apply many of the lessons I learned from Brené Brown’s books, making it an interesting and fulfilling experience. I am excited to do more work like this in the future.
I have since started working as Cultural Consultant, Sensitivity Reader and Casting Assistant for several different projects in the TV, Film & Video Game industry. My passion for this field has made this work extremely rewarding, and I am eager to continue in this role and contribute to more projects in the future. I have always been interested in working in the film and TV industry, and I am grateful to have found a career path that allows me to pursue this passion while also helping to improve the representation of Japanese culture in media.
6. Working in Japanese Canadian community
One of the highlights of the year was GEI: ART Symposium I helped organize in September as part of Art, Culture and Education(ACE) committee at National Association of Japanese Canadians(NAJC). We worked on this project for all over a year, and were thrilled to see close to 100 Japanese Canadian artists come together at the beautiful Gorge Park Pavilion. My heart was full. I had the opportunity to meet many talented artists and build connections with them.
In September, I joined the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) National Executive Board (NEB). While I have been active in the NAJC community as a member of the ACE committee and the Japanese New Immigrants Committee (JNIC), joining the NEB has been an honor and has given me a greater understanding of how the organization is run. We had an in-person meeting in November, and I am excited to be a part of the NEB at this time as we work to build the capacity of the organization over the next four years.
I had some unpleasant experiences in 2022, including contracting Covid in the fall. However, the good things far outweighed the bad. In 2022, I established a daily routine and explored a new career path. I was also fortunate to connect with many new and old friends, for which I am very grateful. Despite some challenges, overall it was a positive year for me.
In the end, I want to share my top 10 movies and TV shows I’ve seen this year. Note this is the shows and movies I’ve seen this year and not necessarily pieces released this year:
TV shows: (I couldn’t pick just 10 so there are 11 of them)
